FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
193 
Small quantities of chicken manure are 
also applied at irregular intervals. 
I mulching. 
It is here, we believe, that we have 
found a use for the superfluous paper that 
accumulates about a house. We spread 
the paper on the ground beneath the 
bushes, several layers thick when we have 
plenty, so that the entire length and 
breadth of the rose-bed is covered. What 
is the purpose of this new use for paper ? 
Well, weeds and grass, including Ber¬ 
muda grass, soon began to cause us 
trouble. It cost too much labor to al¬ 
ways keep these hoed out, and it occurred 
to us that paper would prevent them from 
coming through, and paper probably 
would not hurt the roses either. We 
tried it and so far it has worked perfectly. 
The few sprigs of Bermuda grass that 
And their way through, probably between 
papers where they have not been allowed 
to lap sufficiently, are so few and far be¬ 
tween that we actually feel sorry for them 
and let them grow. Neither have we 
discovered any injury to the bushes on 
account of the paper. Whether or not 
a mulch of paper could be used about 
other plants to keep ‘down weeds and 
grass without injury to the plants we 
cannot state. To keep the paper in place 
we cover it with mulch, grass and weeds, 
or anything of the kind that we have or 
can readily obtain near at hand. If we 
desire a better finish we mulch with 
Spanish moss, or use moss on top of the 
other mulch. The layer of mulch on top 
of the paper may be just sufficient to hide 
the paper or it may be made thicker. A 
layer of mulch may be first placed on the 
ground and then the paper with more 
mulch added. Leaves and other light 
material that could not be used on top 
of the paper may be used under it. 
About once per year we replenish the 
papers and mulch where needed, or cover 
the whole with more paper and fresh 
mulch, at the same time widening* the 
mulched area a little. 
We decided to mulch for several other 
reasons. In the first place it is nature’s 
way. In nature, falling leaves, dead 
branches and other vegetable debris ac¬ 
cumulate on the ground and form a thin 
mulch. In the second place, we thought 
mulching would be easier than to keep the 
ground hoed clean. Then, again, mulch 
keeps the soil from drying out and 
furnishes a continuous supply of fresh 
soil by the rains, washing small decaying 
particles down into it, and by burrowing 
insects and worms. At all events, exami¬ 
nation of soil that has been covered with 
mulch for some time shows it to be in an 
excellent condition of tilth—loose, moist 
and dark with humus. And, finally, do we 
not have those who strongly advocate and 
practice mulching in the grove, the 
orchard, and elsewhere? At all events, 
we concluded that we were on safe ground. 
PRUNING. 
All the dead, weak and overcrowded 
wood should be cut out of the rose bushes. 
After this thinning process has been com¬ 
pleted, pruning proper must be done to 
get strong shoots. The advice generally 
given, “the stronger the growth the less 
the plant should be pruned, and the weak¬ 
er the growth the harder it should be 
pruned,” has been quite generally fol- 
