PUTTING THE GARDEN TO SLEEP 193 



time, and to impress upon his Dutch stolidity the 

 idea that I am to have what I want in a wall if he 

 is to have what he wants in pay for erecting one ! 



But this November I have celebrated that wall 

 by planting at its western face, on either side the 

 garden entrance, a fine red cedar, or "juniper" as 

 we used to call it as a Christmas tree. These cedars 

 seem to stand there as posts of a gateless and 

 hospitable entrance, and I like their slim green- 

 ness. And I have planted along the wall, soon to 

 cover it if it does not fall, the fine evergreen vine 

 Evonymus radicans. It is a clinger, and its neat 

 foliage is right for these limestone boulders. 



All the month the ground is workable, and much 

 transplanting has been done, as well as much pre- 

 paring for the hurried spring. It seems time, even 

 ahead of a killing frost, to put the garden to sleep, 

 and I have not hesitated to cut off tops on plants 

 I want to move, and thus to prepare for the win- 

 ter's rest. As I have written, many hundreds of 

 brown bulbs have been put to sleep in the ground, 

 and wherever I can clear up a bed or border, it is 

 carefully mulched with loose manure, as protection 

 for the winter. Not yet may I cover everything, 

 for it seems best to wait until a little frost hardens 

 the ground over the bulbs, ere the protection 

 is applied. 

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