140 YARD AND GARDEN 



ter cover here and a bit there, and finds beneath 

 the litter the green shoots of the perennials 

 showing above the ground. For him there is 

 no impatient waiting until the last danger of 

 frost is past before gardening operations may 

 be begun, but, with the first pleasant dajs of 

 sunshine, life stirs in his garden. From this 

 time on he has only to take care that a sudden 

 frost does not catch him unawares and nip 

 the tender shoots. 



WINTER PROTECTION 



In the fall, when the frost has cut down the 

 foliage and withered everything in the yard and 

 when the trees have shed their leaves, the gar- 

 dener has only to place a light cover on his 

 beds or borders to prepare for another season 

 of bloom. This winter protection is heavy or 

 light according to the location ; in the northern 

 section of the country a heavier covering of 

 leaves or litter is retjuired than in the southern 

 portion ; in many sections of the latter the hardy 

 perennials require no winter protection what- 

 ever. The protection itself should be applied as 

 soon as the ground has frozen to the depth of an 

 inch. If it is applied earlier there is often 

 danger of mice nesting under the litter and, in 



