IV 



Preface. 



gone before, including recognized authorities whose works 

 are valuable chiefly to those who, like their authors, are 

 learned in botanical studies. But dependence has not 

 been made on these alone. The volume has been pre- 

 pared in Newport, R. I., America's great summer resort, 

 which in its magnificent villa and cottage grounds is 

 almost literally a city of gardens and flowers. Here per- 

 haps more than anywhere else in America are to be found 

 in practical use the combined horticultural treasures of 

 the world. 



These famous gardens derive their chief beauty and 

 glory from what are known as hardy plants. In almost 

 every instance the chief reliance for both flowers and 

 foliage is upon shrubs and herbaceous perennials. The 

 author has improved the opportunity of studying the pro- 

 cesses of growth and cultivation on most of these estates 

 from their inception to their present proportions, and is 

 thus able to write largely from personal observation and 

 study of the living specimens in all stages of their growth. 

 Here are to be found the newer as well as the older hardy 

 exotics from all parts of the world, where such have been 

 grown alongside our native plants and their relative merits 

 fully determined. All those which have withstood the 

 tests of experience are here brought under review, and 

 their especial characteristics noted so far as practicable in 

 the space allotted ; it being the purpose to cover the 

 whole field especially of the hardy shrubs, old or new, 

 adapted to useful and ornamental planting. 



It is well understood that botany deals chiefly with 

 fixed forms, as represented by orders, genera, and species. 



