2o8 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



planted with few kinds. Mixtures were practically 

 unknown — ^unless possibly mixtures of colors — and no 

 suggestion of carelessness was allowed to creep in, in 

 any except the gardens of the "foreigners" away south. 



Partly this was because of the taste of the times, 

 and partly it was owing to the high esteem in which 

 the gardener held his favorites. They were not han- 

 dled in the fcareless fashion which we to-day, who have 

 the world's flowers in our dooryards, may assume with 

 them. Nay, they were treated with elaborate respect, 

 and guarded and hoarded even as gems and gold. For 

 [finer bulbs special beds were reserved; and for these, 

 edgings of boards were preferred, so precious were 

 they considered. 



These board edgings were always recommended as 

 being the very best of all. Boxwood was next in 

 favor, but the old idea being to protect and definitely 

 lock up each floral compartment, an actual little wall 

 was more satisfactory than even the stubby, resistant 

 box. Board edgings were most carefully constructed 

 and set in place upon the ground, after the latter had 

 been worked deep and fertilized and made ready. 

 Directions for their making say that boards of i 1-4 

 incL stuff, ^ inches wide, were to be cut the requisite 

 length^ and fitted even and true at the corners, accord- 

 ing to the design, by the carpenter. To the inside 

 of these, short posts or stakes sharpened slightly at 



