Home Adornment in the West. 277 



singular and desirable plants secure from the extreme heat and cold, as 

 well as from other accidental harm. 



All this is important to be known, that, when transplanted to the garden, 

 these tender growths may find something analogous in the appliances of 

 their new fixtures, Avhere they are expected to thrive and bloom as before. 



Equally important is a careful attention to the conditions of soil and 

 exposure ; for we must prepare and adapt our beds and borders accord- 

 ingly. We need not suppose, however, that they must be in every respect 

 like the native habitats of our wildings. Most of them will conform them- 

 selves readily to modified conditions. The prairie-soil of our gardens is 

 already suitable for most of them ; and, for the rest, we can easily procure 

 the required peat, leaf-mould, and sand. We shall be puzzled most, per- 

 haps, to give some of them the desired shade and moisture. For some, the 

 sub-shelter of trees and shrubs will be sufficient. A good place for the 

 lady's-slipper is the north side of the dwelling or other buildings. They 

 do not usually grow in such wet places as many suppose. The large yellow 

 thrives in dry, and the others in moderately moist ground. They are found 

 in all the freshness and unique beauty of their leaves and flowfirs, starting 

 suddenly from the thin, sometimes matted turf, along the edge of the sloughs 

 (sloos) or rims of sphagnous basins, always above the water-level ; sometimes, 

 indeed, in bogs and swamps ; yet, even here, in spots elevated somewhat 

 above the common level, and on the top of hummocks. The showy lady's- 

 slipper, which is supposed to be most difficult of culture, I have grown for 

 years in good garden-soil mixed with peat, on the north side of a small 

 building, where it thrives, and blooms freely. 



These plants, all the wildings, may be removed when at rest in early 

 spring or late autumn, or, if more convenient, during any stage of their 

 growth, with ease and success ; but, if transplanted in the flowering-time, 

 they must be carefully taken up with some of the turf and earth adhering 

 about the roots, kept covered till planted, and then shaded from the sun 

 till well established. Plentiful watering, at the time of covering the roots 

 and afterwards, may be needful. 



It will not be necessary' to designate the plants most suitable for decora- 

 tive effect in the home-grounds : they have been already described in this 

 Journal. Any one can choose from the host of prairie bloomers such as 



