176 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



face stirred daily, a process that creates a soil stratum 

 which will absorb moisture from the air, while it does 

 not transmit it from below. 



The second point to consider is that there is no 

 better way of killing fruit trees than to put barn- 

 yard manure around the roots. You may top dress 

 with some of this material, but beware about using 

 it in the hole that you have dug. Do not get in 

 a hurry to force growth. If you can get good roots 

 during the first year or two, you can get along with 

 very little top growth. 



The third point in planting is to mulch your trees, 

 every one of them, just as soon as planted. This 

 mulch may be made of any porous stuff that you 

 happen to have about, coal ashes or tan bark or weeds 

 or autumn leaves anything but material that mice 

 will be likely to bed in. Coal ashes, on the whole, 

 are the best material that we have handy, and it is 

 also good when thrown upon the soil and mixed in, 

 lightening the heavy clay which dominates in many 

 apple sections. I have seen city gardens made very 

 productive by working coal ashes into the solid soil. 

 Weeds cannot be more efficiently set on the road to 

 being useful than as mulch. Make the mulch at 

 least three or four inches thick, and if of weeds or 

 of stuff that will blow away, toss a few shovels full 

 of soil on top. 



In the South we are obliged to mulch very heavily 

 against the heat. You will find that I am not laying 

 too much stress on this point, for if a dry time sets 



