654 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 800 



Hooker systems are — to quote— "better 

 adapted to the artistic ensemble of a hardy 

 garden." He then proceeds to give — to 

 quote again — "a revision of the Hookerian 

 cohorts that is adapted to copyrighted gar- 

 den plans of the author previously pub- 

 lished. ' ' 



If, however, one is not bold enough to 

 remodel the whole natural system to suit 

 his particular garden scheme he must find 

 other means of making system and soil fit 

 —and this often presents considerable diffi- 

 culties. 



To make aquatic and bog plants grow 

 beside related fonns inhabiting drier soils, 

 we tried several devices. The first of these 

 was the small brick pool common in Euro- 

 pean gardens. But these are expensive to 

 build and are liable to be burst and ren- 

 dered useless by freezing. We have, there- 

 fore, substituted two-gallon earthenware 

 kitchen bowls, with sloping sides inside and 

 out. These can stand freezing, and can be 

 made invisible in the garden by sinking 

 them to the rim in the soil. Well-developed 

 specimens of many aquatic plants were 

 made to grow in these during the past sum- 

 mer. By the use of these bowls it is pos- 

 sible to have a miniature bog at any point 

 in the garden where it is needed. 



Provision for larger aquatic plants is 

 made by three concrete pools. For swamp 

 plants there is a bog bed, 15 X 30 feet, 

 filled with peaty soil. This has a water- 

 tight brick border, two feet deep, and a 

 water supply from taps at both ends. In 

 this bed fine specimens of Woodwardia 

 virginica, Bhododetidron viscosum, Hibis- 

 cus moscheiitos, Decodon verticillatus and 

 others have flourished finely. 



In a bed of sand, with a slight admixture 

 of humus, fine clumps of Opuntia vulgaris 

 are spreading vigorously and other xero- 

 phytes promise to do well. 



Another difficulty encountered in garden- 



making of this sort is that of getting shade 

 plants to grow in the open beds. To ac- 

 complish this we have been using small 

 dog-woods, which can readily be kept 

 within bounds, and in the shade of which 

 many mosses, ferns, orchids and other 

 plants of the forest floor are growing 

 well. 



Finally, a very important detail of the 

 management of a garden is the selection of 

 labels that shall be inexpensive and at the 

 same time legible, and durable. Profiting 

 by suggestions from older gardens we have 

 devised three types of zinc labels that are 

 proving very satisfactory. The simplest of 

 these is a stake label an inch wide and six 

 inches long. On this the accession number 

 is stamped across the top with a steel 

 stamp, and the name is written directly 

 on the metal with platinum tetrachlorid. 

 These labels are used for all plants not 

 provided with show labels. Another type 

 of label is If inch wide and 8 inches 

 long. It is painted gray, the name is then 

 stamped on it with printer's ink by means 

 of a rubber stamp. After the ink is dry the 

 label is covered with spar varnish. These 

 are used for show labels on pot plants in 

 the greenhouse. The show labels used for all 

 group and species labels in the garden are 

 rectangular zinc labels, of various sizes 

 from 3X5 inches up to 5 X 12 inches. 

 These are hung by a fold of the upper edge, 

 to a heavy wire staple, the name is printed 

 and the varnish used for protection as in 

 the show labels in the greenhouse. 



The advantage of these labels is that they 

 can be made readily, of any size, by any 

 tinsmith, since they do not involve the use 

 of expensive dies. 



Such are some of the practical devices 

 which contribute toward making the gar- 

 den useful. Some of these are probably 

 used in other gardens, but I have thought 

 it worth while to mention them here be- 



