948 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Dec. 



injurious to tliem. They will also require to be protected 

 against the attacks of mice, which will burrow to their roots 

 and destroy them. 



DRESSING THE FLOWER BORDERS AND SHRUBBERY. 



All vacant spaces should now be rough dug in the flower 

 garden beds or borders where there are no plants, and all 

 those borders which are planted that have not been dug should 

 be neatly and carefully pointed over, taking care not to injure 

 any of the plants in the process. If the hint be attended to 

 which we have already given, of driving a wooden label or peg 

 at the side of each plant, so that it be level with the surface, 

 it will be a guide in pointing over the borders, as well as a 

 mark to proceed by in planting. 



The digging over of flower garden borders at this time, not 

 only gives this department an appearance of order and neatness 

 during winter, when there is little else to attract the eye, but 

 it actually saves much time and trouble in the spring, when 

 the gardener is usually busy ; independently of which, it is 

 attended with advantages, such as turning up the eggs or 

 larvae of insects, and even many of them, while in their torpid 

 state, can be picked up by the birds. It ameliorates strong 

 stiff' soils, and renders them capable of being easier put into 

 neat order in the spring. It admits the rain and snow to pe- 

 netrate to the bottom of the borders, and to deposit certain 

 salts beneficial to the growth of plants, and in fine, it gives a 

 character of keeping to the whole that the hard beaten surface 

 never can present 



