BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 161 



But the best things nearly always cost the most. Not only are 

 the plants themselves very expensive, but the preparation of the 

 beds is also a serious matter, while the arrangement of the plants 

 (so as to prevent colour discords, etc.) is so beset with pitfalls that 

 a landscape designer is really needed for any work involving an 

 expense of one hundred dollars or more. Also the plants are slow 

 growers. The only consolations are that when they once get set- 

 tled they last a lifetime, and the cost of maintenance is small, the 

 chief items being the annual mulch and picking off the young seed 

 pods. But gardening is not the cheapest game in the world and 

 the first cost of broad-leaved evergreens is so appalling to a begin- 

 ner that most Americans steer their bark against Scylla or Cha- 

 rydbis, i. e., they skimp on cultivation or buy cheap "Dutch stuff." 



MANY FAIL ON THE CULTURE 



The cultivation of broad-leaved evergreens is a mighty 

 particular business. Like golf it is easy to understand, but not 

 such a snap to play. Three fourths of the story, as Henry Hicks 

 says, is the six-inch permanent mulch, which retains the soil 

 moisture, while the other fourth is protection from winter winds 

 and sunshine, which "burn" the foliage. But in practice there 

 are more troubles than I can mention here. (For instance, it is 

 best to plant rhododendrons on the north and west sides of a house 

 so that they will get the right amount of shade, but those sides 

 isually get the worst winter winds. Again, rhododendrons won't 

 grow in limestone soil, but there are limestone valleys a hundred 

 miles long in this country and it is just like us to want rho- 

 dodendrons anyhow. It is easy enough to learn the ideal 

 conditi ;>ns for broad-leaved evergreens, but somehow none of 

 us evei seem to have them. So a man can't play the rhododen- 



