IN FLORIDA 25 
Be sure that it is carefully filled in around the stem or stems 
and it will be well to examine it occasionally through the 
winter to see that mice have not dug it away.. In case of 
warm and wet weather in winter it would be best to watch 
herbaceous or other delicate things for fear their stems might 
rot: if there seems to be any danger the soil should be tempo- 
rarily removed and replaced when the weather grows cooler. 
If plants are so treated one can be almost absolutely sure of 
carrying the tenderest things safely through the winters of lower 
Florida. Generally it will be found that the tops of plants so 
treated will receive but little damage, and even if they are de- 
stroyed fresh suckers will spring up from the living part. The 
mound should be so constructed that no water can enter at the 
stem of the plant. 
In some cases a mound of earth may be made at the side of a 
small plant just before a hard frost, the plant bent down over it, 
the whole covered with gunny.sacks and earth laid over all to 
the depth of several inches. This must be removed immediately 
after danger is over and, at the best, it will be nearly as hard 
on the plants as a frost. Leaving native plants for protection, 
or planting rapid growing vegetation among one’s tender things, 
is some help. 
But little protection can be made for vegetation against 
hurricanes. So far as possible I try to have my things grow 
low, and I am glad to have trees and shrubs with as many stems 
as possible. Never trim trees up so that they will have long, 
naked trunks, for this gives the wind an extra leverage whereby 
it can uproot or break them. If trees and large shrubs are 
frozen down allow them to send up a number of sprouts if they 
will. By so doing they will form low heads which will help to 
protect them from the next frost and from heavy winds. By 
allowing the vegetation in your grounds to grow up densely 
it will be more likely to withstand severe wind storms than if 
it is open, as the trees protect each other. 
In low land or regions underlaid with hardpan it will be 
necessary to cut ditches or put in tiling to carry off the water. 
Sometimes as much as thirty inches of rain falls in a month, 
and this must be promptly removed. 
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