August, 1911 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
109 
Wild asters were transplanted from the road 
side to the edge of the meadow 
snow ball, vibur¬ 
num opulus sterilis; 
three varieties of 
spirea-blooming in 
May; a pink 
honeysuckle, loni- 
ccra tatarica; a 
fringe tree, chion- 
anthus virginicus; 
a double deutzia, 
dewtzia crenata, and 
a mock orange, 
Philadelphus gran- 
diflonts — bloom¬ 
ing in June. 
About the base 
of the mock or¬ 
ange, which stood 
over twelve feet 
high, grew a tan¬ 
gled mass of Sweet 
William of all col¬ 
ors. By the end of 
the summer I 
knew that the 
Sweet William 
owned the place. 
Self-sown all these 
years, it grew in thick mats defying even the wild grass. It had 
spread through the meadow and was growing along the wood 
road. Being a hardy perennial which seeds freely it had every¬ 
thing in its favor. A yellow day lily had thrived as well. It was 
holding undisputed possession of one bed, but its habits of sel¬ 
dom maturing seed forbade colonization. Besides these an occa¬ 
sional frail petunia bloomed here and there in the grass, and 
that was all. 
Early the next Spring the man with the hoe was set to work 
in the garden. With a heavy grubbing hoe he removed huge 
clumps of sod, shaking the dirt from the roots before he put 
them into his wheel-barrow. These sods were drawn into the 
meadow where they 
were piled to rot 
and be used again 
in the garden when 
they become good 
soil. This hand la¬ 
bor was a slow way 
to get the beds into 
shape, but plough¬ 
ing was impossible 
without injuring 
the shrubs. It took 
one man ten days 
to clear the grass 
out of the paths 
and beds, and work 
the soil until it was 
mellow. He also 
dug about each 
bush and put ma¬ 
il u r e into the 
ground at the roots. 
He collected the 
clumps of Sweet 
William and plant¬ 
ed them in one solid 
bed and made a 
border about an¬ 
other bed. He was paid at the rate of $1.75 a day, making the 
cost of reclaiming the garden only $17.50. 
At this time I took up the garden work. The man with the hoe 
has been called out to clean the paths every other week, which 
task has taken half a day each time. The planting and care of 
the beds I have done alone with a wheel hoe. 1 anticipated that 
this summer would be little but a battle with weedseeds in the 
soil, or grass roots that seemed to appear from nowhere. With 
this thought in mind hardy, sturdy growing plants were sown in 
rows far enough apart to allow of cultivation with the wheel hoe. 
Poppies, zinnias, marigolds, asters, heliotrope, flowering tobacco. 
(Continued on page 125) 
We hoped to naturalize the white boneset in 
the rich leaf mold of the woods 
Sweet William had survived uncared for and 
soon ruled the place 
IV s 
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A garden in the hollow of a hill with woods 
and meadows instead of a wall 
Gladioli were set in trenches and cultivated 
as though they were potatoes 
