SCOTTISH GARDENS IN GENERAL 



tration of possibilities. In the peat bogs of lowland 

 Scotland, northern England and Ireland may be 

 found a slender, little, heathlike plant, four or five 

 inches high, sparsely clad with narrow, evergreen 

 leaves, glaucous on the back, bearing in late 

 summer a few pretty, pale pink, drooping flowers on 

 the model of an arbutus or a bearberry. Strange 

 to say, this plant is not found in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, though it is abundant in Norway. It is 

 the marsh andromeda (A. polifolia), according to 

 modern classification the solitary species in the genus. 

 It seems to prefer the sloppiest parts of the bog, 

 where even heather declines to grow; but in fact 

 it grows there only because there is no room for it 

 elsewhere. Its hardy constitution enables it to main- 

 tain a precarious existence in a soaked mixture of 

 sour peat and sphagnum which would be the death 

 of any other hardwooded plant. Nevertheless, it is 

 as fond of good things as its neighbours. Remove 

 some plants from their native slime (they are so 

 feeble that it must be carefully done) and set them 

 in a sunny border in a mixture of peat, sand and 

 loam, keep them from being overshadowed by grosser 

 plants, lay some stones on the surface round them 

 to keep some moisture about their roots, and in a 

 couple of years they will grow into sturdy little 

 bushes, nearly a foot high, with abundant leafage 

 and a fine display of flowers. You have aided them 

 in the struggle for life, and they reward you by 

 developing into plants of really extraordinary beauty. 



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