COLLEGEVILLE TRIAL STATION. 279 



Nos. 21880, 21982 and Pattens seedling pear, which did not suf- 

 fer. Prof. N. E. Hansen's hybrid pears had been heeled in and 

 nothing- can be said about them. The strawberries Nos. 3 and 

 1017 and the raspberries, having been covered in fall, came 

 through winter in fine shape. The tame grapes, but not the 

 Alpha, had been covered and passed the winter safely. 



We had unusually much snow and, while this certainly was 

 helpful to somewhat tender trees, it also did a little damage. The 

 snow drifted badly, on some places it piled up seven to ten feet 

 high. These drifts were dangerous to small trees. Thus two 

 of our plum trees, Nos. 3 and 8, were split and broken down by 

 the snow. The nursery was completely filled up with snow about 

 five to six feet high, bending down or covering all young trees. 

 As a consequence many trees were broken and had the buds 

 rubbed off by the settling snow. 



Mice and rabbits were unusually active. The deep snow 

 helped the rabbits to reach up on some trees six to seven feet 

 high, where they bit off all the buds they could get a hold of. 

 And below the snow the mice got in their work on young trees 

 where not protected. Some eight pear trees were either girdled 

 entirely or the bark badly injured. Of course the trees are not 

 lost, as they grow again from the scion, but it will set them back 

 a year or two. The best protection that can be given to young 

 trees is undoubtedly a good wire netting put around the stem 

 at least two feet high. Although we meet many difficulties in 

 horticulture we must not give -up, but rather try to overcome 

 them. 



As soon as the frost was out of the ground the work was 

 started at the station. A section of our orchard was replanted, 

 mostly to Wealthys. The old trees had blighted so badly that it 

 was thought best to remove them entirely. This was done last 

 fall, and their place is now occupied by young trees which were 

 set twenty by twenty-four feet apart. This distance apart will 

 be adhered to in all our future planting of apple trees. The trees 

 of the original orchard were planted only sixteen by sixteen feet, 

 and while this distance is quite satisfactory as long as the trees 

 are small it is entirely too close when the trees grow large and 

 spread. Then the trouble begins; the branches interlock, the 

 lower branches die, the circulation of air is insufficient, the fruit 

 does not color up, the quality is inferior, insects are harbored 

 and multiply, and the menace of all apples trees, blight, finds a 



