20 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIKTY. 



to me well to note some that are not specially desirable in a 

 general way. We hear too little of failures ; people do not always 

 care to chronicle them, but it is a pity, for nnich can be learned 

 from them. Some plants seem to have the ability to appropriate 

 a good deal more than consists with the well-being of others sur- 

 rounding them. Such is the case with Achillea serrata, some- 

 times also called The Pearl, for, given a small plant to start Avith 

 in the spring, it will by fall have taken to itself a square yard of 

 soil area, and is, besides, a most difficult thing to dig out of other 

 plants. The smooth-leaved Sunflower, Ilcllanthus Icevis, I have 

 been trying to eradicate for five years in our own borders, but we 

 seem to be as far away from the desired end as ever. It is a 

 decidedly decorative subject in its season, but as it flowers when 

 so many similar plants are in bloom, it is almost impossible to 

 avoid some that are in bloom, and a crop of seed is matured that 

 will make its perpetuity sure. The pretty Anemone Pennsyl- 

 vanica I have also begun to think is impossible to get rid of, for 

 the more one digs the more it spreads. The variegated form 

 of ^gojyodium Podagniria, the Bishop weed, is sometimes offered 

 in lists, but a more troublesome weed does not exist ; it has cost 

 thousands of dollars to dig it out in Central Park, New York, and 

 when visiting the famous gardens at Belvoir Castle last summer, 

 the gardener told me that ever since he took charge he had kept 

 two men doing little else than digging out this weed. And so 

 this list might be added to, and made mucli longer ; but the moral 

 is, a place for everything, and everything in its place. If such 

 subjects Avere rigidly kept in the wild garden we should hear less 

 complaint as to the ragged appearance of this class of plants, and 

 there Avould be much less misery for the cultivator. Even among 

 what are undoubtedly regarded as desirable subjects for all 

 borders, there are many that are too apt to increase at the 

 expense of those with less vigor, and these must be checked at 

 all times if the desired harmony is to be maintained. 



In our case we like to plant thickly at the outset, using plenty 

 of the sorts easily raised from seed, to cover the space quickly, 

 and thin these out as the better plants take hold, and gradually 

 work out tlie desired effect. We have also found that in various 

 situations, plants behave differently, each locality suiting some 

 one or other better than Ave knew, and these have to be lifted 

 and re])laced in a more fitting position to preserve the balance of 



