iz Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



with the front door opening to the north and the back door to 

 the south of it. 



It was at this juncture that several of those much-maligned 

 seed catalogues came to Adam, who prudently buys his vege- 

 table seeds during the month of February, before the spring 

 rush comes. Idly turning over its pages, my eyes struck two 

 familiar names Ageratum and Agrostemma. In an instant 

 I was carried back ten years, when, one summer, in Minnesota 

 I undertook gardening on the alphabetical basis (just as the 

 Peterkins were instructed in foods) and I got no further than 

 the A's, so interesting was the initial letter of the alphabet. 

 The A's always have the advantage, much as the first vol- 

 umes of Grote's "History of Greece" show wear and finger- 

 marks that entirely disappear when the twelfth volume is 

 reached. 



In that remote time I had read the A's with enthusiasm, and 

 as none of the names was familiar, it is small wonder that my 

 fancy was captivated with these words; " Ageratum effective 

 plants for bedding, covered with bloom throughout the sea- 

 son." Surely that was the plant for me! Hear also, "Agro- 

 stemma Attractive, free-flowering perennials of easy culture 

 and excellent for cutting." Attractive? It not only at- 

 tracted, but caught me at first sight. I bought both, dug 

 little graves for both, visited them at increasing intervals, as 

 those do who are careless of their dead, and then quite forgot 

 them. No, not quite; because for years after I used to specu- 

 late about their fate; had they come up ? What did they look 

 like? I had never found out. Now here was a chance for an 

 intelligent settlement of that ten-year old question. I'd buy 

 them, and watch. So I browsed on; not only the A's but every 

 letter in the alphabet was rich in treasures. If the A's 

 bloomed throughout the season, the B's were "an unrivaled 

 strain saved from the best selected blooms of the finest hy- 



