448 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



shelter from wind is far more important to many plants than 

 shade. Most sun-loving plants are quite contented to see the 

 sun from sunrise to mid-day. However, every garden does not 

 admit of choice in these matters, and plants must he selected 

 and placed according to circumstances ; but as regards soil, it 

 may be made heavy or light, and lime or stone may be added 

 according to the preference shown by each in the trial-beds. 



By far the best time for replanting is early in autumn, not 

 later than the middle of October ; roots will then have enough 

 activity to fix the plant to its place before the dead time of 

 winter. Things which cannot be planted before the end of 

 October had better be left until just starting to grow in spring, 

 though in that case a spring of late frosts and dry east winds 

 will cause many to fail ; but the worst time to move is when all 

 the leaves are dead, and the plant is absolutely at rest. It then 

 cannot anchor itself to the soil ; it remains with loose roots all 

 winter, and subject to evil influences which nothing but the 

 strongest constitutions can overcome. 



I mentioned about five years as the average time during 

 which a border may be left nearly to itself after planting, if 

 weedy and rapidly spreading plants on the one hand and short- 

 lived or delicate plants on the other are avoided ; and this leads 

 me to say something about the average duration of the life of 

 hardy plants. This depends in a great measure on the soil, as 

 they wear themselves out far more quickly in a moist and reten- 

 tive soil than where it is sandy and dry. Some deep-rooted 

 plants will go on for many years flowering annually in the same 

 spot without deterioration. Others continue only on condition 

 that they are allowed to roam and seek ever new pastures for their 

 roots. Some of my choicest plants — the best Columbines, for 

 instance — seldom flower well for more than two seasons. With 

 other plants, the richer the soil the more they multiply shoots ; 

 and, if not divided and moved, a plant which in poor soil might 

 have lived ten years or more becomes helplessly exhausted in 

 three or four. I therefore determine five years as the average 

 ornamental life of a plant in cultivation, where, it must be 

 remembered, life is under very artificial conditions. Then there 

 are some plants which grow for four or five years from seed or 

 cuttings before they flower well, and such plants must be grown 

 on in the store-beds. Others never do so well as the season after 



