CHAPTER XV. 
SELECTIONS OF HARDY EXOTIC PLANTS FOR VARIOUS POSITIONS 
IN THE WILD GARDEN. 
As it is desirable to know 
r how to procure as well as 
Ail Suge how to select the best kinds, 
&'| Wa few words on the first 
bx subject may not be amiss 
= \ here. 
) / A very important point 
is the getting of a stock of 
plants to begin with. In country or other places 
/, where many good old border flowers remain in the 
cottage gardens, many species may be collected 
\' therein. A series of nursery beds should be formed 
’ in some by-place in which such subjects could be 
increased to any desired degree. Free-growing 
spring-flowers like Aubrietia, Alyssum, and Iberis, 
may be multiplied to any extent by division or cuttings, 
Numbers of kinds may be raised from seed sown rather thinly in drills, in 
nursery beds in the open air. The catalogues should be searched every 
Spring for suitable subjects. The best time for sowing is the Spring, but 
any time during the Summer will do. Many perennials and bulbs must 
be bought in nurseries and increased as well as may be in nursery beds. 
As to soil, ete, the best way is to avoid the trouble of preparing it 
except for specially interesting plants. The great point is to adapt the 
plant to the soil—in peaty places to place plants that thrive in peat, 
in clay soils those that thrive in clays, and so on. Among coarse 
vegetation the best way is to dig the ground deeply before planting, so 
