58 THE WILD GARDEN. 



luutilatioii, scriipiii<;- away of leaves, and exposing on bare 



sloppy borders plants that in Natnre shelter each other, and 



are shielded from bitter frost and Ijurning heat by layers of 



fallen leaves, gradnally sinking into excellent light surface 



soil for the yonng roots, are ignorant and brutal practices that 



must be given up by all who really look into the needs of our 



hardy garden flora. 



With reference to tiiis point, I piint this letter from an 



observer of what goes on in the woods of New England. 



Our own woods are full of lessons, and so it is in all countries. 



Mr. Falconer's letter is very suggestive of the revolution in 



method which must be carried out in the yardens of the 



future : — 



I go into the woods in the spring time, and find tliem carpeted 

 with Dog's-tooth Violets, Wood Anemones, bhie and purple Hepaticas, 

 Spring beauty, Trilliums, Blood-root, Star-flowers, False Solomon's 

 Seal, Gold Thread, trailing Arbutus, wild Ginger, and a host of other 

 pretty little flowers, all bright and gay, arising from their bed of 

 decaying herbage and tree leaves, and many of them are in perfection, 

 too, before a tree has spread a leaf ; and thus they glow and revel in 

 their cosy bed, fed and sheltered 1 ly their tree friends. When their petals 

 drop and their leaves are mature, the trees expand their leafy canopy 

 and save the little nurslings from the torture of a scorching sun. And 

 early as the earliest, too, the outskirts of the woods and meadows with 

 hosts of Violets are painted blue and white, and speckled everywhere 

 with Bluets, or little Innocents, as the children call them. Woodsias, 

 tiny Aspleniums, and other Ferns are unfolding their fronds along the 

 chinks among the stones ; the common Polypody is reaching over 

 blocks and boulders ; and even the exposed rocks, with their rough 

 and Lichen-bearded faces, are aglow in vernal pride. Every nook and 

 cranny among them, and little mat of earth upon them are checkered 

 with the flowery print of the Canada Columbine, the Virginia Saxifrage, 

 and the glaucous Corydalis. But to the carpet. What can be prettier 

 or more appropriate than the Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens), the 

 Twin-flower (Linnsea borealis — does well with us), Creeping Winter 

 Green (Gaultheria proiumbeus), Bearberry (Arctostaphylos Uva-LTrsi), 



