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As they were digging in the garden, covering the ferns and wrapping the magnolia tree they had lately acquired, and mulching the perennials, Mrs. Mary Barclay came toward them buffeting the wind. She wore the long cowlish waterproof cloak and hood of the period which she had put on during the cloudy morning.

The grower, so far as lies in his power, should seek to maintain an uninterrupted growth by thorough preparation of the land, by cultivation or by mulching. If the half-grown fruits are enclosed in paper bags, cracking may be prevented, but at the risk of loss of flavor in the ripened fruit.

Preston; "I 've got something else for Jerry to do now." "I 'm going over to the old wood-lot to get a load of mulching," said Jerry to Oscar; "and you can go too, if you want to." "Mulching what is that?" inquired Oscar. "It's stuff that they put around young trees, to keep the roots from drying up in summer," replied Jerry.

This covering should not be placed over the plants till after the ground is frozen, usually from the middle of November till the first of December in this locality. Fatal errors are often made by putting on too much and too early. Care must also be taken to remove the covering in spring just as soon as the plants begin to grow. Mulching to Keep the Fruit Clean.

Taking their seats upon the top of the mulching, which was almost as soft as a load of hay, they drove back to the barn, and alighted. Mr. Preston now appeared, and led the horse into the orchard, where, with the aid of the boys, he scattered the birch twigs around the young trees, so as to protect their roots from the fierce heat of the sun.

The answer to that is that we never put fertilizers on our garden, anyway. If we want to kill the cook there is a more direct method, and we reserve the tobacco for ourself. No cutworm shall get a blighty one from our cherished baccy pouch. Fred says we ought to have a wheel-barrow; Hank swears by a mulching iron; Bill is all for cold frames.

It requires great skill. The spurs are produced and protected to a nicety. Every fruit may be the separate product of handwork. The fertilizing, mulching, watering, are carefully regulated for every tree. Often the trees are trained on cordons, espaliers, trellises or walls. The individual fruits may be tied up or bagged.

The mulching must receive the credit for much of this thrift, for it protected the soil from the rays of the sun and invited the deep moisture to rise toward the surface. Few people realize the amount of water that enters into the daily consumption of a tree.

Hardy flowers in gardens have all this tidied away from them, and, being left somewhat hungry and naked in proportion, are all the better for an occasional top-dressing and mulching, especially in autumn. It is not absolutely necessary to turn a flower border upside down and dig it over every year. Concentrated strength means large blooms.

If the rain doesn't come in July and August, heavy mulching must be the fruit-grower's reliance, and a good one it will prove if the drought doesn't continue more than one year. After July the new wood hardens and gets ready for the trying winter.