GETTING INTO THE GROUND 43 



little to commend them for all the rest of the year, 

 when we might as well have the bloom plus good 

 autumn color and attractive winter twigs? 



When it comes to buying these needed shrubs 

 that must get into the ground as soon as it is 

 workable, I am after quaUty rather than lowest 

 price. There is frequently a difiFerence of fifty per 

 cent in price between the offerings made by several 

 nurserymen for the same item. The lowest-priced 

 is not often the cheapest. One bushy, well-rooted 

 spirea, for instance, full of vigor and showing trans- 

 planting and good soil help, and dug so that it 

 comes to me with all its roots, is worth four or 

 five spindly, leggy plants just as high, but plainly 

 disclosing their poor origin and maintenance, and 

 not infrequently delivered to the planter with both 

 scanty and mutilated roots. 



I made the mistake of buying in one order the 

 larger-sized shrubs, rather than those a year 

 younger and of medium but stocky size. They 

 were bigger when they came, to be sure, but they 

 indicated plainly their need of severe pruning, 

 which when given set them back more than a 

 year. Now I ask for young and vigorous plants, 

 which are more likely to come with roots but little 

 mutilated, and I see the better results in growth, 

 besides saving the considerable difference in cost. 



