116 SELECTING, PLANTIXG, AND CULTIVATION. 



pear of great excellence, which crack badly, may be 

 rij^ened in perfection by mulching, as the cracking is 

 in some degree due to an insufficient supply of sap. 

 The mulch not only acts as an absorbent of fertilizing 

 gases, but in time becomes itself a valuable manure. 



Tliere are, however, some counterbalancing disad- 

 vantages in mulching, which will confine its practice 

 to the single season of planting. The immense in- 

 crease of insects, which will propagate in its shelter 

 — the ravages of mice that find beneath it security 

 from pursuit — and the late growth of shoots w^hich it 

 induces, liable to winter-blight, are some of the effects 

 of its continuance. 



After much experiment, I am convinced that the 

 best mulch for any otlier than newly-planted trees is 

 a soil oft€n stirred with the dew upon it. 



CROPPING THE GROUND FOR A MULCH. 



A very convenient substitute for litter, and one 

 from which none of the evils noted will result, is an 

 early crop of some of the broad-leaved vegetables. 

 Turnips, beets, and potatoes, are valuable in the order 

 they are mentioned for this purpose, and would in 

 most cases repay the labor of cultivating the trees on 

 them. The first two have the additional advantage 

 of penetrating and loosening the soil without bruising 

 the roots of the trees ; and by the superior coolness of 

 their leaves to the night-air, condense the humidity 

 in currents of atmosphere passing over them, in the 

 shape of dew, wdiich would have fallen upon the 

 plowed field or the dusty road ; and thus assist in 

 nourishing the feebler foliage of the newly-planted 



