CHOOSING SHRUBS AND SMALL TREES 137 



much in Spring, for then the plants that are moved 

 on a rainy, muggy day are hardly checked at all; 

 and there is a better chance of quick recuperation 

 than when the stock has been kept on the train 

 for days, perhaps weeks, no matter how carefully 

 it may have been taken up and packed. 



Beware of travelling agents and men who do 

 what it called a cellar business. The former are 

 only interested in selling their wares, never in the 

 wares themselves; many of them do not know a 

 Geranium from a Rose except by the pictures they 

 have seen. The plants handled by the latter class 

 of dealers are apt to be out of the ground a long 

 time, and that does not benefit their constitutions; 

 or if dormant they often begin to sprout before 

 you receive them. Both are apt to disappoint you 

 when it is too late to place your order elsewhere, 

 for they do not keep track of the supplies in the 

 nurseries they represent and are altogether irre- 

 sponsible. It is much better to deal directly with 

 some reliable house. 



The Lilac is a shrub that you will surely wish to 

 see well represented on your grounds. As sug- 

 gested in Chapter IV, much better effect can be 



