XIV 



MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN 



Favored indeed are the gardens of these States, which 

 border on the Great Lakes, some five hundred and eighty 

 feet above sea-level. The country in most parts is fer- 

 tile and flat, with a climate superior to that of New Eng- 

 land in summer, and winters equally as cold. To quote 

 our well known garden friend, Mrs. Francis King, of Alma, 

 in central Michigan: "We have a very fine summer climate, 

 most favorable to gardening; no humidity whatsoever, 

 but dry and bracing, and while a short summer, a merry 

 one for flowers. We must plan for a late spring, and 

 frost is due in early September; but when we have learned 

 these things it is very simple to arrange for them. Our 

 rainfall is usually sufficient, and we practically never suffer 

 from the heat. Hardy Chrysanthemums need a very 

 sheltered position in winter. At Detroit, one hundred 

 and fifty miles southeast of Alma, the trees are in spring 

 foliage almost ten days earlier, partly owing to the dis- 

 tance southward and partly to the warming influence of 

 Lake St. Clair." 



The garden at Orchard House, Alma, so vividly de- 

 scribed in "The Well-Considered Garden," is too familiar 

 to most gardeners to need description. Briefly, the plant- 



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