LASGE-LEArEI) SAXIFItAGE. U 



cidedly moist, loamy soil. The saxifrages were planted on 

 caeh side of the main walk, and were fully exposed to light 

 and air (though sheltered from cold winds) during the 

 winter and sjiriug montlis ; but as summer advanced the\- 

 were in a eonsideralde degree sliaded liy tlie leafage of ])lum 

 and pear trees that spread overhead, and though not rob- 

 bing them of light in any serious degree, did certainly 

 screen them from the sunshine. 



The amateur gardener may prntitaldy bear in mind that 

 success in gardening is like success in life, inasmuch as the 

 secret of success depends in a great measure on attention 

 to little things. We obtain our plants from all sorts of 

 places — from rocky heights, from humid valleys, from sno\\\' 

 plains, and from warm water-courses — and vet we expect 

 them all to thrive under nearly the same conditions within 

 the boundaries of one garden. And the wonder is that 

 many of them do thrive under conditions that apjaear so 

 very different to those they were adapted for by nature. 

 But their adaptiveness is a limited Cjuantity, and it is an 

 important part of the business of the cultivator to discover 

 the limits, so that he may not kill his pets by subjecting 

 them to conditions at variance with their recpiirements. Two 

 amateurs of hardy ferns agreed to maliC an attempt to grow 

 the true maidenhair fern in a London garden, and thev 

 both bought plants of the same tradesman for the experi- 

 ment. One planted his delicate pet in a nice snug corner 

 of the r(ickerv, and having followed the teaching of a book 

 as to the mode of planting, he waited, and hoped for the 

 best. The other followed the teaching of the book as 

 regards the suitable soil, and so forth, but having reflected 

 on the frail constitution of the plant, he proceeded to 

 evolve out of his consciousness conditions of which the other 



