go Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 
ground has been thoroughly prepared, and the plants having 
been set with reference to their peculiar needs, provide for 
themselves. Annuals are grouped in a small area, and re- 
quire very slight attention, if the heavens are propitious. My 
advice to an amateur is to let a garden follow a natural growth 
from small beginnings, and add to it only as you need elbow 
room. Half the pleasure in life is to grow and to make 
breaches in old horizons. If you begin too ambitiously, ex- 
tensions may become a burden, and the more assistance you 
require, the less the personal joy. Occasionally I have a man 
for half a day to haul cart-loads of various soils to my dump- 
ing ground, or to gather stones for new walls; but this is the 
extent of my purchasing power, for I prefer to devote funds to 
buying choice varieties rather than to employ a man’s labor. 
However this represents a personal idiosyncrasy of one who 
has learned to value the probable Irish ancestor, who has 
entailed upon me a wholesome love of work. 
In choosing a site for a garden, let it have a southern ex- 
posure, or one to the southeast or southwest; get all possible 
shelter from the north, northeast and northwest winds and 
storms. If procurable in no other way, plant a hedge or wind 
break of trees a few yards from the garden, but not so close as 
to encroach on the soil. Some trees will run out their roots 
for yards in search of water or mellow earth. Choose a place 
with natural beauty and some irregularity. Use the defects 
as so Many opportunities to bring out individual beauty. Un- 
less your mind is constitutionally built on straight lines avoid 
long straight walks and borders. In marking out curved walks 
or beds, lay down a rope or hose to represent the proposed 
line, and study your curves from many points. A defect in 
curvature may not show from one place yet be obvious from 
another. Any undue flattening or bulging of a curve spoils its 
contour. Seek to have features of particular interest, to be 
