Gardening in California 



The best mulch for trees is half-decomposed stable-manure, 

 which should be spread about three inches thick and levelled 

 evenly; about half an inch of soil should be spread over the 

 manure to keep it from shifting in event of heavy wind. Where 

 stable-manure cannot be had, half-rotted tree-leaves, short grass 

 cuttings and even tan-bark are suitable. 



The practise of mulching may be carried into the flower-beds, 

 as well as to the trees and shrubs. The writer has personally 

 found the mulching of flowering plants to be of great value. The 

 soil is not compressed by watering nor baked into a crust by the 

 sun ; evaporation is arrested and the growth materially increased. 



In mulching flowering plants the material to be used should 

 be well-rotted stable-manure or thoroughly decomposed leaf-soil 

 and should not be spread more thickly on the surface than one- 

 half inch. 



The mulching of lawns should be also very carefully done. 

 Owing to the continuous, heavy, artificial watering necessary in 

 our dry climate, mulching is of great benefit both in preserving 

 the health and vigor of the grass and in preventing evaporation. 

 July is the best month for doing this. After about two months 

 of watering with the hose or sprinkler, the soil will be found to 

 have become hard and washed looking while the small roots of 

 the grass will be partially exposed, thus necessarily requiring more 

 frequent and more copious watering. The best mulch for a lawn 

 in this condition is a covering of about one-half inch of well-rotted 

 stable-manure spread evenly over the entire surface of the lawn. 

 This will give a soft springy surface and renewed life and growth 

 to the grass while its color will become much darker. It will not 

 then require nearly so much water to keep fresh and vigorous. 



Mulching newly sown grass or other seeds means spreading a 

 thin layer of clean, fresh straw over the surface of the ground, its 

 purpose being to shade the ground until the seeds germinate. The 

 straw should be raked off when the grass is one inch high. 



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