THE WINTER PROTECTION OF PLANTS 79 



PROF. BAIRD. In answer to Mr. Braxton, I may say that I have 

 only about eighteen or twenty roses and the number is not so great but 

 that I can take a great deal of care of them. I do not disturb the soil 

 any more than is required in pinning them down, but a friend of mine 

 here in the dry goods business has a method which does not require 

 pinning at all. He covers the roses over with packing cases tilled with 

 straw or manure, and leaves them standing, and in that way they are 

 protected from the snow in the spring and from changes of tempera- 

 ture. His method seems to be pretty good. 



MR. McKAY. We have a lot of boxes that we use in growing our 

 melons and things that we wish to ripen early. These we put over the 

 roses in winter filled with leaves. In regard to laying down raspber- 

 ries we have none that will stand without protection in the North- 

 West. We have to put them down every year, but we never touch the 

 roots. We find that we have to cover the whole bush, as unless we do, 

 it will not bear fruit although it may look all right. If we had snow 

 it might not be so, but we have no snow and so find protection of the 

 whole body necessary. 



MR. TOMAUN. In the case of the Turner Raspberry, did back- 

 pinching make it branch out ? 



PROF. BAIRD. Not as freely as the Golden Queen and Cuthbert. 



MR. TOMAUN. That might do very well in the city where you 

 have only a small garden, but in growing fruit for sale a man cannot 

 lay them down as he has not time. I have laid them down and I have 

 left them standing and I fail to see any difference. We should get a 

 kind that will stand. For a number of years I have grown raspberries 

 and I would advise anyone growing them in the country not to cover 

 them. The way I would grow them, if convenient, would be to have 

 them 20 to 25 feet apart and have strawberries between so that the 

 raspberry bushes would hold the snow to cover the strawberries, as 

 about four feet of snow is the best covering you can get for them. 



MR. A. P. STKVENSON. I have tried pinching back alternate rows 

 and certainly I failed to see a particle of difference in the crop. In 

 reading the report of the experimental farm I notice that they had no 

 favorable results from pinching. As regards what has been said about 

 covering strawberries, I find that if I do not mulch them the frost in 

 spring is liable to spoil the blossoms. L,ast year one half of my crop 

 was ruined by leaving the plants uncovered. Those that we mulched 

 were kept back and did very well. 



MR. McKAY. We have a raspberry at Indian Head, the Dr. Ryder, 

 It is the best raspberry we have ever had and next to the Turner in 

 hardiness, and I would like to know if anyone here has heard of it. We 

 got our first vine in 1889 from Boston. 



