STRAWBERRY. 81 



rial, to the depth of one or two inches will usually be 

 sufficient. 



Every one ought to know, if he does not, tliat frozen 

 plants thawed out in the shade are less injured by frost 

 than when fully exposed to the light ; and this is another 

 reason why Strawberry plants should be covered in win- 

 ter, because, if the weather should be very changeable, 

 they will be less liable to injury than when fully exposed 

 to light. 



Protection is sometimes objected to, because it is said 

 to retard the blooming of the plants, and the crop will be 

 later in ripening. This may be true to a certain extent, 

 but I have always thought that protected plants came for- 

 ward more rapidly, when they did start, than the unpro- 

 tected ones. The lost time may not be fully made up, 

 but there will be but a very slight difference. 



In some sections of the country, retarding the time of 

 blooming would be very advantageous, as by this means 

 the injury from late spring frosts would be avoided. The 

 benefit of having late blooming kinds was quite apparent 

 the past season, (1866), when a late frost was very de- 

 structive through a great portion of the Northern and 

 Middle States ; and the reports of the Strawberry crop 

 furnished some amusing illustrations of the careless man- 

 mer in which some cultivators arrive at conclusions. The 

 early blooming varieties came in for all the censure, while 

 the late bloomers, which escaped the frost, received all 

 the praise ; and still, with this very potent fact before 

 him, scarcely a fruit grower, in making up his report of 

 success or failure, alluded to the time of the blooming of 

 the variety cultivated. The varieties of F. grandiflora 

 in particular, require winter protection to insure a full 

 crop. The large, prominent crowns of these varieties are 

 more liable to injury than the smaller and more compact 

 ones of those of other species. When the plants are grown 

 in beds, then a portion of the material used for protection 

 4* 



