64 THE WILD GARDEN. 
prising thing is that it has not been done to a large extent 
already, because it is so very easy and so very delightful. 
Recently a good many different varieties of Lily of the Valley 
—nearly as many as twenty—have been collected, and are 
beginning to be cultivated by some of our growers of herbaceous 
plants. The difference in these is not owing to soil or situa- 
tion. When grown in the same place they manifest differ- 
ences in length of spike and size of foliage; and also in time 
of blooming. In some the spike is short, and in others nearly 
one foot long. This important fact should, of course, be noted 
by any who would, in places where the Lily of the Valley 
does not grow wild, interest themselves in establishing it. 
There are advantages in wood-culture for many hardy 
plants—the shelter, shade, and soil affording for some things 
conditions more suitable than our gardens. The warmth of 
the wood, too, is an advantage, the fallen leaves helping to 
protect the plants in all ways. In a hot country plants that 
love cool places could be grown in a wood where they would 
perish if exposed. Mr. G. F. Wilson has made himself a 
remarkably interesting and successful wild garden in a wood, 
from which he sent me in the autumn of last year (1880) a 
flowering stem of the American Swamp Lily (L. superbum) 
eleven feet high. No such result has ever been seen in any 
garden or border of the ordinary type. These Lilies of his 
grow in a woody bottom where rich dark soil has gathered, 
and where there is shelter and shade. 
Placing every plant in one border with the same condi- 
tions as to soil and exposure was a great mistake. A great 
many beautiful plants haunt the woods, and we cannot change 
their nature easily. Even if we should grow them in open 
