s 
7 
became a serious matter to Mr. Robinson, 
and lie sat down to think it over. And in a 
moment lie acted as if he wanted to shout 
for a boat, and was afraid lie was going to 
be hungry. I put treacle on the stick. 
A tiy came, but Crusoe was not hungry for 
flies just then. .He was homesick for his 
web in the woodshed. He went slowly 
down the fade to the water and touched it 
all around, shaking his feet like pu&sy when 
she wet her stockings in the grass, and 
suddenly a thought appeared to strike him. 
Up he went like a rocket to the top, and 
commenced playing circus. He held one 
foot in the air, then another, and turned 
around two or three times. He got ex¬ 
cited and nearly stood on his head, before 
I found out what he knew, and that was 
this, that the draught of air made by the 
fire would carry a line ashore on which he 
could escape from, his desert island. He 
pushed out a web that went floating in the 
air until it caught on the table. Then he 
hauled on the rope until it was tight, struck 
it several times to see if it was strong, 
enough to hold him, and walked ashore. 
I thought he had earned his liberty, so I 
put him back in the woodshed again.— 
Hearth. 
■ -- 
Taking* Care of Flowers in Fall. 
BY BEEN E. REXFORD. 
It is a firm belief of mine that it pays to 
give such shrubs and plants as are con¬ 
sidered hardy enough to withstand the 
rigor of our northern winters, protection 
in fall. They may not exactly need it, or, 
in other words, they may be able to get 
along without it, but they will do enough 
better next season to pay for all the trouble 
it is to put coarse litter about them, or to 
lay the tops down and cover with earth 
or branches of evergreen. I give my hardy 
roses such protection, and they come out 
iu spring with every shoot alive to the tip 
and their flowers are larger and finer 
than those borne on bushes not so pro¬ 
tected. The fact is, our long and severe 
winters exhaust the vitality of our hardiest 
plants, or, if they do not exhaust it, they 
weaken it to a dangerous extent. 
In November, or, if the season is un¬ 
usually cold, in October, lay down roses, 
honeysuckles, wistarias, bignonias and 
such shrubs, and cover the branches with 
earth. Before laying them down it is a 
good plan to heap earth about the base of 
the plant. Over this heap of soil the 
branches can be beni without danger of 
breaking them. If they are stiff and in¬ 
clined to resume their upright position lay 
a sod on them to hold them in place. If 
litter is used about the plant it can be dug 
into the soil in spring and will help to en¬ 
rich it. I propose to use earth about the 
base of the plant, however, because* it is 
more compact, and is not likely to scatter 
so many seeds. If the plant to be protected 
is a comparatively hardy one, like the June 
roses, branches of evergreens will afford 
sufficient protection, and can be easily 
moved in spring. Do not be in too great 
a hurry to uncover. One swallow doesn’t 
make spring, and one or two warm days 
can not be taken as an assurance that warm, 
weather has really come. If a plant is un¬ 
covered too early in the season the frosts 
and thaws which ensue will be quite likely 
to damage it. Better wait until you feel 
sure there is no danger to he anticipated in 
that direction. The plants will not grow 
until warm weather comes, if vou do un- 
cover them early, and they are betler off 
under their protection. 
Peonies and lilies will be all the fairer 
for a covering cf straw, or leaves. Pansies 
are the only flowers which should not be 
covered up in protecting them. If you cov¬ 
er them they suffer by it, but they like to 
have leaves scattered over and among 
them. 
I prefer to trim roses, honeysuckles and 
such plants as bear flowers on new growth, 
when I lay them down in fall. The Hy¬ 
drangea Grandiflora —one of the best shrubs 
of recent introduction, by the way,—should 
be cut back quite severely, leaving strong 
and healthy buds to produce shoots from 
which next season’s flowers are to be borne. 
Dapline Cneoreum and plants of that class, 
which do not flower on new growth, should 
not be pruned until after they have bloom¬ 
ed. Amateurs are apt to prune all plants 
alike, and thus they often spoil their 
chances for flowers on such shrubs as make 
growth after having blossomed. 
