138 THE AMERICAN GARDENER. [Chap, 



trees over the straw, and some sticks to keep the 

 leaves from blowing away. But, the best covering 

 of all, in this case is, boughs of cedar, or of fir, or 

 laurel; though these boughs must be, for this pur- 

 pose, cut up into small parts, so that they will lie 

 close and compact and keep out the light. Some 

 ever-green boughs, and some leaves of trees thrown 

 over them, form, perhaps, the best covering in the 

 world for plants of this description. But, observe ; 

 you must let the frost come. The ground must be 

 right hard when you put the covering on ; or else, 

 the plants will rot. They must see the sun no more 

 till spring. When the frost breaks up, take off the 

 covering; hoe the ground as soon as dry, and pro- 

 ceed to perfect the plants in the manner before de- 

 scribed. One of these plants will produce seed 

 enough to last you for five years. There need not 

 be many of these plants. Lettuces are their rival's, 

 and are a great deal better. I have mentioned mat- 

 ting in this article, as a thing to tie with. This 

 matting is nothing more than the threads of those 

 large things, in which foreign goods sometimes 

 come packed up. These things are in England 

 called Mats, and the threads of which they are 

 composed, are by gardeners, called matting. The 

 gardeners use this for ties to Espalier trees ; they 

 tie on their grafts with it ; they tie up their flowers 

 with it ; and, in short, it is the string of the gar- 

 deners. The Mats, thousands of bales of which are 

 imported into England from Russia, are used to co- 

 ver the hot-beds with, and for various other pur- 

 poses. But, matting is to be had, and with very 

 little trouble, without sending to Russia for it. Any 

 one who has a spare tree may have plenty of mat- 

 ting. When I camo to Long (sland, I cut down a 

 chestnut, of xbouta foot diameter, and that furnished 



