Manual of Gardening; A Practical Guide to the Making of Home Grounds and the Growing of Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for Home Use (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918 Excerpt: ...transplant with difficulty, as the papaw or asimina, and some nut trees, may be prepared for removal by cutting some of their roots--and especially the tap-root, if they have such--a year or two in advance. It is ordinarily best to plow or spade the entire area in which the shrubs are to be set. For a year or two the ground should be tilled between the shrubs, either by horse tools or by hoes and rakes. If the place looks bare, seeds of quick-growing flowers may be scattered about the edges of the mass, or herbaceous perennials may be used. The larger shrubs, as lilacs and syringas, may be set about 4 feet apart; but the smaller ones should be set about 2 feet apart if it is desired to secure an immediate effect. If after a few years the mass becomes too crowded, some of the specimens may be removed (p. 76). Throw the shrubs into an irregular plantation, not in rows, and make the inner edge of the mass more or less undulating and broken. It is a good practice to mulch the plantation each fall with light manure, leafmold, or other material. Even though the shrubs are perfectly hardy, this mulch greatly improves the land and promotes growth. After the shrub borders have become two or three years old, the drifting leaves of fall will be caught therein and will be held as a mulch (p. 82). When the shrubs are first planted, they are headed back one half or more (Fig. 45); but after they are established they are not to be sheared, but allowed to take their own way, and after a few years the outermost ones will droop and meet the greensward (pp. 25, 26). Many rapid-growing trees may be utilized as shrubs by cutting them off near the ground every year, or every other year, and allowing young shoots to grow. Basswood, black ash, some of the maples, tulip tree, mulbe...