MAKING READY 



jonquils, and tulips, and in placing them in the 

 earth, as also in setting out your woody plants, 

 your peonies and your fleur-de-lis, put a bit of 

 old manure into each burial pit before placing 

 your bulb or root there. After all is in place, it 

 is well to cover your yard with a mulch of leaves 

 or straw, if you live in the zone of long, cold 

 winters, and in early spring, Avhen frosts still 

 threaten in our land, which has so little climate 

 and so much weather, protect the young plants, 

 if you observe a falling thermometer. This you 

 may do by inverting pails, buckets or hardware 

 over them, or by pegging down thick papers or 

 paper bags, to be removed next day, or as soon 

 as the sun shines. Still, plants are a deal tougher 

 than they look, and the early ones, that the poets 

 call fragile and tender, will defy weather such 

 as will wilt a tramp. Your bulbs will throw up 

 shoots while the nights are sharp, and will invite 

 the insect with color and perfume while yet the 

 insect is heavy with its chrysalis sleep. Then 

 come the budding and the universal upspring, 

 and from that time, through two-thirds of the 

 year, your garden will be a place of beauty. 



23 



