PROTECTING APPLE BLOSSOMS FROM FROST. 4I5 



Prof. R. A. Emerson (Neb.) : What was the variety of that 

 plum? 



Mr. Radabaugh : It was of the same variety as the others. They 

 were a lot of trees I pulled up at Richfield. The farmer said they 

 were a good variety. They looked very much like the Weaver, 

 and they ripened about the same time as the Weaver. 



Prof. Emerson : That is the first actual case of the sort I ever 

 heard of. I heard it had been tried, but thev did not get any re- 

 sult. 



Capt. A. H. Reed : I think the gentleman has struck the key 

 note in regard to frost killing the fruit. The main thing is to 

 keep our trees back and not let them blossom before the danger of 

 frost is past, and that can be done in my opinion only by good 

 mulching. Don't put on the mulch until the ground is frozen quite 

 deep, and then put it on so the buds will not start until all danger 

 of frost is gone. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg (Wis.) : This mulching against frost in- 

 jury is not worth a cent. (Laughter.) If you can cover the tree 

 so the sun cannot get at it you can hold the frost in. The sun will 

 bring out the buds and start the blossoms, and I never knew an 

 instance to the contrary except in the case mentioned by the gen- 

 tleman. 



Mr. Emil Sahler : Those trees which I expect to bear this year, 

 in the month of February, when there is probably two feet of frost 

 in the ground, I mulch those trees seven inches deep as far as the 

 limbs go, and I have apples every year — whether they are worth a 

 cent or not. 



Mr. O. M. Lord : I have paid more attention to plums than to 

 any other fruit, and I have mulched them heavily and let them go 

 without mulching, and I believe with Mr. Kellogg that no matter 

 what you do such a tree will blossom just as soon as any other tree in 

 the orchard. 



Capt. Reed : If a heavy coat of snow lies on the ground no 

 tree will bud and blossom. 



Prof. Emerson : I want to tell you what a man in Nebraska 

 did. He mulched some trees when the ground was frozen solid 

 in order to retard the blossoming. He said it did retard the blos- 

 soming, he did not remember exactly how long, but he thought 

 about fifteen minutes. (Laughter.) It is the temperature of the 

 air that determines the blossoming. When the roots are frozen 

 solid the ends of the stem will blossom just as well as if the roots 

 were not frozen. 



Prof. Pendergast: It has been asked here today whether any- 

 body has ever seen trees in blossom that had three feet of snow 

 around them. W'hen I was a boy I found a rose bush limb growing 

 through a little three cornered hole in a pane of glass. I soon saw it 

 begin to bud, and in a month or so it was in bloom in the house while 

 there were three feet of snow on the outside. I do not think that 

 mulching in any quantity or at any time does the least good what- 

 ever in retarding the blooming period. (Applause.) 



