HOW TO ENRICH THE SOIL. 405 



our readers as are anxious to feed their trees and plants in such a 

 generous manner as to deserve a grateful return. 



Among the first and best of wasted manures, constantly before 

 our eyes in the autumn, are \hs falling leaves of all deciduous trees. 

 When we remember that these leaves contain not only all the sub- 

 stances necessary to the growth of the plants from which they fall ; 

 but those substances in the proportions actually needed for new 

 growth, it is surprising that we can ever allow a barrowful to be lost. 

 The whole riddle of the wonderful growth of giant forests, on land 

 not naturally rich, and to which nature scarce allows a particle of 

 what is commonly called manure, lies hidden in the deep beds of 

 fallen leaves which accumulate over the roots, and, by their gradual 

 decay, furnish a plentiful supply of the most suitable food for the 

 trees above them. Gather and take away from the trees in a wood 

 this annual coat of leaves, and in a few seasons (unless manure is 

 artificially given), the wood will begin to decline and go to decay. 

 Hence, we must beseech all our good orchardists and fruit-growers 

 not to forget that dead leaves are worth looking after. They should 

 be held fast in some way, either by burying them about the roots 

 of the trees from which they fall, or by gathering them into the 

 compost heap, to be applied when duly decomposed in the spring. 



And this leads us to say that an excellent, and perhaps the best 

 mode of using leaves for the orchard, fruit-garden, or any planta- 

 tations of trees or shrubs, is the following : Take fresh lime and 

 slake it with brine (or water saturated with salt), till it falls to a 

 powder. This powder is not common lime, but muriate of lime. 

 Gather the leaves and lay them up in heaps, sprinkling over every 

 layer with this new compound of lime, at the rate of about four 

 bushels to a cord of leaves. This will be ready for use in about a 

 month if the weather is mild, or it may lie all winter, to be used in 

 the spring ; but in either case, the heap should be turned over once 

 or twice. The lime decomposes the leaves thoroughly ; and the 

 manure thus formed is one of the most perfect composts known for 

 trees of all kinds. We need not add that its value to any given 

 kind of tree, as, for example, the pear, the apple, or the oak, is in- 

 creased by using the leaves of that tree only ; though a mass of 

 mixed leaves gives a compost of great value for trees and shrubs 



