286 EDGING AND CARPETING PLANTS 



growth that have a genius for spreading, such as Virginia creeper, 

 partridge-berry, wintergreen, the larger American cranberry, etc. 



I cannot go into this great question of cover plants. I can 

 merely suggest some of the possibilities. This principle of cover- 

 ing every foot of ground can be applied even to formal flower 

 beds. For instance, a bed of Japanese flowering crabs (plate 102) is 

 carpeted with heath. Here we have a bed that not only possesses 

 two periods of bloom, but is even attractive in winter by reason 

 of the evergreen covering of heaths. Is this not better and cheaper 

 than planting every year with tender bedding plants? 



But the most astonishing bit of greenery I saw in English 

 woods was a carpet of moss at Cliveden, the home of W. W. Astor. 

 Imagine walking for a quarter of a mile under century-old beeches 

 on a gravel driveway that has been absolutely covered with a thick 

 carpet of velvety moss of the richest luxuriance! The important 

 thing to learn from this is that the finest of all mosses reaches its 

 highest beauty under beech trees and whenever we have a chance 

 to make beech dominant we have a chance to reproduce that 

 magical yellowish green atmosphere which is the most enchanting 

 that can permeate any forest. (Plate 95.) 



No one of us now living may hope to see America as a whole 

 smiling with the luxuriance or finish of old England, but every 

 one of us who owns a little land can bring every foot of it up to the 

 English standard of efficiency and loveliness. 



