space tucked into a corner made by a union of two walls choose 
this. It is a shelter in itself. 
After the place is chosen, it must be put into good condition 
to receive its guests, the wild flowers. The soil ought to be deep 
and rich. Make a pilgrimage to the woods, taking with you grape 
baskets, pails, or cigar boxes. These are to hold the fine, rich, 
black leaf -mold, the soil of our woods. The more of this you can 
bring home, the better it will make the soil. 
Next dig up your garden spot; dig it down one foot in depth 
and take out the soil. Put the top four inches of soil back into the 
garden again. It is just as if you had turned your garden soil up- 
side down, only you are not going to use the old bottom soil. 
This part of the soil, especially in city backyards, is of very little 
value. The plants obtain many of their food materials from the 
soil. If you have any old leaves or rotted manure put a four inch 
layer into the garden. Now on top of this fill in the soil you 
brought from the woods. Suppose even now the cavity is not 
filled. In such a case, put back in whatever soil is left. To be 
sure this will not be a rich top layer. Never mind! The richest 
soil is in the area where the roots of the wild flowers are to go, and 
here is where it is really needed. 
If it is impossible to bring in enough wood soil for such a bed, 
try the following plan. Dig over the garden plot and add any rich- 
ness you can to it. Then place wood soil, or leaf mold, in the 
immediate spot in which the plant is to go. In this case, you are 
storing the food materials in definite spots for use, but the entire 
bed has not been made rich. If the place is too wet where the 
garden is to be, then put a two inch lay r er of gravel or small stones 
in the bottom of the bed. This is called a drainage layer, helping 
to drain off the water. Many people have the strange notion that 
wild flowers always live in wet spots. That is not true. Nature 
looks out for her drainage problems, and does not allow her 
flower children to be in poorly drained beds, except, of course, 
the swamp and bog plants, which live in water. Study the condi- 
tions under which you find plants growing in the open, and copy 
these. 
When you go out to gather wild Howlers for your new garden, 
take a basket or a big tin or pasteboard box, a trowel, newspapers, 
