November, 1910 
THE GARDEN :MAGAZINE 
141 
^T'HE hardy border cannot be so conveniently mulched with leaves. 
Use manure for a winter mulch and thereby enrich the soil. The 
rains and the melting snows soaking through it will carry down into 
the soil the food it contains for the plants to make use of in spring. 
Avoid the green or soggy manure, however. The 
compost used should consist of a large percentage of 
horse manure and enough straw or bedding to keep 
it light and spongy. After the first hard frosts have killed the tops, 
burn the refuse, destroying any insect eggs or disease germs it may con- 
tain. If the stubbles or stumps are left six inches or so high, they will 
serve to hold the manure mulch in place, after it is worked down about 
them with a fork. 
The Hardy 
Border 
FOR the bulbs use the same mulching material as recommended for 
the hardy borders. A strip of wire such as suggested for use in 
the Rose garden, but not more than six inches in height, run around the 
edge of the bed will hold it in place. If the bulbs are planted late, put 
Bulb Beds and mulch on early. The reason for this apparent 
Borders contradiction is that by so doing the root growth 
in the soil will not be stopped as quickly. And 
the spring blooming bulbs, such as Tulips, Narcissus, and Hyacinths 
should make a good growth of root in the fall in order to produce the 
earliest and best results in the spring. In mulching the bulb beds, 
as in finishing off the soil when planting, it is well to leave the surface 
slightly rounded over, so that the rain and melting snow can run off 
freely instead of settling into pockets and making lumps of ice. 
/^CCASIONALLY specimen plants have to be protected through 
'^the winter from the wind, for which use straw jackets made by 
taking clean straight rye or wheat straw, and binding it with twine 
in an upright position about the plants. Tie the plant together loosely 
Shrubs And before the covering is put on to make the job less 
Vines difficult. In almost all such cases, however, evergreen 
boughs can be used in place of the straw with just as 
good results and are of a much less objectionable appearance for the 
winter. The lower ends of the boughs are sharpened and stuck into the 
soil and good, stout, cord passed around them to hold them in position. 
Ornamental evergreens are not all as hardy as the more common 
specimens and decorative groups about the entrances of drives, along 
walks and paths, and in foundation plantings, often have to be pro- 
tected. Evergreen boughs should be stuck into the soil around them, 
and pieces of burlap stretched over them and held in place by nailing 
to small stakes driven into the soil at short distances apart. 
EARLY THIS MONTH 
Finish up all your harvesting and storing work. Any roots left in 
the soil should be removed at once. Even quite hard frosts won’t hurt 
the tops, but be careful the roots art not exposed to frost over night 
after being taken up. Be sure also that any onions, potatoes, apples, 
squash, or other vegetables, which may have been left in a shed or 
barn temporarily, are got safely into frost-proof quarters. 
On afternoons when it’s too cool to fool around with comfort, and 
your want some real garden exercise to keep you warm, begin trenching 
such parts of the garden as are not occupied with a winter cover crop. 
By “rotating” the trenching, you can get over the whole garden in 
two or three years or so; and nothing else will make so sure of perfect 
drainage and an early start in the spring. Dig down one spade deep; 
throw out the soil; turn over and break up the sub-soil where it lies; 
and then throw the next furrow on top of this. 
BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH 
Flow about cleaning vp? We said in October that we’d have 
-*-to mention it again. Can you now swear that you haven’t left any 
old refuse in the garden, or near it, in which eggs', disease spores and 
germs or hibernating insects can go through the winter? Better take a 
final look round before you commit yourself. 
If you have been blanching celery in a trench or by banking and 
covering up outside, get it into winter quarters. In storing it, the idea 
is to keep the roots moist enough so that growth will be slightly con- 
tinued, while the tops are dry and cool enough, and get sufficient air 
so that they will not spoil. The dwarf growing sorts may be handled 
conveniently in full size cracker boxes. For taller sorts, similar boxes, 
preferably a little larger as well as deeper, may be made. 1 he box 
should be about deep enough to take the celery standing upright. 
Put a couple of inches of moist sand or soil in the bottom on which to 
stand the roots and store in a cool dark place. 
- Forwarned is fore-armed. Don’t wait until next month to hunt for 
your pruning saw, and buy a new pair of pruning shears. Also, it might 
be well to overhaul your sprayer; and procure an extension rod and an 
“angle neck” nozzle. Watch for the hig Pruning article in next 
month’s issue. 
A Home"Built Greenhouse that Succeeded 
A. E. WILKINSON, 
I NTENSIVE cultivation of k small piece 
of land right in the village or city boun- 
dary is a frequent problem. \Ve had 
such a one, and wanted something better — 
larger — than the regulation hotbed in which 
to raise young plants and force vege- 
tables. Useful as hotbeds are, still they 
are sometimes hard to manipulate, 
especially in rainy weather, and during 
very cold days ventilation is a problem. 
We wanted to do some work in winter. 
There was an ideal location for 
a small leanto house on our place, being a 
sand bank which sloped toward the south. 
This bank was dug out until there was a hole 
ten feet wide by twenty feet long and about 
six feet deep on the north side. .At the back 
of this hole, against the north bank, was con- 
structed an 8-inch work brick wall eighteen 
feet long six feet tall. 1 he first three feet up, 
on this wall at the ends, every other brick 
was laid so that half of it projected at 
right angles to the main wall. This 
was in order to make good con- 
nection with the side wall, each of 
Not a first class greenhouse by any means but a practical substitute that was homemade in every detail. Used for forcing vegetables in winter and starting seeds for summer 
