164 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST. 
An Amateur Wild Flower Bed. 
0. A. STEVENS, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA. 
The present is a brief account not of what can be done 
with wild flowers, but of what has happened with just ordi- 
nary treatment and ordinary neglect. The work was begun 
in the spring of 1917. The space used is a trapezoid with 
one end oblique, 514 feet wide, 12 and 9 feet long on the 
inner and outer sides respectively. It occupies a corner at 
the north end of an east porch, partially protected by the 
corner of the house and bounded on the outer side by a cement 
walk which goes to the side door. 
The Fargo soil is a black alluvial clay which is very sticky 
when wet and becomes hard and lumpy when dry. The light- 
er colored subsoil is still more sticky and quite intractable 
where basement excavating has left it to form a part of the 
lawn or garden. The house had been rebuilt the preceding 
year, and the soil of the bed in question contained a small 
amount of subsoil in the surface and more or less debris 
of building. A few pieces of decaying wood brought from 
the woods were put in the ground at the start. Some years 
it has had a covering of leaves raked upon it in the fall, in 
others only what might naturally accumulate. Usually ‘there 
is a good covering of snow during winter but the outer edge 
next to the walk is somewhat windswept. The plants have 
suffered more or less from children jumping off the porch 
rail upon them and from other natural accidents. 
* The plants will be enumerated under three heads: (1) 
Those intentionally introduced, (2) those unintentionally but 
artificially introduced, and (3) those naturally introduced. I 
have put off writing the account and neglected to keep notes 
in the meantime so that some of the details have been lost. 
The sharp angle at the front is occupied by a small Spiraea 
and a Cornus sanguinea was put at the other end against the 
house. The latter has not been very successful, as it grows 
too large for the space and is inclined to become scragely and 
to droop over the bed. It is usually infested with aphids which 
attract warblers and vireos during their spring migrations. 
