592 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tried to grow the same things here. The result has been 

 that in those sections with cool and moist summers the 

 European plants have succeeded and in the regions of 

 hotter, drier summers the European plants have failed 

 and, therefore, herbaceous perennials have been said to 

 have failed because proper kinds for the conditions were 

 not selected. This shows the need for selecting kinds 

 suitable to the region. Because gardening has been prac- 

 ticed longer under moist conditions than in drier climates 

 there are more plants available for such regions than for 

 drier situations but with care in selecting for the drier 

 countries much better results can be obtained than is 

 generally realized. 



When a resetting of the perennial bed is determined 

 upon, the plants should be lifted with all the dirt possible 

 and be lightly "heeled in" in a shady place, or if this is 



the place from which the leaves "of stemless plants arise 

 and the roots descend. A strawberry plant is a good ex- 

 ample of a plant with a crown. If this should be planted 

 so that it becomes covered with soil the plant will die, 

 while, on the other hand, if it is planted so that a portion 

 of the roots just below the crown are exposed to the air 

 and consequently dry out then again the plant will be 

 killed. On the other hand, plants with corms, root-stocks 

 or tubers that are more or less stemlike, roots should be 

 planted with the growing end or buds two or three inches 

 under ground. A plant with bulbs, that is, enlargements 

 composed of a number of leaflike parts wrapped about 

 one another, should usually be planted two or three times 

 as deep as its own diameter. 



In those regions where there is severe freezing weather 

 or alternate freezing and thawing for a greater depth than 



THE APPROACH TO THE HOUSE 



This is a place where the hardy perennial may be used most effectively in a herbaceous border along a driveway as 

 the planting can be done so that one or two of these showy plants is always in bloom. In this bed mallows and phlox 

 are just now at their best. 



not available as nearly a shady place as possible and then 

 covered with i wet burlap. Well-rotted manure in lib- 

 eral quantities should then be spaded into the soil as deeply 

 as possible, for most plants about as much manure as 

 can be worked in. The quantity of manure used may 

 seem extravagant, but it must be remembered that the 

 ground is being fed for three or more years of heavy 

 demands as no new supply can be worked in until the 

 plants are again dug for resetting. After this thorough 

 preparation of manuring, spading, and fining of the sur- 

 face the plants should be taken from the place where 

 they have been "heeled in," divided into pieces appro- 

 priate for the kind and those portions selected should be 

 at once reset with the crowns of those that have crowns 

 just level with the ground. A crown in this sense being 



an inch or two, the perennial bed should be covered with 

 a good coating of manure as soon as the ground freezes 

 v/ell in the fall for the purpose of protecting most plants 

 from alternate freezing and thawing, although for a few 

 it is protection from the cold that is necessary. As soon 

 as freezing weather is past this covering should be re- 

 moved from the plants and usually as much as possible 

 should be permitted to remain on the bed between the 

 plants to act as mulch and for the benefit of the little 

 remaining plant food that may be in it. 



The cultivation of many of the kinds should be by 

 clean hoeing, but others need only the pulling of weeds 

 near them, as they do better without the soil being worked 

 about the roots. Some, in fact, are most at home under 

 wild or semi-wild conditions, so that all these require is 



