34 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



third or fourth year, in late September, or else April, 

 according to season and other contingencies, I have all 

 the plants carefully removed from the beds and ranged 

 in rows of a kind upon the broad central walk. Then, 

 after the bed is thoroughly worked, manured, and graded, 

 the plants are divided and reset, the leavings often serv- 

 ing as a sort of horticultural wampum, the medium 

 of exchange among neighbours with gardens, or else 

 going as a freewill offering to found a garden for one 

 of the "plotters" who needs encouragement. 



The limitations of the soil of my garden and surround- 

 ings serve as the basis of an experience that, however, 

 I have found carried out practically in the same way 

 in the larger gardens of the Bluffs and in many other 

 places that Evan and I have visited. So that any one 

 thinking that a hardy garden, at least of herbaceous 

 plants, is a thing that, once established, will, if not 

 molested, go on forever, after the manner of the fern 

 banks of the woods or the wild flowers of marsh and 

 meadow, will be grievously disappointed. 



Of course, where hardy plants are massed, as in nurs- 

 eries, horticultural gardens, or the large estates, each 

 in a bed or plot of its kind, this resetting is far 

 simpler, as each variety can receive the culture best 

 suited to it, and there is no mixing of species. 



