MAINTENANCE 91 



them is done at this season it should be begun in the latter part of 

 August, if possible. The regular mulching, so necessary for all plants 

 set in the autumn, should not be forgotten when the winter comes on. 

 During the summer a fine mulch of some sort may be kept on a per- 

 ennial border to good advantage as it prevents loss of moisture, saves 

 labour otherwise necessary in cultivating, stops spattering of mud over 

 the leaves of smaller plants, and prevents baking of the soil after rains. 



FERTILIZING PERENNIALS AND ANNUALS. Perennials need a great 

 dealjrf food- and should have plant food to restore soil fertility. Such 

 heavy feeders as phloxes and peonies should receive applications of 

 bone meal and liquid manure. Such applications when the plants are 

 in bud will frequently improve the size and quality of the flowers. 

 Manure for fall mulching will also enrich the plants. The finer part 

 can be worked into the beds during the spring, but care must be taken 

 not to injure or destroy roots or smaller plants. Peonies and irises in 

 general, like all plants with thick, fleshy roots or rootstocks, are sick- 

 ened by manure. Bone meal is perfectly safe to use and is in every 

 way the best fertilizer for them. On the other hand, the Japanese 

 irises, with their fibrous roots, revel in cow manure. They, like iris 

 longipetala, are indifferent to lime which to all other moisture-loving 

 irises, with the exception of the spuria group, is objectionable. 



Beds must be kept entirely free from weeds until fall. Where 

 mulch is not maintained around the plants cultivation should be kept 

 up, especially after a rain, to prevent evaporation. 



In the development of the annual flower garden the soil should be 

 thoroughly spaded over each spring and well pulverized. A good 

 coating of well-rotted manure should be thoroughly spaded into the soil 

 to a depth of four inches to eight inches. During the flowering season 

 of these plants it may become necessary, on account of the lack of suf- 

 ficient food, to supply some quick-acting fertilizer such as sheep 

 manure or dried blood which will force their growth and assist greatly 

 in developing larger and more abundant flowers. A slight sprinkling 

 of sheep manure or dried blood around each of the plants will be 

 sufficient. It may be advisable to repeat this fertilizing operation 

 at intervals of three or four weeks during the flowering season. Nitrate 

 of soda is sometimes used as a plant stimulant. It is much more dan- 

 gerous, however, than either sheep manure or dried blood because an 

 overdose is very apt to burn and injure the plants. 



