HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
The following valuable essay on Herbaceous Plants 
was read at a meeting of the Boston Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, held at their hall, Feb. 10, by Warren H. Man¬ 
ning, Esq.: 
It is always safe to follow, as near as possible, the con¬ 
ditions in which a plant flourishes naturally ; but if 
these are unknown we may be guided to a great extent 
by the appearance of the plant, which is often an indi¬ 
cation of the soil it grew in, and may give it the treat¬ 
ment that has proved successful with similar plants. 
An aquatic or bog-plant can usually be distinguished by 
its large cells and soft, fleshy stems and leaves ; a plant 
growing in dry, sandy, or gravelly soil, by the dry, 
harsh feeling of the stems and leaves, or the large, 
deep-growing tap root ; while alpine and rock plants 
arc generally small, and often fleshy, with long and fine 
hair-like roots from a short root stalk. There are many 
exceptions to these rules. The lines are often quite 
clearly marked between whole families of plants, and it 
is often a good way of determining the habit of a plant 
o find in what family it belongs. For example, the 
hardy North American species of Orchids nearly all 
grow in moist, shady situations in woods or meadows, 
n a peaty or leaf-mold soil; the composita?, Mint and 
Pea family, with few exceptions, in any good soil, and 
the Iris family in wet, boggy situations. 
Among those most difficult to cultivate are many of 
the alpines, bat they are veiy beautiful and will repay 
all the trouble necessary to success, which can only be 
gained by patience and perseverance under repeated 
failure. In England, gardeners said that they could not 
be grown in the open ground, but William Robinson 
thought that any of the hardy ones could be if proper 
methods were used, and his success is sliowu in his book 
on “Alpine Flowers.” But the treatment successful 
with him will not always be so here, though we may 
get many useful hints from it; for in England they do 
not have our scorching summer suns nor the frequent 
and sudden changes from freezing at night to a hot, 
burning morning sun, without a veil of mist to modify 
its fierceness, which is so destructive to herbaceous 
plants. We cannot depend on the rockery as they can. 
Mr. Falconer, of the Cambridge’ Botanic Garden, who 
has had much experience both in England and this 
country, says that most alpine plants that he has grown 
here do much better in the open border than in the 
rockery, and that they must not be in such a position as 
to allow the water to settle about them, and it is best to 
mulch them with stones to keep the soil about the roots 
at an even temperature and moisture. 
We cannot depend on Europe for alpine plants that 
will succeed here, but we have the White, Alleghany 
and Rocky Mountains to draw from, and any traveler 
in those mountains will testify to the beauty of the al¬ 
pine flora. It may be difficult, to obtain these plants, 
but doubtless dealers in herbaceous plants, who have 
correspondents with collectoi-3 in all parts of the coun¬ 
try, will get them when there is a demand for them. 
Those difficult classes of plants should be taken in hand 
by amateurs who have sufficient love for the results_to 
be gained to carry the work to a success issue. Those 
in the business can generally grow only such as are 
profitable. Succulents, like Sedums and Sempervi- 
vums, resemble alpines so far as regards water settling 
about the roots, for if it does it will rot the plants. But 
they will grow in very poor, dry soils, or on rocks in 
most barren and unpromising places ; indeed, they are 
among the most available plants for covering rock¬ 
eries. 
Sand plants will usually do much better in then - own 
soil than in a richer loam, for in the latter they are lia¬ 
ble to make a strong growth of foliage at the expense 
of the flowers, and the plant is very likely to be killed 
by the first hard frost, while if grown in a poor soil it 
would blossom freely and ripen its growth and with¬ 
stand frost. If any plant is not successful in one spot, 
it should be moved to another. It is surprising to see 
what a little difference in soil or position will do for a 
plant; often a position where there is no perceptible 
difference from the former one, will make all the differ¬ 
ence between success and failure. 
Most of our native plants are improved by removing 
them to cultivated ground where they are protected 
from the inroads of stronger-growing plants or weeds 
that would kill them out under the same conditions of 
soil in nature. The Trilliums, for example, will make 
fine large clumps in • the garden, while in their native 
woods more than a single plant is seldom found in a 
place. The Jack-in-the-Pulpit is greatly improved in 
the size of the plant, leaf and flower. Aquilegia Can¬ 
adensis, or wild Columbine, when cultivated, cannot be 
excelled in habit of plant or beauty and abundance of 
flowers by any other species. Lobelia cardinalis or Car¬ 
dinal Flower flourishes finely in all good garden soil. 
Wild Calla, Lizard’s Tail and many others are greatly 
improved by being cultivated, and there are many 
others should be improve'?! by the same arts as have 
brought the beautiful Phloxes, Larkspurs and Holly¬ 
hocks to their present perfection. 
In making a selection of the most desirable herba¬ 
ceous plants, we must see that there is a sufficient vari¬ 
ety in color and in the flowers at all seasons, and also 
choose plants of good habit of growth and thoroughly 
tested. It would be impossible to give a list that would 
be best for all localities, but a list of such as are most 
desirable in the ordinary flower-garden will be useful. 
Many of them—such as Tulips, Phloxes, Paeonies and 
Hollyhocks—are worthy of exclusive attention, and it 
would be a source of much pleasure for any one to ex¬ 
periment with a certain flower in connection with his 
general collection, making it a specialty and improving 
it and its varieties as much as possible by hybridizing 
and selection and by propagating sports. 
Mr Manning’s paper concluded with a list of sixty of 
the most desirable herbaceous plants, but he remarked 
that as many more equally good might be selected. 
Whosoever lends a greedy ear to a slanderous report 
is either himself of a radically bad disposition, or a mere 
child in sense.— Nenandei \ 
