30 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



evaporating from the general heap and wafting themselves 

 into place ? The voice of the silent past answers not, and I am 

 forced to the conclusion that no lady would attempt such a 

 project, or she, who does undertake it, cannot be of gentle 

 rearing. These doubtful imputations do not trouble me much, 

 even though the garden I possess is mine solely through the 

 conquest of just such impossible conditions. 



Winter set in before the work was done, and again I re- 

 sorted to the catalogues and botanies as my chief literature. 

 I did not exactly distrust the glowing accounts of the seeds- 

 men: I wanted corroboration; and when I found the impartial 

 Asa Gray, who seldom raises his scientific admiration to the 

 heat of adjectives, quoting any plant as "handsome," 

 "showy," or "cultivated in choice gardens," immediately 

 that gem went on my list. Neglected was the atlas; warm 

 sun-kissed islands had no attraction; the foot-rule, blank sheets 

 of paper, spread out on a lapboard, a rapidly decreasing 

 eraser, gave full occupation until January, when I sent off for 

 fifty varieties of annual and perennial seeds. I prudently 

 limited myself to those not costing more than ten cents per 

 package. I bought also two hundred Neponset paper flower 

 pots, that come in all sizes, and take the place of the more 

 perishable earthen pots at one third their price. Each acts as 

 a guardian angel to the seedling raised in it; for, in trans- 

 planting, the pot may be turned over a plant to shield it from 

 the sun, and it also gives protection from any untoward frost 

 that may descend at unpredicted moments. Under its be- 

 nign shade a plant endures transplanting as comfortably 

 beneath a hot July sun as if it were a cloudy May morning. 



I had brought in a quantity of rich mellow soil it should 

 have had more sand in it, as rich earth often causes young 

 seedlings to "damp off," that is, to drop over and die sud- 

 denly, when kept too moist many little stones to put in the 



