PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 127 



son of the year will determine whether or not 

 anything further must be done. If it is spring- 

 time, this is enough, but if it is fall a mulch of 

 straw or leaves eight inches deep or more must 

 be made ready to cover the entire area dis- 

 turbed as soon as frost enters the ground. This 

 must be retained by branches or loose sticks 

 laid over it, until frost finally leaves again, in 

 the spring; and instead of watering the plant 

 later in the summer, keep the natural moisture 

 in the ground by tilling the entire space lightly. 

 Planting may be done either in spring or fall, 

 with but few exceptions. Cone-bearing ever- 

 greens are not usually handled at either sea- 

 son, however, August and early September be- 

 ing the accepted time for moving these. The 

 broad-leaved evergreens, such as rhododen- 

 drons, are most successfully moved in the 

 spring; and thin barked trees, such as the 

 birch or beech, are likely to suffer when shifted 

 at any other time. Personally I prefer fall for 

 all other general planting, owing to the more 

 settled weather conditions which prevail, and 

 the even temperature and warmth of the soil 

 at that season. In places where severe win- 

 ters are the rule it is not advisable, however, 

 neither should it ever be undertaken on land 

 that is cold and wet. 



