The Cultivation of the Pear. 155 



the trees he thought it highly efficacious. He would also 

 use succulent weeds of the garden or roadside. He had used 

 charcoal dust, and thought that a good thing ; he found the 

 soil underneath it retained the moisture well in dry weather ; 

 he had seen no different effects from tan ; but if gentlemen 

 present had noticed better results from its use, he would be 

 pleased to hear some account of their experience. 



Mr. D. Haggerston. He had some experience in mulching 

 trees and plants. He had found sedge from salt marshes best ; 

 he dried it well in the autumn, stacked it up and put it around 

 the trees in the spring, sometimes cutting it short. When ap- 

 plied he usually gave it a good watering, which made it lay 

 close to the ground : he thought it decidedly the best ma- 

 terial. One year he used it under strawberries and found it 

 excellent, and had since considered it the best article ; worms 

 did not work in it so much as they did in short grass. 



Mr. Haggerston was of the opinion that mulching might 

 be overdone ; and he had found that too heavy a covering 

 was as injurious as too little. It should not be so thick as to 

 prevent the access of light, air and heat to the soil. 



Mr. Carter agreed with Mr. Haggerston; he had seen 

 injurious effects from over-mulching. 



Mr. C. M. Hovey had tried various substances for mulch- 

 ing. He had tried tan, litter, grass, sedge, &-c., and he fully 

 concurred with Mr. Haggerston, that the latter was one of the 

 best materials for the purpose. It laid close to the ground, 

 and was not easily displaced by the wind ; it seemed also to 

 hold the moisture longer after a rain or shower than straw or 

 hay, which he attributed to the small portion of salt which it 

 contained. He would recommend it to all as the very best 

 mulching for trees or strawberries. 



Mr. Richardson had used sedge for some time ; used it as 

 a mulching for trees, and as a covering for strawberries. The 

 fine part of it, which was left after removing it from the straw- 

 berries in the spring, he had thrown around his pear trees, 

 which are planted among the strawberries, and he thought 

 with good results. He attributed it to the salt which it con- 

 tained, though he might be mistaken. 



