TJNIVEESITY 



FKOM SEED OT M 31 



appearance. As soon as the first plants "are fairly up, re- 

 move a part of the mulch so that they will meet with no 

 resistance in pushing their way upward, and after a few 

 days remove it entirely. Keep the seed-bed watered until 

 the plants are about three or four inches high, and then, 

 after a drenching rain, replace the mulch around the slender 

 stems. It is an excellent plan to soak the mulching mate- 

 rial in liquid stable manure (twenty pounds to a barrel of 

 water) for a few hours before applying it to the nursery 

 bed. Orange, or any other plants, in fact, thus raised and 

 cared for will make such a thrifty growth as will astonish 

 their owner and amply repay all the time and trouble lav- 

 ished upon them. 



There is another way of protecting the young trees from 

 the direct rays of the sun, a method that is extensively 

 practiced in many large nurseries ; it is more troublesome 

 and expensive than the process just described, but as it 

 has the indorsement of practical horticulturists, we give it 

 for the benefit of those who may prefer it to mulching. 



Drive stakes four feet long into the ground to the depth 

 of one foot, along the borders of the bed, six feet apart ; 

 nail narrow strips to the top of the stakes, or rope or 

 wire may be used if more convenient ; then stretch over 

 the frame-work thus prepared some thin, gauze-like mate- 

 rial, coarse bagging or the sleazy muslin called cheese- 

 cloth, for instance. If the beds are more than three feet 

 wide, it will be well to place stakes four and a half feet 

 long at each end of the bed in the center, with a strip 

 running from one to the other ; this will raise the awning 

 in the center like a double pitched roof. Sheltered from 

 the fierce heat of the sun, yet receiving plenty of light, 

 air, and moisture, the young plants will grow very rapidly, 

 but more weeding will be required than when the mulch- 

 ing is used. By the time the plants have attained the 



