MY FRIEND THE ANDROMEDA. 315 



that needs the sympathy of kindred spirits to put it on its 

 mettle, the andromeda silently craves to be artistically dis- 

 posed and grouped with other plants. 



I comprehend this morning, seemingly for the first time, 

 that my andromeda, my dear andromeda, is ungainly. A 

 crooked, slender stem, though, in a certain way, fine and 

 picturesque, supports its graceful mass of foliage in a 

 decidedly unsatisfactory way. Surely this plant was not 

 made to stand alone. On the contrary, I am inclined to 

 think it decidedly affects society. Next spring, therefore, I 

 am going to keep it in the conspicuous position it now 

 occupies, but, at the same time, make it happy by surround- 

 ing it with friends and relatives. A mass of rhododendrons 

 shall cluster in its rear, for they show a fine relation to the 

 andromeda in both appearance and nature ; and they are, 

 moreover, rich and noble plants. These rhododendrons, in 

 the outline of their grouping, will present deep bays and 

 promontories of foliage, with points and flanks and bare 

 places, masked with choice low-growing shrubs, like ma- 

 honias and evergreen thorns, the bush form of Chinese 

 wistarias, and the golden and variegated weigelia. My 

 andromeda shall not appear exactly on one of the points of 

 these rhododendrons, to which its leaves bear too close 

 a relation for intimate grouping ; but it shall be isolated 

 and, at the same time, surrounded and connected with the 

 mainland of foliage by the mahonias and evergreen thorns. 

 The weak parts of the base of my plant will be thus 

 masked, as so many plants apt to develop naked bases need 

 to be masked, and its more excellent qualities brought out 

 in finest relief by its association. 



