Hardy Perennials 
FROM SEED 
H ARDY PERENNIALS are not generally as easily grown from seed as annuals. Many of them are 
slow in coming up, and when once up are quite tender until they attain fairly good size. In a 
light, mellow soil some do very well planted at once in the open ground, but others need the 
protection of a coldframe until they have sufficient roots to withstand the sun. Glass is, no 
■ doubt, the best covering if closely cared for, but I like the protecting-cloth quite as well. If the 
sun comes out unusually hot, and the glass is down, the plants may be killed in a short time, but with the 
cloth there is no danger. A light cotton will answer when only a small frame is used. I have found that 
a shade made by using lath, making a rack of the lath with space between two-thirds as wide as the lath, 
is very good for young seedlings as soon as they are up, for the reason that it admits of better circulation 
of air and prevents their damping off, as they frequently do under the cotton or under glass. 
It is best to have two frames, so the seedlings may be transplanted as soon as they are of sufficient 
size. This should be done as soon as a few roots are formed, and before they begin to crowd. The seeds 
may be sown in pots or in rows. If in rows, the soil in the frame should be rich, light and mellow. A mix¬ 
ture of light, sandy loam and leaf-mold is excellent. If they are sown in pots, these should be filled a 
quarter or a third with crocks or small stones to insure good drainage, and the balance with a good, rich 
soil, such as has been advised for the rows, and in which the seed is sown. After the first transplanting 
the seedlings need a little more light, especially after two or three days, and if the weather is mild the cov¬ 
ering may be raised, admitting light and air. I like two or three grades of protecting-cloth, using the 
heaviest at first, and the thinner, which admits more light and air, after the plants have become stronger. 
If everything has gone well with them, the young seedlings will do to go outside in four to six weeks after 
the first transplanting ; but the covering should be left off three or four days previous to this in order to 
harden them off before the change. By giving the young seedlings a little exposure beforehand and shad¬ 
ing afterwards, I have had fairly good success in transplanting outside at first. 
THE ROCK GARDEN 
This class of gardening is receiving much more attention in America than in former years. It is not 
only quite essential in the landscape development of many places, but it enables the cultivator to manage 
successfully many species that he might never otherwise succeed with in level culture. A conical rockery 
that would cover a G-foot circle would afford room for a great many more plants on its larger surface—at 
least three times as many —as the same circle would accommodate were a bed made on the ground instead 
of the rockery; besides a greater variety might be grown. The perfect drainage which the rockery would 
afford would be just the requirement which might be lacking for some species in the level bed. Where 
only a small bit of land for plants can be had, like some small corner in a city back yard, a rockery of this 
sort will make room for a great many more plants. In building such a rockery, a conical mound of earth is 
made to cover the foundation, and stones are laid, first around the bottom, then above those embedded in 
this mound, around and one above another, until the whole surface has been gone over, leaving larger and 
smaller pockets between the stones, in which the plants are to be placed. It is well, when the stones are 
being laid, to add directly under and among them a prepared soil of 5 or 6 inches, composed of leaf-mold, 
good rich loam and broken pieces of granite or other small broken stone. The pockets may be made to fit the 
various clumps to be set, larger tufts going into the larger pockets, and smaller plants into the smaller ones. 
In selecting the stones for the rockery, it is best to get, if possible, a variety of shapes and sizes, and 
moss-covered stones, or such as are sprinkled with lichens, are much prettier for this purpose. In placing 
them in the rockery, the sides having the most moss or lichens are turned out. The stones should be 
deeply and firmly imbedded in the earth, so as to be solid, and should be placed with a view to allowing the 
rains to pass down among them into the soil, and not shingle, or in any way prevent the free access of 
water. Small rockeries of this sort may be of almost any size or shape. Whether conical in outline, ellip¬ 
tical, or merely a mound of irregular outline, if the stones are well selected and placed, the results will be 
the same, so far as the growing of plants is concerned, and after these are of established size, the effect 
cannot be otherwise than pleasing. Old walls and other unsightly objects are often hidden in this manner. 
Soil is thrown up or carted in, making a slant from a little below the top of the wall back to the ground. 
Stones are embedded in this, and the prepared soil added, as with the conical rockery. The taller species 
or some low shrubbery is planted along the highest portion next to the wall as a background. Taller species 
should go nearer the top, and the smaller next to the bottom. 
The following quotation from the Dictionary of Gardening on this subject may be of interest to some 
contemplating a larger rockwork: "A rock-garden may be successfully formed, where the surface is gen¬ 
erally flat, by digging a deep cutting of an irregular outline through a piece of ground, and utilizing the 
soil thus obtained as mounds of uneven height along the upper part on either side, whereon trees and 
evergreen shrubs may be placed as background and for affording shelter. The stones should be arranged 
to form cavities of an irregular size and shape, for the accommodation of various plants, from the sides of 
