WINTER PROTECTION OF THE STRAWBERRY 



PLANTS. 



^ P^HERE should always be a dis- 

 tincti(jn between winter protec- 

 tion and summer mulch, for it 

 will not always do to get the 

 two things mixed. A good summer 

 mulch can be made use of more or less 

 as a winter protection ; but the best 

 winter protection is wholly unsuitable 

 for a summer mulch. Nature's protec- 

 tion — snow — is most decidedly the 

 best of all as far as the nature of sub- 

 stance is concerned, and if it could 

 be depended upon to come early enough 

 and stay late enough to do its perfect 

 work it would be all the heart could 

 reasonably desire. But unfortunately, we 

 cannot depend upon it, so we are obliged 

 to look out for a substitute. As being 

 the most available material we make use 

 of small evergreen trees, the fir being the 

 best. Trees that are from 8-12 feet high 

 are the best ; the boughs trimmed off 

 from the lower side so that they will lay 

 where they are placed. Moss, straw, 

 and salt hay are also largely used here 

 as a winter protection and summer 

 mulch. Whatever material that is most 

 available which contains no poisonous 

 matter, and is of a coarse nature so that 

 it will not pack down so close as to ex- 

 clude the air and smother the plants, 

 will do. 



The time to apply the protection de- 

 pends much upon the locality, and 

 somewhat upon the season and material 

 used, the coarser the material the earlier 

 it can be applied with safety. It will 

 not do to cover closely till the season of 

 dormancy approaches, which begins here 

 about the middle of November, but is 



not fully on with the strawberry till well 

 into December. The hackneyed advice 

 that goes the rounds of the small fruit 

 department of the press, " As soon as 

 the ground is frozen hard enough to 

 bear a horse and cart so that you can 

 drive over the patch without injury to 

 the plants," etc., is not good or practi- 

 cal. While the ground might many 

 times be frozen hard enough to bear a 

 team during the early morning hours of 

 November this state of things would not 

 last long after the sun is up ; and then 

 again, it is not advisable to drive over 

 the patch with a heavy cart at any time 

 when the ground is bare. When the 

 time approaches that the ground freezes 

 nights and thaws days the strawberry 

 patch should receive its covering. It is 

 a good plan to put on a light covering 

 at first, and then later a more complete 

 covering. 



There are winters when apparently 

 the plants will pull through without 

 injury ; that is the foliage may be all 

 killed and the weak plants heaved out, 

 but all the strong plants will start a 

 strong healthy growth again. But when 

 such plants are compared as to their 

 fruiting side by side with those that 

 were well protected, you will see a mark- 

 ed difference greatly in favor of the lat- 

 ter. I am well satisfied from the results 

 of careful experimenting that by far the 

 greatest cause of the so-called " barren- 

 ness " among strawberries of varieties 

 that are usually productive, and also the 

 deformity of the fruit, is due to the 

 effects of severe winters and improper 

 protection. — American Gardening. 



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