220 TJIE FRUIT GARDEN. [APRIL. 



done as soon in this as may be convenient. They 

 must also be attended to, with respect to watering ; 

 which must be repeated the oftener as the season ad- 

 vances, and according to the heat of the weather. 

 What is called by the gardeners mulching , is a very 

 proper method of detaining the moisture about the 

 roots, and in a great measure saves, or abridges the 

 labour of watering. Let a small bason or hollow be 

 made round the stem of each tree, a foot or eighteen 

 inches in diameter, and two or three inches deep, 

 according to the extent of its roots. Fill this bason 

 with littery dung, to the thickness of five or six 

 inches, over which sprinkle a little earth, just 

 enough to keep it from being blown about. If the 

 dung be short, and much reduced, earth need not 

 be put over it. This both nourishes the young 

 fibres, and keeps the ground about them moist in 

 hot weather, if wetted freely once a-week. 



Of screening the Blossoms of Fruit-Trees. 



Many of the early kinds of wall-trees will now be 

 coming into flower ; and the choice sorts, euch as 

 apricots, nectdrines, peaches, and the finer kinds of 

 plums, should be defended from the bad effects of 

 frost, and of frosty winds, that prevail at this season, 

 particularly along the eastern coasts of these king- 

 floms. 



It is a common practice to screen the blossoms of 

 Wall-trees, by sticking twigs of larch, or of ever- 

 greens, as firs, or laurels, between the branches and 

 the wall, in such a manner as to overhang the blos- 

 soms, where thickest j and some, instead of these, 



