American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-08-23
Management of Trees, Grass and
Flowers.

VEGETATION is the life of ones land.
Every pound of heritage removed de
prives the soil of given amount of
fertility Hence weeds and grass should
be saved. A great many persons scatter
the grass from their lawns and the weeds
from their gardens in the highway, which
is bad horticulture in many respects. If
they would spread such grass and weeds
around their growing flowers or around
any garden vegetable, the mulch would
save the labor of carrying many hogs
heads of water to supply the plants with
the necessary moisture, and the covering
would keep the weeds down and save a vast
deal of manual labor, and the crops would
be heavier When the soil appears nearly
dry to the touch. the roots cannot possibly
derive the needed supply of water to
keep the leaves and branches from in ury
during the rapid evaporation which is go
ing on night and day. When the atmos-
phere is as dry and hot as the air in Il huge
lumber kiln, it will have the moisture in
every tree and plant and the moisture of
our bodies, even 'if it uhe hot air. has
to take it Ohe mOisture) out of the hide.
Hence we must drink, and the roots of
the trees and plants must be supplied
with water or they wither and die. If
trees standing in grass ground are watered
the surface around about the body for
three or four feet in each direction should
be covered with mulch of some sort to re-
tard evaporation. 1t will be labor lost to
water trees on the lawn without exercising
this precaution, as the water will disap-
pear before hundredth part of it has
reached the roots. Straw, hay, lawn grass,
weeds, shavings or tan bark will make an
excellent mulch. Spread the mulch three
or four inches deep, pour two or three
pailsful of water around each tree, and
the water will permeate the entire soil,
keep it damp, and supply the moisture
which the tree must have or die. If the
soil is in a tillable condition draw the
earth away from the tree to the depth of
one or two inches, pour in two or three
pals of water and return the mellow
earth, which will keep the surface from
baking. Yet mulch is far preferable TO
the latter mode.
A successful grapist assures us that he
has always found the best success when
leaves, the weddings of the garden, chip
manure and forest mold, either singly or
combined, have been freely applied.
These seem to contain the different mate
rails in proper proportion-that is, the
organic, the carbonaceous and the nitro
genous; the mineral needs to be supplied,
and nothing does this so satisfactorily as
God ashes 1t supplies largely potash,
hich is needed The best success, and
it has been fully achieved, which we ever
attained, was by applying a coat of leaves
in the fall, worked into the soil in the
spring, followed by weddings from the
garden, clippings of the vine, with other
vegetable refuse as mulch, sprinkled over
with wood ashes, leached or unleached
if the latter, more were required. This
made healthy, not excessive growth,
and increased both the quality and guam
tity of the fruit. 1t makes sounder and
better keeping fruit. Herbaceous mate
rial and ashes, with occasional bonc-dust,
we have found the best application for
fruit trees in general, for berries and for
the grape. Apply yearly where the soil
is not rich, and in the spring, when the
ground is dry enough, spade it we'll
Neoo York Herald.