208 Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 



quarters, for I am sitting very comfortably in my shirt sleeves in a 

 room without a fire, and have been at work all day without a coat. 

 These are exceptional days, however, for the middle of November. 

 Frosty nights are the rule for this season, and we must remember that 

 it is the alternate freezing and thawing of the ground about the straw- 

 berry crowns, that works the injury to the plants. 



If our weather was such as to insure a constant freezing tem- 

 perature from this time forward until the first of April, we would have 

 no need for protecting the strawberry bed. 



With plenty of moisture in the ground such as we have at the 

 present time our plants should go through the winter in good condition 

 with a very slight covering of straw or hay. It is the dry, open winter 

 that is most damaging to all forms of small fruits and nursery stock. 



What snail we cover our beds with, is a question to be determined 

 largely by the material that is available for this use. Clean wheat straw 

 is usually the best and cheapest, and has the additional advantage of 

 being easily and quickly spread. Oat straw would do equally as well 

 were it well threshed, so as to be free of grain. It has a higher value 

 than wheat straw for feeding and so can not be considered as cheap 

 for covering. Wild hay is good if it can be found free of noxious weeds, 

 though it does not spread as nicely as straw. Some strawberry growers 

 cut a waste field of grass early enough to avoid the ripening weeds and 

 let it lie on the ground until ready for use in the fall. Again, many 

 commercial growers use coarse stable manure as a covering, and thus 

 secure the benefit of it as a fertilizer as well as a protection in winter. 

 I have used it for many years exclusively, and like it specially for its 

 manuring qualities. As a covering it has its faults because of the 

 danger of getting it too thick in places and so smother the crowns. I 

 have often had the plants weakened in the crown by the use of fresh, 

 fine manure. Weeds are also very apt to creep into our beds through 

 the use of manure, especially where timothy and clover have been used 

 for feeding. For my use this fall I have bought a stack of wheat straw 

 at 50 cents a load and have it hauled and placed at margin of my bed 

 ready for spreading at the first needy and convenient time. 



As a general rule I do not begin covering my beds until the ground 

 Is frozen enough to bear up a loaded wagon. So, as soon as we have a 

 good freezing night I am ready to go to work and spread rapidly the 

 straw now ready at hand. Barely enough straw to hide the foliage is 

 all that is needed. 



