70 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
A decade ago it might have been necessary to have directed at- 
tention to the fact that a large number of our common wild plants 
were worthy of place in the garden, and that many of the most 
beautiful flowering plants were to be found among our native 
hardy plants. 
Now, happily, the study and knowledge of wild flowers has so 
far progressed that a statement of this kind is no longer necessar}\ 
We now have papers and books on the subject innumerable, and in 
many schools botany is taught. Once, popular wild flower books 
were few, and persons interested in botany were hard to find. 
Now the reverse is true. 
A wild garden is the best way of studying and knowing plants. 
By seeing plants grow we become interested and desire to know 
more. We add to the number and our knowledge increases. In 
due time we have a respectable collection, and we also have a fa- 
miliarity with plants which can be gained in no other way. The 
garden becomes a part of our daily experience, and we may closely 
observe individual plants throughout their entire existence. 
The proper time to transplant native plants varies. The lat- 
itude is wide, and success is sure to the observing and the industri- 
ous. As with trees and shrubs many prefer to plant in the fall, 
while others maintain the superiority of spring planting; so it is 
largely a matter of opinion, or condition, when hardy plants may 
be moved. For myself, I prefer the fall for hard-wooded plants, 
and the spring for plants of tender structure. Hard-wooded 
plants, if moved after the leaves have dropped remain dormant 
during the winter, and will push without loss in the spring. 
Ferns if moved in the late fall, if not carefully planted, may drs- 
out, or for other causes may show no life in the spring. I have 
never had special difficulty in growing any of our native plants. 
If the laurel or wild honeysuckle be moved during a resting period, 
and the root fibers be carefully preserved, and when transplanted 
the soil be pressed firmly about the roots and afterwards properly 
watered, there will be no halt in the growth, and at the proper sea- 
son the plants will start as though they were in their original po- 
