Practical Directions 285 



In sowing small lawns it will be best to buy a so-called 

 lawn mixture from some thoroughly reliable nurseryman. 

 In other cases it is well to stick pretty close to blue grass or 

 June grass, Rhode Island bent grass, meadow fescue, and 

 white clover. 



13. Special Situations. — Certain situations are so unfa- 

 vorable to some kinds of vegetation that they are only capable 

 of bringing a few plants to perfection. And as it is generally 

 better to grow a few things well than to have a more ample 

 collection of indifferently cultivated plants, the knowledge 

 of what will flourish in a given district will be of great use to 

 guide the planter in his selection. While I cannot pretend, 

 then, to furnish extended lists, which would demand a fami- 

 liar local acquaintance with the entire country, it may per- 

 haps be suggestive at least of what can be done, if I advert 

 to a few common kinds of climatic peculiarities and mention 

 some of the most ornamental plants that are calculated to 

 suit them. 



Gardens in the neighborhood of the sea are much afflicted 

 with gales which are of such violence and carry such a quan- 

 tity of saline matter with them that the leaves and young 

 shoots of some plants are frequently destroyed. Dense plant- 

 ing on ground that has been perfectly drained and prepared 

 will be some slight preservative against such winds; and it 

 will be useful to gather the plants together in masses to a 

 greater extent than would otherwise be required, that they 

 may help to sustain and shelter one another. Single plants, 

 or thin strips of them, are always most scourged and cut to 

 pieces by such gales. Still there are some plants which will 

 endure a prodigious amount of blowing without material 

 damage. And of these the sycamore maple and other 

 maples, some elms (especially the Wych elm), birches, if 

 planted young; beech, when likewise planted in a small state; 



