Propagation of Plants 99 
presume this reluctance to take another’s experience is 
Nature’s way of enforcing her truths upon each individual, 
for nothing is really ours until we have made personal proof 
of it. 
To come back to those who timidly confess that the com- 
partment of knowledge labeled “mulch” is empty. Mulch 
is half-rotten straw, hay or like substance with which plants 
are covered to prevent the alternate thawing and freezing 
of winter. It is also placed in summer about the roots of 
certain plants that suffer from drought, to keep the ground 
moist. In our severe winters only a slight mulch is needed; 
for a heavy blanket of snow, which falls early and disappears 
late takes its place, and when the ground once freezes, it 
remains frozen. Mulch is not so much to keep the ground 
from freezing as to prevent the alternate action of thaw and 
freeze, which not only throws the roots of plants out of the 
ground, but allows a plant to awake to life only to be nipped 
by the next freeze. Mulch prevents the sunlight from get- 
ting to the earth, and keeps it frozen until warm weather 
arrives. 
Various things are used as mulch. Coarse manure, which 
gives the best protection from cold, also promotes an unsea- 
sonable growth, owing to its heat. It must be banked high 
over tea-roses and hybrid teas, also spread from six inches to 
a foot deep over some lilies; but for most plants I think it a 
very questionable thing to use, except in great moderation. 
One of the best mulches is coarse straw, hay or grass, pro- 
vided it is free from weeds. It is light, porous and effectual. 
Another good mulch is leaves, provided they are not put on 
deeper than three to five inches. They mat down closely 
when wet, and will suffocate plants if too heavy. 
Another mulch is pine boughs, or other evergreens. We 
have these in abundance and Adam finds them invaluable 
