SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 393 



over the surface. As it happened, this was followed by many dry 

 weeks, and the dead weeds formed a protection for the bed itself, 

 which did not suffer in the least during the heats. To remove this 

 mass of stuff would have been a costly labour, the surface would have 

 been exposed to direct evaporation, and the plants starved by the 

 drought. 



Fallen Leaves. — Sometimes leaves are massed in these rubbish 

 yards, and the leaf question is bound up with it. Many people fidget 

 at the sight of beautiful leaves in autumn, instead of enjoying them, 

 as Shelley did, and gardeners are often sweeping them up when they 

 would be much better employed planting good plants or shrubs. 

 What are we to do with the garden leaves ? We cannot, it is true, have 

 them in drifts in the flower garden, but it is better to let them all fall 

 before we take much trouble in removing them. In gathering them 

 up, we may best add them to a place set apart for leaf mould. But 

 in every case where they may be let alone, it is much better to let 

 them stay on the surface of wood, grove, shrubbery, or group of 

 shrubs, for protection and nourishment for the ground. If any one 

 during the hot years that we have recently had — such as 1893 — 

 stood on a height in a woody country, he would see that, while the 

 fields were brown and bare, and cattle and crops distressed for want of 

 water, the wood retained its verdure, and the growth of the year was as 

 good as usual. Why is this ? It is explained by the beautiful func- 

 tion of the leaf, which not only does the vital work of the tree, but 

 also shields the ground from the direct action of the sun, and when the 

 leaf has fallen its work is not half done, as it protects and nourishes 

 the roots throughout the year, so that in the hottest years the fibres of 

 the trees find nourishment in decaying leaves. This surely is a reason 

 that leaves should not be scraped out from beneath every shrub or tree, 

 and there is no reason whatever why they should form part of the 

 rubbish heap. 



And let it be noted that it is not only the better use of the waste 

 as a fertiliser that is a gain, it is the saving of very troublesome labour, 

 often occurring in the warmest part of the year, when every hour is 

 precious over the really important work of the garden — getting in crops 

 of all kinds at the right time and in the best way. Also we save the 

 disfigurement of the rubbish yard itself, and get rid of the smoke of the 

 fires kept going to consume it — another nuisance about a country house 

 or garden. The ash, the one result of all the waste of labour and filth 

 of the rubbish heap, is certainly of some use, but not one-sixth the 

 good of the stuff used in the direct way. And it is not only the sum- 

 mer aid we gain, but all we put on in this way settles down in winter 

 to a nice little coat of humus, which nourishes the roots and protects 

 them from frost as well as heat. 



