32 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



garden could wish for, and practically without 

 cost. If your leaves predominate in hardwoods 

 — oak, ash, hickory, etc. — the process will be 

 much slower than when leaves of maple, elm, 

 gum, etc., are decaying. For hardwood leaves 

 keep two heaps going — one to rest another year 

 while the other is being used and again refilled. 



I have heard a number of people say that the 

 first fallen leaves harbour disease and therefore 

 should be burned. This I have never found to 

 to be so in any well-ordered garden. Trees in- 

 fected with scale, fire blight, etc., show their 

 condition early in the summer. That the 

 spraying and cutting out and destroying of such 

 trees is promptly done goes without saying, and 

 a certain amount of extra care where such condi- 

 tions exist is wise. Making this a general prac- 

 tice is not necessary. 



I can hear someone say: "I have gravelly soil 

 where I want my dahlias and if I am to dig it all 

 out, where am I to get new soil to put in its 

 place.? " Here is an excellent receipt for making 

 good soil if you have time to spare and are able 

 to secure a little fresh stable manure and some 

 loam or some clay and sand: 



Put down a bed about two feet thick of fresh 

 stable manure which has never become heated. 

 If your two-foot pit has been dug, all the better, 



