242 MARY'S GARDEN AND HOW IT GKEW 



"Why?" repeated Herr Trommel. "Because the 

 water will then wash the soil around the fine little 

 roots without disturbing them. When we shovel in 

 the earth and press down with the foot it is not so 

 well done. The water does it better. Now we fill 

 up to the top with earth, and then we press down 

 firmly with the foot so." 



"Perhaps you 'd better jump on it, Haddie," sug- 

 gested the president of the Horticultural Club. 



"That is not necessary," said Mr. Trommel, quickly. 



"It's 'most like planting roses, is n't it? " remarked 

 Mary. "But when it 's roses, you have to put the 

 graft under the ground. You could n't do that with 

 this tree, because then it could n't breathe. Besides, 

 it would look funny : the bud is 'way up there, two 

 feet from the ground. See it, Haddie ? There where 

 there 's a kind of wiggle in the stem? " 



"That is the place," assented Mr. Trommel. 



"And if the suckers come out below that, you cut 

 them off," said Randolph Findlayson, who did not 

 wish to be thought ignorant. 



"That is right," said Mr. Trommel, beaming ap- 

 provingly on the boy. 



"Are you going to mulsh it?" inquired Mary. 



"Mulsh? Yes. I mulsh it well with stable litter 



