NOVEMBER: THIRD WEEK 303 



ous. For the small place in the city or suburbs leaves may- 

 be used. Evergreen boughs are also well worth having, 

 either to hold leaves or other mulching in place, or by them- 

 selves to provide protection, especially where the chmate is 

 not very severe. These boughs are also good for tying up 

 plants that need protection above ground, being much 

 more attractive in appearance than unsightly straw jackets. 



Tlie Neatest Mulch for Beds and Borders 



For covering beds or borders about the house, or wherever 

 a particularly neat, trim appearance is desirable, run a 

 strip of twelve-inch chicken wire round the edges of the bed, 

 holding it in position with small stakes every five or ten feet. 

 Fill this with leaves to the desired depth, placing a few 

 boards or boughs on top if the winds are high to hold the 

 mulching in position until it becomes settled. The wire 

 should be put in place before the ground freezes; the mulch 

 may be put on at any time afterward. 



Both ground and mulching material should be dry when 

 the mulch is put on. Though the ground will dry off very 

 quickly on a bright day, the mulching material, if once wet 

 through, may freeze, and in any case will require several 

 days to dry out. Therefore it is best to keep it under cover 

 if possible until wanted. 



Winter mulching is required in many places— in the 

 flower, fruit and vegetable gardens, on newly planted 

 borders, on the bulb beds, and round newly set shrubs or 

 trees. After hard frosts have killed the foliage of the late- 

 flowering hardy perennials, such as chrysanthemums, asters 

 and anemones the borders should be gone over with a scythe 

 or sickle, and the tops cut down to within three or four 

 inches of the roots. Burn this dead material, as one can 

 never be certain that disease spores or insect eggs or cocoons 

 will not be harbored to make trouble next year. Manure 

 makes a good mulch for the hardy border, as a large part 

 of it may be worked into the soil about the plants in the 

 spring. 



