L ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



From New Brunswick no phenological obser\iations on the regular 

 schedule were received this year. The secretary for the province has 

 sent in the following observations on a '' Wild Garden/' however. 



OBSERVATIONS IN A AVILD OAKDEN. 

 By Geo. U. Hay, M.A., Ph.B., St. John. 



The importance of examining from year to year the same wild plants 

 confined within a limited area and exposed to similar climatic conditions 

 induces me to make a few observations of an experiment which I hare 

 carried on for some years in a wild garden near St. John. 



The experiment consists of the introduction of as many as possible 

 of our native species of plants into a field some two 'acres in extent, with 

 a view of showing at a glance a representative gathering of our flora, and 

 incidentally the effects of changes brought about in transplanting to a 

 different habitat, as well as making notes on times of coming into leaf, 

 flower, and fruit of a considerable number of species having about the 

 same position, exposure to sunlight and wind, temperature, and other 

 climatic conditions from year to year. And not least, the gathering into 

 one community of a large number of plants from every part of the 

 province, with some admixture of foreign elements, presents to the 

 botanist the opportunity of studying problems analogous to those which 

 a city presents to the sociologist, a place where living organisms inhabit- 

 ing the same locality, adapting themselves to different conditions, main- 

 taining their ground lagainst rivals or yielding to unfavourable conditions, 

 may be viewed daily and some light be thrown on plant life and de- 

 velopment. 



The " garden " is situated about twelve miles from the city, near 

 the St. John River, which it overlooks, on grounds sloping towards the 

 north. The elevation is about fifty feet above the river. Nearly half 

 of the ground has been cleared, giving an ojjportunity to test the horti- 

 cultural capabilities of the land as well as to carry on a war of extir- 

 pation against weeds. An attempt was first made to secure a modus 

 Vivendi by assigning to the weeds a space in one corner of the garden 

 where specimens were planted and labelled; but with a perversity charac- 

 teristic of their tribe, they refused to grow under such conditions. 



On the borders of the cleared space a few foreign shrubs and trees 

 s( nt me by Dr. Saunders, of the Dominion Experimental Farm, and 

 from the public gardens and park at Halifax, have been planted. These 

 consist of representative species from northern Europe and western 

 Canada, and will prove useful for comparison with similar native species, 



