HARDY ORNAMENTALS, HERBACEOUS PLANTS, ETC. 
3 
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 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 small ones. 
In selecting the stone for a ropkery, 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 embedded 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, elliptical, 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 rock-work : "A rock-garden may be successfully formed, where the 
surface is generally 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 a walk made in the center of the cutting up the gradual slope formed 
by the soil, until the shrubs in the background are reached. It does not so much matter what the 
quality of the soil is underneath, providing it is porous enough to insure good drainage, as additional 
new soil should be given each plant when inserting it. Formality must be avoided as much as possible 
in the arrangement, and the stones should be deeply embedded in order to hold them firmly. 4 ’ 
PROTECTING PLANTS. 
I LIKE a little protection for nearly all the hardy plants in winter ; not a protection so much against 
frost, for this is natural to them, but a protection against mild winter weather. Plants that arc 
hardy enough for the severest winter weather may be killed by alternate freezing and thawing. 
Nature in many instances provides this protection in the dead foliage falling about the plants. 
Yet, we cannot tell just how much of this exposure each species will bear during the winter, nor just 
how much it will have to bear. Our hardiest meadow grasses are frequently killed out in open 
winters, as is the case with winter cereals. With hardy perennials it is much the same. Species that 
are native to the coldest climates—that will stand almost any amount of cold, freezing weather—are 
often injured by alternate freezing and thawing. But a covering of 2 or 3 inches of swale or beaver 
meadow hay protects them from such sudden changes, and they come out from their covering in spring 
as fresh and green as those from under a snow-bank. A few of the more tender sorts may need three 
inches of forest leaves under the hay, hut these are not necessary except for tender sorts. For the 
exclusion of all frost for species that will not bear freezing, six to ten inches of the leaves under the 
hay will be required 
0OLLEGTI0NS. 
ASTStatc which the collection is for, when ordering. 
HARDY! HERBACEOUS* PLANTS* FOR ROCKERIES OR FOR THE OPEN BORDER.* 
50 distinct varieties, my selection, one of each, $5.00; two of each, $9.00; three of each, $12.00 
25 “ " " 44 44 3.00; 44 44 500; 44 “ 6.50 
12 r, ‘ 44 '• 44 1.25; 44 41 2.10; 4 4 4 4 2.50 
COLLECTIONS^OFrHARDY'PLANTSrFORrTHE SHADY CORNER. 
30 distinct varieties, my selection, one of each, $3.00: two of each, $5.00; three of each, $6.50 
20 " " " r 44 44 2.15; 4 4 4 4 4 .oo; 4 4 4 4 5.00 
