HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS 131 



tivation of the soil, whatever the kind of plant may be. 

 Again, the wise horticulturist is he who, ignoring any 

 question of expense, invariably secures the best lawn- 

 planting material he can get, that can be readily trans- 

 planted and bought at a reasonable price, whether it be 

 a tree or a herbaceous plant, for in the end it will be 

 found to be the cheapest and best way, as the desired 

 result can thus be obtained quickly, and the length of 

 time the beauty of the plant can be enjoyed will greatly 

 differ from that of the small, weakly specimen whose 

 chances of life and vigor must be proportionally uncer- 

 tain. 



Lack of space will not permit us to dwell as long as 

 might be desirable on the numerous beautiful peren- 

 nials, but we will endeavor to look at some of the most 

 attractive, and, at the same time, most useful and least 

 weedy, members of the different families. If any one 

 will take a catalogue and visit the several nurseries, and 

 really examine the different merits and defects of herba- 

 ceous plants, he will soon be surprised to see how rapidly 

 he is learning to shorten his list of kinds available for 

 the lawn. It has been already intimated that a list of the 

 good, all-around trees, and also shrubs, could be counted 

 on the ten fingers, and the same result will occur if her- 

 baceous plants are studied in the same spirit that seeks 

 only satisfactory lawn-planting material, and not mere 

 horticultural curiosities. 



The same principle of treatment will lead farther, and 

 will induce us to use large quantities or colonies of one 

 herbaceous plant, and to keep in the shrub borders of 

 the flower garden only the kinds that are not weedy 

 looking, and that have sufficient solidity and symmetry 

 of form to assimilate them more or less in general effect 



