Mulches also serve a most useful purpose in preventing the ground from packing and baking by the weight of snows and rains, and the cementing action of too much water in the surface soil. In the spring, the coarser parts of the mulch may be removed, and the finer parts spaded or hoed into the ground.
[Illustration: Fig. 154: Covering plants in a barrel.]
Tender bushes and small trees may be wrapped with straw, hay, burlaps, or pieces of matting...
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