ed foliage after blooming and require some tall bushy plant to
be placed in front and around them to hide their shabbiness.
Strong-growing perennials, asters or the biennial _Rudbeckia triloba_,
are good for this purpose.

Some instances occur where a low hedge of perennials might look well,
for instance in a small yard where all the lines are formal and a
straight walk leads from gate to house. A floral hedge might be placed
at each side of the walk by making beds eighteen inches to two feet
wide and deep. The best perennial hardy plant I know for this purpose
is the gas plant (_Dictamnus fraxinella_), which, when once established,
remains a joy, almost forever. Some people are still enjoying the
blooms of plants set out by their great-grandmothers. This plant is
slow in increasing its size, but a row planted twelve inches apart will
in time make a compact hedge with a dark green, lustrous foliage, over
two feet tall and fully as broad. The flower spikes are borne well
above the foliage, some pink, deeply veined a darker hue, and some
white. A mixture of the colors is desirable. On account of the slow
habit of its increase, the bed will look scantily furnished for a few
years. This can be remedied by growing at each side of the row of
plants any spring-flowering bulb, or by carpeting in summer with sweet
alyssum, sowing seeds in the bed. Any low-growing annual will do, but
it must be low-growing or it may injure the _Fraxinella_.

WEEDING

Paradoxical as it may seem, the weed is the best friend the farmer has
because it compels him to cultivate his land in order to exterminate
the intruder. Cultivation keeps the soil open to air and moisture and
conserves the latter. It is best, therefore, to go over lightly with a
hoe the day after a heavy rain or a good watering.

The time to weed is before you see the weeds, but if they do appear,
don't run away from them. When none are in sight, the chances are that
upon microscopic examination, a velvety fuzz of green would be
discovered. These are minute weed seedlings, but yet slightly rooted,
and easily treated by simple dislodgment. A hot, windy day is a good
time to hoe between your plants, because the wind and sun kill the
uprooted weeds in a short time. They dry up, and there is but little to
remove. On a damp cloudy day if a disturbed bit--no matter how
small--of the pestiferous couch grass rolls near the base of a plant
and remains there, it will send down its