SOME GENERAL GARDEN TALK 



tree are to it, inasmuch as an evergreen transpires from 

 its leaves constantly, all the year around. Consequently 

 it has no chance to catch up with a loss of roots. A 

 deciduous tree will shed some of its leaves if it has to, 

 to keep the balance — then proceed to grow new roots 

 and then restore the leaves, and is quite as well off, 

 both as to looks and health. An evergreen cannot 

 do this. 



Trees with thin, smooth, tender bark should have 

 their trunks protected from the winter sun, after trans- 

 planting. A jacket of straw bound onto the south 

 side of the tree with rafha is useful for this — or a coat 

 of whitewash may be sufficient, the white resisting 

 the heat rays sufficiently to afford all the protection 

 needed. It is simply to keep the bark from drying 

 and cracking until the sap returns and softens it in the 

 spring. 



In setting a hedge it is usually easier as well as 

 better to dig a trench somewhat deeper than the roots 

 of the plants would be expected to go. Put manure 

 in the bottom of this, then sprinkle on an inch of loose 

 earth; then stand the plants along, as near together as 

 they should be — nine inches apart is the accepted dis- 

 tance for privet, more for evergreens, depending on the 

 size of the plants when set — and fill in the earth all 

 along the line, firming it down afterward by tramping. 



Keep everything that is planted for ornament in 

 masses; have a mass of lawn, masses of shrubs, clumps 

 of trees, masses of flowers in borders or among shrubbery 

 (never beds anywhere unless they are a part of the 



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