pose
the plants were frosted in transit, set the box in a cool cellar over
night. A gradual thawing out may rejuvenate them, while a sudden
thawing is dangerous.

In planting, it often helps an amateur to take a few stakes and place
one at each point he desires to set a plant. If you set six or more
stakes, plant six or more plants, pulling up the stakes as you proceed
to set out more. Make the holes in the bed wide enough to allow the
roots to go in without crowding, and after filling in the soil, press
it down firmly around the neck of the plant, and over the roots, and
water well when all the bed is planted.

When dry, hot weather comes, and you think artificial watering
necessary, soak the bed well and then let it alone for some time,
although, in the evening, after a hot sunny day accompanied by a
strong, drying wind, if the foliage looks wilted somewhat, a showering
overhead is beneficial. The day after a good soaking it is well to go
lightly over the bed with a hoe or rake and stir up the soil, breaking
the crust produced by the watering. This makes a mulch that will
conserve the moisture and protect the roots from the hot sun. Frequent
slight waterings keep the moisture at the top and the roots are then
inclined to grow upwards to meet it. If you then neglect to water, the
soil soon becomes dry and the roots suffer.

WINTER MULCHING

When winter approaches, if you desire tidiness, cut the tops down
(except evergreen-foliaged plants) even if the frost has not already
done this work for you, and cover the bed with well-rotted manure, but
it is really better to allow the tops to remain all winter, especially
in the case of hollow-stemmed plants. Well-decayed manure needs but
little going over in the spring, requiring only the removal of the
foreign material and the straw chaff it may contain. What remains is
generally the color of the soil, thus unnoticeable and acts as a mulch
during the summer. Fresh manure may be used--in fact it is better,
because the plants receive the benefit of the leachings, which is
pretty well spent in old manure. In large grounds there is, however,
considerable labor attached to the removal of this fertilizer in the
spring, as it must be taken away for neatness' sake. While this manure
has the greater part of its strength leached out, it is well worth
saving for the humus still in it, and it may be dug in in the vegetable
garden, or placed in a large flat pile about two feet