^^^^ 378 THE GEIIESEE FAEMEE. '' 



nicate" .with its readers "on topics connected witli horticulture." Mr. B. is a gentle- 

 man who stands highest with those who have seen most of him, and know him best. 

 His pen has made him public property ; but the public, no more than individuals, can 

 properly urge a man to sacritiee his personal interests for their benefit. While Mr. 

 Barrv will write less for the Farmer than heretofore, other able and skillful horticultu- 

 rists will contribute much more to its pages. The services of sucK have been secured 

 for the next and future volumes of this standard work. ' Daniel Lee. 



THE FALLEN" LEAVES. 



Passing along the street the other day, w^e saw a gentleman deliberately sweep together 

 the leaves that had falllen around his house, and burn then on the open street, just as 

 though they contained the germ of some fearful contagious disease. Our first impulse 

 was to pull up and remonstrate with him on such a waste of one of the most valuable 

 fertilizers for his trees and his garden crops that he could possibly find ; but his earnest 

 and determined air repelled us, and we hurried on, leaving him to finish his work to his 

 own liking. We then asked ourselves what thoughts occupied this man's mind while 

 engaged in such a curious method of dressing his grounds. Were they such as the poet 

 or philosopher would indulge in ? No, indeed ! poetry and philosophy he regards as 

 nonsense ; we know the man too well to impute any such thoughts to him. He is one 

 of the most inveterate money-makers — worth probably half a million of dollars — living 

 in a shabby old house, on a small lot, fifty by a hundred feet, with a few miserable, 

 neo'lected trees around it. Fallen leaves were to him merely a nuisance, that he must 

 get rid of in the cheapest possible way. It cost perhaps fifty cents less to rake them 

 together and burn them, than to put them into a cart or wheelbarrow and carry them 

 to the manure heap. This, he said to himself, is a clear gain of fifty cents. 



We have seen the same thing done on a much larger scale : a neighbor of ours, some 

 years ago, made a practice of setting fire to the dry leaves and grass on his premises in 

 the spring, and allowing the fire to spread all over his grounds, to the terror of the 

 neighborhood — and all this to save a few dollars that it would cost to rake them up and 

 cany them off to the manure heap. The same man purchased manure every season, at 

 the rate of about seventy-five cents to a dollar per wagon load. It must be admitted 

 that few people take this method of destroying their fallen leaves ; but very few seem 

 to appreciate their proper value, or turn them to proper account. 



Save the fallen leaves, we say to every man who has a garden. Carry them to some 

 corner, and mix them v/ith a little lime, earth, or stable manure, to promote decay, and 

 you will have a manure that may be safely applied to every tree, plant, or flower that you 

 grow. Many gardens may be in such a condition as not to require strong stable manure, 

 but would be greatly benefitted by vegetable mold, such as results from decayed leaves. 



To fruit trees it may be applied with perfect safety ; there is no danger of a surfeit, 

 as there always is in applying powerful manures. It produces a sound, healthy, and 

 hardy growth, ijiclined to fruitfuluess. We have never used any material for mulching 

 that has so well satisfied us in its results as decayed leaves. Last summer we mulched 

 some newly-transplanted Pear trees with them, covering the ground about the trees, as 

 far as the roots extended, three or four inches deep, and although we had a drouth of 

 three months' duration, the trees all lived and thrived admirably. 



Between the rows of Pear trees there were Strawberries jilanted ; and as soon as the 

 runners reached the leaf-mold they struck root into it, with the most extraordinary vigor, 

 forming large, luxuriant plants, with roots a foot long, in the course of a few weeks ; 

 and when taken up large quantities of the mold adhered to them, so completely had 





