io6 



HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS. 



milk is a staple product, which might and probably 

 would work well for the disposition of the produce 

 of the farm and orchard. Creameries are built, 

 run and managed by the owners of the stock pro- 

 ducing the milk, the expenses and profits being of 

 course divided prorata in proportion to the amounts 

 of both money invested and milk turned in at the 

 factory. As a matter of course the prices paid at 

 evaporating establishments vary with circumstances. 

 The average prices range from 20 to 30 cents a 

 bushel as they run, including cider apples. Natu- 

 rally, unless the grower is extremely progressive the 

 proportion of cider apples to those of the best 

 •quality is largely in favor of the former. Indeed, 

 many managers of evaporating establishments com- 

 plain that the first and second grades of apples are 



[to be Ci 



marketed through commission men and the inferior 

 stock taken to the evaporators. 



We come again to the question whether the de- 

 ductions gathered from the experiences of the peo- 

 ple interviewed on the subject are to be considered 

 as beyond all question, and, too, whether these means 

 of escape from the stagnation of prices in farm, 

 garden and orchard products are the best to be 

 had, or whether others equally as good exist or may 

 be found. As stated in our last paper we will soon 

 show the opinions of growers on this same subject, 

 and by comparisons between their opinions and 

 those of the canner and evaporator, both, we must 

 consider, gleaned from experience, we may find the 

 happy mean which shall place us on a safer, surer 

 footing in the near future. 



riNUED.] 



HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS. 



THEIR ARRANGEMENT IN MIXED BORDERS. 



It is almost impossible to suggest any plan in the 

 arrangement of the flower garden that can be gen- 

 erally adopted, even on principle, much less in de- 

 tail. So much depends upon the size, form and 

 situation of the plot to be ornamented, together 

 with its natural advantages, that it is not easy, if 

 it is even possible, to put on paper instructions for 

 planting a mixed border on a definite plan, as too 

 many details are involved to admit of its being 

 made intelligible. To a great extent the selection 

 and arrangement of plants is a matter of individual 

 taste. Our best gardens are filled with plants 

 selected with the one object of the gratification of 

 the owner's taste ; and there are as many tastes to 

 please as there are gardens to plant. But there are 

 some general principles to be understood ; their ap- 

 lication will depend wholly upon circumstances. 

 We will state these principles briefly, and leave to 

 those interested the detail of management. 



First and most important, the border should be 

 so composed as to be more or less replete with in- 

 terest at all points and at all times; if not with flow- 

 ers, at least in foliage and in diversity of individual 

 aspect. In order to bring about this result the 

 planter must know the plants, their height, color, 

 habit, their general appearance at all seasons, time 

 of flowering, and the duration of the flowers. Skill 

 and taste in grouping must do the rest. 



Plants must be graceful to be truly beautiful. 

 Strange forms may be curious and interesting, but 

 real beauty consists of elegance, grace, symmetry, 

 united with harmony of color. Perfect forms are 



the only graceful ones. An object to look graceful 

 must look natural. It must not be tied out of shape; 

 on the contrary, it should have sufficient room for 

 its perfect development in its natural form, and there 

 may be no impertinent interference of art in its 

 growth. A trailing plant must not be made to 

 climb, nor a climber to trail. Neither trim up a 

 shrub to assume a tree form, nor cripple a tree by 

 " cutting back " until it becomes a shrub. 



No more plants should be selected than will be 

 sufficient to fill the border without crowding, even 

 after they have attained full stature. Harmony of 

 color, harmony of form, and agreeable contrasts of 

 both, are of the greatest importance. Without 

 these harmonies there will be no pleasing effects. 

 Although we would encourage an acquaintance 

 with hardy herbaceous plants, yet we would not re- 

 commend their exclusive use in the mixed border, 

 their appropriate place. 



It might be possible in some localities to make a 

 selection of hardy perennials alone, capable of keep- 

 ing up a lively interest in the garden from March to 

 December, and it would be difficult to keep up that 

 interest without them. They are the essential 

 ground work of a good garden. They are the only 

 plants that give flowers in early spring and for 

 many weeks in autumn, after the frost has killed 

 the more tender forms. 



Good annuals and bedding plants are invaluable 

 materials in the arrangement of the planting for 

 summer flowers, and their use cannot profitably be 

 dispensed with. They should, however, be regarded 



