42 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



dig the soil over deeply. As the work proceeds, bury a 

 quantity of half-decayed stable manure near such plants 

 as those already mentioned, as they are voracious feeders, 

 and unless constant stimulants are applied, the growth 

 becomes weak, and, naturally, a poor flower crop is the 

 result. When the digging of the border is completed, a 

 mulching, 2 inches thick, of a compost made up of decayed 

 vegetable refuse, old potting soil, leaf-mould, wood-ashes, 

 and road-sweepings should be given. Such a covering not 

 only imparts new life to the plants, but serves as a mulch 

 during the early summer months, when a period of drought 

 is often experienced. 



One great fault made in the cultivation of herbaceous 

 plants is that of allowing each specimen to grow to an 

 unwieldy size. It is not an uncommon sight to see Michael- 

 mas Daisies, Pyrethrums, Chrysanthemum maximum, and 

 Heleniums fully a yard across at the base, with stems half 

 the strength they should be. Supporting the stems of such 

 clumps as these is a difficult matter. 



Staking Border Plants. One of the first things that the 

 beginner who attempts the culture of perennial herbaceous 

 plants learns is that they need some artificial support to 

 prevent their shoots being blown about and badly damaged 

 by wind, a condition that quickly results where the wind is 

 accompanied by heavy rains. Having ascertained this, the 

 novice usually looks about for ways and means of providing 

 this support, and the natural and most simple way out of 

 the trouble is to push a large stake into the centre of the 

 group, and then tightly tie all the growths to it as shown 

 in the illustration. By the end of the season, however, the 

 grower will not feel at all satisfied with the result of his labours 

 that is if he is imbued with the true gardening spirit. He 

 will find that the leaves that were thus crowded up in the 

 centre of the clump are all dead and decayed, and what flowers 

 are produced will be of a very inferior character. 



Apart from this, there is the appearance of the plant to 

 consider. The plant treated in the barbarous manner 

 shown in the illustration is one of the Golden Rods, a 

 spreading, free-growing specimen capable of developing into 

 a mass of gold in the autumn. Instead of tying it up as 

 shown in the first illustration, the beginner should deal with 

 it as shown in the second, which represents the same plant 

 properly staked and tied. It will be noticed that each shoot 

 stands out well by itself and that the stakes used are scarcely 

 visible, one being placed at the inner side of each shoot, 



