38 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



raked off. A start was then made on the section adjoining on 

 the left, but before it was completed a very heavy rain fell, 

 thoroughly saturating the mass and wetting the sod ground 

 below. In forty-eight hours, and before work was begun 

 again, every leaf on the liveoak trees in the center began to 

 turn brown, and in a week were as dry and dead as if they 

 had been parched. Two cedar trees that stood about four 

 feet from the edge were affected similarly, one losing all the 

 foliage and the other about half. But the point to be noticed 

 is that the two large liveoaks standing at the immediate angle 

 of the two manured plots lost their leaves in a triangular 



This diagram represents a section of the Galveston City Park. The squares represent 

 trees i, i, the large liveoaks ; 2, 2, liveoaks ; 3, 3, the cedars mentioned in the text the 

 shaded portions representing living foliage, aud the unshaded dead. 



shape, just above and corresponding to the shape of the ma- 

 nured ground below, while all the balance of the foliage on 

 both trees over the unmanured ground is still fresh and green, 

 though two months have gone by. An examination of the 

 ground will be made next spring to see the effect on the roots, 

 but so far the young twigs seem to be unhurt. A fair pre- 

 sumption is that only the fine hair roots were hurt or killed by 

 the ammonia, but the question is, if those had been fruit trees 

 about to bloom in spring, would not the destruction of five or 

 six inches of the surface feeding-roots by the plow instead of 

 by the manure, have so weakened their vitality as to cause a 



