here it belongs. If this is not done, your
"pattern" will soon become blurred and indistinct. If any intermingling
of colors "from across the line" is allowed, all sharpness of outline
will be destroyed.

The plants must be clipped frequently to keep them dwarf and compact.
Make it a point to keep the larger-growing kinds, such as Coleus,
Pyrethrum and Centaurea, under six inches in height rather than over it.
Alternatheras and Achyranthes will need very little shearing, as to top,
because of their habit of low growth.

In setting these plants in the bed, be governed by the habit of each
plant. Achyranthes and Alternatheras, being the smallest, should be put
about four inches apart. Give the Coleus about six inches of lee-way,
also the Centaurea. Allow eight inches for Madame Salleroi Geranium and
Pyrethrum. These will soon meet in the row and form a solid line or mass
of foliage.

So many persons have asked for designs for carpet-bedding, that I will
accompany this chapter with several original with myself which have
proved very satisfactory. Some of them may seem rather complicated, but
when one gets down to the business of laying them out, the seeming
complications will vanish.

In laying out all but the star-shaped and circular beds, it is well to
depend upon a square as the basis to work from. Decide on the size of
bed you propose to have, and then stake out a square as shown by the
dotted lines in design No. 1, and work inside this square in filling in
the details. If this is done, the work will not be a difficult one.

[Illustration: No. 1.]

Design No. 1 will be found easy to make and admits of many pleasing
combinations and modifications. Each gardener who sees fit to adopt any
of these designs should study out a color-scheme of his own. Knowing the
colors of the material he has to work with it will not be difficult to
arrange these colors to suit individual taste. I think this will be more
satisfactory than to give any arbitrary arrangement of colors, for half
the pleasure of gardening consists in originating things of this kind,
rather than copying what some one else has originated, or of following
instructions given by others. This does not apply so much to designs for
beds as it does to the colors we make use of in them.

[Illustration: No. 2.]

In the designs accompanying this chapter it will be seen that simple
plans are made capable of producing more elaborate effects by making use
of the dotte