LITTLE GARDENS 



the savage plants are heedlessly insistent in the 

 matter of scattering their seed, and escapes from 

 the wild garden into the cultivated are much 

 more certain than escapes of the civilized from 

 the places set aside for lilies and roses. So soon 

 as a wild flower has established itself where it is 

 not wanted, it becomes a weed, and is liable to 

 the treatment accorded to interlopers. But while 

 it is with us from choice, let us be good to it, 

 plow the ground in which it is to stand, water it 

 in dry seasons, even weed it when ugly and un- 

 welcome growths threaten to overrun it or crowd 

 the daintier residents. A surfacing of manure 

 in the spring and of mulch in the fall will be as 

 well appreciated by the wild flower as the tame 

 one, and it will prove its appreciation by in- 

 creased growth and livelier color. The wild 

 flowers can be collected into beds and treated in 

 the same manner as the geraniums and petunias, 

 or the seed can be sown broadcast over prepared 

 ground. And it is now possible to obtain the 

 seed of wild flowers from mercantile growers, 

 whose offer of it must surely be based upon an 

 increased appreciation of natural beauty. 



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