THE HARDY BORDER 



I have no disposition to say disparaging things 

 about the garden of annuals. Annuals are very 

 desirable. Some of them are absolutely indis- 

 pensable. But they call for a great deal of labor. 

 It is hard work to spade the ground, and make 

 the beds, and sow the seed, and keep the weeds 

 down. This work must be done year after year. 

 But with hardy plants this is not the case. Con- 

 siderable labor may be called for, the first year, 

 in preparing the ground and setting out the 

 plants, but the most of the work done among 

 them, after that, can be done with the hoe, and 

 it will take so little time to do it that you will 

 wonder how you ever came to think annuals the 

 only plants for the flower-garden of busy people. 

 That this is what a great many persons think is 

 true, but it is because they have not had sufficient 

 experience with hardy plants to fully understand 

 their merits, and the small amount of care they 

 require. A season's experience will convince 

 them of their mistake. 



In preparing the ground for the reception of 

 these plants, spade it up to the depth of a foot 

 and a half, at least, and work into it a liberal 

 amount of good manure, or some commercial fer- 

 tilizer that will take the place of manure from 

 the barnyard or cow-stable. Most perennials 



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