CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS 39 



over the brow of a hill, for flowers are like birds in 

 this respect, they can endure cold and many other 

 hardships, but they quail before the blight of wind. 



For all gardens of ordinary size a bit of ground ten 

 feet by thirty feet will be sufficient. If the earth is heavy 

 loam and inclined to cake or mould, add a little sifted 

 sand and a thin sprinkling of either nitrate of soda or 

 one of the "complete" commercial manures. Barn- 

 yard manure, unless very well rotted and thoroughly 

 worked under, is apt to develop fungi destructive to 

 seedlings. This will be sufficient preparation if the soil 

 is in average condition ; but if the earth is old and worn 

 out, it must be either sub-soiled or dug and enriched 

 with barnyard (not stable) manure to the depth of a 

 foot, or more if yellow loam is not met below that 

 depth. 



If the bed is on a slight slope, so much the better. 

 Dig a shallow trench of six or eight inches around it to 

 carry off the wash. An abrupt hillside is a poor place 

 for such a bed, as the finer seeds will inevitably be washed 

 out in the heavy rains of early summer. If the surface 

 soil is lumpy or full of small stones that escape fine 

 raking, it must be shovelled through a sand- screen, 

 as it is impossible for the most ambitious seed to grow 

 if its first attempt is met by the pressure of what would 



