WINTER PROTECTION 61 



from drying winds. Plants may be wrapped so 

 thick and tight as to injure them. Be sure that 

 no water stands about the roots of tender trees, 

 and cover the surrounding ground with a heavy 

 mulch of leaves or straw. The labor of protecting 

 large plants is often great and the results uncer- 

 tain, and in most cases it is a question if more 

 satisfaction could not be obtained by growing 

 only hardy trees and shrubs. 



The objection to covering tender woody plants 

 cannot be urged with equal force against tender 



67. Covering plants with a box. 



herbs or very low bushes, for these are protected 

 with ease. Even the ordinary mulch may afford 

 sufficient protection; and if the tops kill back, the 

 plant quickly renews itself from the base, and in 

 many plants, as in most hybrid perpetual roses, 

 the best bloom is upon these new growths of the 

 season. Old boxes or barrels may be used to pro- 

 tect tender low plants (Figs. 67, 68). The box is 

 filled with leaves or dry straw, and either left 



