XIV 
MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN 
Favored indeed are the gardens of these States, which 
border on the Great Lakes, some five hundred and eighty 
feet above sea-level. The country in most parts is fer- 
tile and flat, with a climate superior to that of New Eng- 
land in summer, and winters equally as cold. To quote 
our well known garden friend, Mrs. Francis King, of Alma, 
in central Michigan: “We have a very fine summer climate, 
most favorable to gardening; no humidity whatsoever, 
but dry and bracing, and while a short summer, a merry 
one for flowers. We must plan for a late spring, and 
frost is due in early September; but when we have learned 
these things it is very simple to arrange for them. Our 
rainfall is usually sufficient, and we practically never suffer 
from the heat. Hardy Chrysanthemums need a very 
sheltered position in winter. At Detroit, one hundred 
and fifty miles southeast of Alma, the trees are in spring 
foliage almost ten days earlier, partly owing to the dis- 
tance southward and partly to the warming influence of 
Lake St. Clair.” 
The garden at Orchard House, Alma, so vividly de- 
scribed in “The Well-Considered Garden,” is too familiar 
to most gardeners to need description. Briefly, the plant- 
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