238  Reporvr of THE HorTiCULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THD 
TasLe II]I.—Dartes or BLOOMING OF VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES 
SHADED AND NoT SHADED. 
CoMING INTO BLoom. 
VARIETY. — 
Shaded. Not shaded. 
bs) NEY UG 05 ea RO RN er IER OR eer RN Ne eG May 13 May 16 
BGriGha eC he aod 9020.30 CPD o SIO CIN OED o aieen OCR May 16 May 19 
PTO E WU AVicreieiotcletclstale cucie eittersroinieie etavele: are reverence brates ore May 16 May 19 
Wirriap Es elitie ss fercecrene mpaus, cyseatay= ravage. a Setears ote ren eves ctere ial May 18 May 19 
SIC Rey Pee DISIITRCIeH Tl Ri crcic ea eee cereus May 20 May 22 
The foliage and the fruit stems, alike at Penn Yan and at 
Geneva, were about two inches taller under the cover than out- 
side and the leaf expanse was proportionately greater. That is, 
the development was symmetrical. The shaded foliage was softer 
and lighter in color but apparently normal. It was in no way 
distorted or drawn. 
Shading was of marked benefit during the drought of 1903. 
In the open some plants were killed and the growth of all was 
seriously interfered with. In the shaded plat no plants were 
killed by the drought, though here also growth was somewhat 
checked, as was evidenced by an increasingly sickly appearance 
before the rains came. The plants never entirely recovered from 
this set-back. This shaded plat made much the fuller matted 
rows for the reasons that the foliage made a heavier growth and 
that no plants were killed. Some time before the rains came in 
June the growth of new leaves in both plats had ceased; but 
when the cessation of growth in both plats had taken place the 
number of mature leaves per crown in the open was four in a 
large majority of crowns while under the cover it was five. That 
is, for the same number of plants there were 25 per ct. more 
leaves under the cover than outside. The number of leaf buds 
per crown appeared to be about the same in both plats. 
SHADING AS A PROTECTION AGAINST FROST. 
One noteworthy merit of the practice of shading is the pro- 
tection it affords against frosts. Observations were made on this 
point in the Shortsville experiment in 1902. That year heavy 
frosts occurred the nights of May 9 and 10 with light frosts for 
two or three nights thereafter. When the frost came the clusters 
