December  18,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
5G5 
gardens  ;  a  striking  testimony  to  the  migration  of  plants 
impressed  by  a  sagacious  wink  from  old  Jack,  which  might 
have  meant  anything  or  nothing  then  ;  now  it  means  a 
good  deal.  It  was  just  such  a  wink  and  a  nod  that  led  at 
this  year’s  bedding  out  to  a  dive  into  a  disused  upright 
boiler,  the  magnetic  properties  of  which  had  attracted  some 
of  our  best  bedding  plants  into  its  capacious  stomach  on 
their  journey  from  the  frames  to  the  front;  so  quietly,  too, 
that  the  carriers  “  didn’t  know  a  ’a’p’orth  about  it.” 
Propagation. 
Legitimate  disappearance  for  want  of  a  little  forethought 
of  many  so-called  hardy  plants  is  apt  to  occur,  and  perennial 
propagation  to  keep  up  the  stock  is  absolutely  necessary. 
This  is  essentially  the  case  with  Pentstemons,  and  cuttings 
of  these  put  in  a  frame  under  a  north  wall  now,  with  such 
odds  and  ends  as  commend  themselves  for  similar  notice, 
ladyship  s  gardener  can  trot  over  on  Shank’s  mare  for  a 
few  roots  afterwards,  muttering,  perhaps,  “  M’lady’s  gone 
mad.  However,  he  soon  goes  mad  too,  and  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  method,  some  right,  some  wrong,  in  their  mad¬ 
ness,  which  never  assumes  its  most  violent  form,  perhaps, 
until  some  “chiel”  goes  taking  notes  and  “prents  them”; 
then  matters  “  gang  awa’  ”  fast  and  furious. 
Borders,  Beds,  Rockeries,  and  Rooteries. 
All  sorts  and  conditions  of  planting,  suitable  and  unsuit¬ 
able  to  the  positions  and  surroundings,  are  frequently  in 
evidence  ;  often  sufficiently  unsuitable  to  seriously  detract 
from  the  show.  The  planter  cannot  consistently  carry  out 
all  the  natural  freedom  and  grace  characteristically  inherent 
with  the  growth  of  hardy  plants  in  violent  opposition  to 
harmonic  lines  without  presenting  incongruities  ;  hence,  in 
the  formal  garden,  a  certain  amount  of  formality  must  ride. 
Malmaison  Carnations. 
will  make  nice  little  plants,  and  be  found  real  handy  for 
filling  frontage  next  spring.  Root  division  at  that  season 
is,  par  excellence,  the  method  for  propagation  of  true 
herbaceous  plants,  and  with  due  thought  having  been  given 
to  timely  labelling,  the  weeding  out  of  poor  varieties, 
selection,  division,  and  preservation  of  the  best,  all  tends 
to  result  in  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  A  friend  who  has 
worked  on  this  principle  for  years  has  now  the  finest  stock 
of  superior  kinds  the  most  covetous  could  desire.  Great 
beggar  and  generous  giver  as  he  is,  the  envied  collection  has 
not  cost  his  employers  one  penny  ;  all  of  which  is,  of  course, 
very  bad — for  trade  ;  yet  self-made  hardy  borders  are  some¬ 
times  like  self-made  men,  if  not  made  that  way  they  are  not 
made  at  all.  What  an  entrancing  theme  it  is  this  hardy 
plant  “  mania  ”  !  Let  but  one  man  or  wo - (I  mean  lady) 
be  badly  bitten  in  a  locality  hitherto  exempt,  the  infection 
spreads  as  fast  as  her  ladyship’s  landau  can  bring  home  the 
report  of  Mr.  or  Mrs.  So-and-So’s  “  lovely  plants,”  or  her 
Justice  to  the  plants  must  be  tempered  with  mercy  for  the 
surroundings ;  and  so  much  tempered,  perhaps,  that  the 
subject  is  shorn  of  that  beauty  we  look  for  in  conjunction 
with  it.  In  the  kitchen  garden,  so  often  comprising  the 
utile  et  dulce  by  important  central  or  other  borders,  not 
only  for  ornamentation,  but  for  a  supply  of  cut  bloom,  the 
more  prominent  plants,  such  as  perennial  Sunflowers, 
Michaelmas  Daisies,  and  others  of  that  ilk,  with  a  mixed 
planting  of  many  things  tender  and  tropical,  annuals  and 
biennials,  are  not  only  useful  but  essential  to  the  end  in 
view.  In  the  flower  garden  proper,  ornamental  display  is 
the  object,  and  with  possibly  classic  outlines  which  cannot 
be  ignored,  formality  is  still  more  in  evidence,  and  it  is 
only  when  one  can  escape  from  trim  edges  and  prim 
geometrical  designs  that  the  lover  of  hardy  plants  feels  free 
to  have  his  fling.  What  a  glorious  thing  is  freedom !  And 
what  a  happy  exposition  it  is  possible  to  give  with  bold, 
irregular,  marginal  outlines,  composed,  for  preference,  of 
