252 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Emil Sahler : What do you tie it with ? 

 Mr. Underwood : Just tie it at one end with a Httle piece of 

 string. We wrap it spirally just one thickness. It is a protection 

 against rabbits, mice and everything else. 



Mr. Sahler: Where the tree grows bigger does not the bark 

 grow round on the outside of the burlap ? 



Mr. Underwood : We don't tie it tight enough so it will do that. 

 We use a jute string for tying the burlap because it will stay right 

 there until it decays. Sometimes the burlap will need a little patch- 

 ing after it has been on a year or two, but it usually lasts for two 

 or three years. Our trees have done well protected in that way. 

 We have wrapped them by the thousand, and I do not know why 

 it is not a good way. It is very easy to apply, and, whatever it costs, 

 it is very much less than lath. If I had not had lath experience to 

 the extent of several hundred dollars I would not say anything 

 about it. 



Mr. O. M. Lord : How wide do you cut the strips of burlap ? 

 Mr. Underwood : We usually cut up the burlap so the pieces 

 will be about four to six inches wide and then cut it up in pieces 

 long enough to wrap around a tree. Then we put them up in rolls, 

 and a man takes a basket and passes around among the trees and 

 ties it on, using a piece of string for that purpose. 

 The President : Have you tried wire netting ? 

 Mr. Underwood : I have not. I suppose it would be a good 

 thing, but it would be more expensive than burlap. I think build- 

 ing paper could also be used to advantage. I have not had any 

 personal experience with building paper, but my brother wrapped 

 several thousand trees this last year with building paper for the pur- 

 pose of keeping jack rabbits away. I suggested burlap, but he 

 thought building paper would do better. They use a building paper 

 that is water proof and tough and that will stay on for years. It 

 is what is called resin-sized paper. 



Mr. A. J. Philips : I will say in reference to the cost that per- 

 haps I was a little too low. When we set out our trial orchard I 

 made the protectors all by hand and put one around every tree in 

 the orchard, and it cost perhaps a little more than I stated. Mr. 

 Kellogg furnished lath protectors at $3.50 per hundred, and I 

 bought some screen door wire and it cost me about double what the 

 lath protectors cost and did not stay on as well. 



Mr. Leach : I never recommend anything unless I have a reason 

 for it. There are several reasons why the lath protector is best 

 for the ordinary apple grower. I am not a nurseryman, and I have 

 not a great number of trees to protect, only about three hundred, 

 but if I had three thousand I should protect them in the same way. 

 If you protect them with lath protectors they stay protected. I have 

 used different things in my orchard, such as veneer and tar paper, 

 although I have never used burlap, but the great trouble with the 

 veneer and paper and other things I have tried is that they are never 

 on the tree. They will slide up and get knocked off, and I do not 

 know where to find them, they are gone, but when you use a lath 

 protector it is good for ten years. You take it off and lay it on the 



