166 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



very difficult to manage, if a suitable position can 

 be found, with an unfailing supply of water which 

 can at all times be led where it is wanted. An 

 irregular hollow dug out on any open sunny site 

 away from trees, and filled in with a compost 

 mainly consisting of rough sandy peat and leaf 

 mould, which can always be kept moist, yet not 

 water-logged, will provide congenial quarters for 

 many beautiful plants, from Canadian swamp lilies 

 and mocassin flowers to some of the primroses and 

 gentians of the Swiss mountains, which are more 

 or less marsh lovers. People very often suppose 

 that whereas bog plants require much moisture, 

 therefore it is necessary to give them much shade 

 as well which is, in most cases, a fatal mistake. 

 The majority of marsh plants live with their toes 

 in the water and their heads in the sun ; and this 

 fact should always be borne in mind in choosing 

 a site for a bog bed. Not that light shadow from 

 groups of low-growing shrubs in or about the bed, 

 or from tall herbaceous plants, is always hurtful. 

 On the contrary, it may serve sometimes to 

 preserve flowers from fading too quickly ; but 

 anything approaching to the dense shade of over- 

 hanging trees should be avoided. Another caution 

 may be given. It is better to spread a good layer 

 of some kind of rough rubble at the bottom of 

 the bog bed before the compost is packed in. The 

 natural drainage of a bog is a very different matter 

 to that of a small area under artificial conditions ; 

 and a limited body of soil is apt to get sour and 

 unfit to support plant life if no filterage helps to 

 draw off surplus water. Peat can absorb a vast 



