CULTIVATION. 



H7 



When the ground begins to freeze, protect the plants for 

 the wmter by covering the rows lightly with straw, leaves, 

 or — better than all — with light, strav^^y horse-manure, that 

 has been piled up to heat and turned over once or twice, so 

 that in its violent fermentation all grass seeds have been 

 killed. Do not cover so heavily as to smother the plants, 

 nor so lightly that the wind and rains will dissipate the 

 mulch. Your aim is not to keep the plants from freezing, 

 but from freezing and thawing with every alternation of our 

 variable winters and springs. On ordinarily dry land two or 

 three inches of light material is sufficient. ]\Ioreover, the 

 thawing out of the fruit buds or crown, under the direct 

 rays of the sun, injures them, I think. Most of the damage 

 is done in February and March. The good gardener 

 watches his plants, adds to the covering where it has been 

 washed away or is insufficient, and drains off puddles, which 

 are soon fatal to all the plants beneath them. Wet ground, 

 moreover, heaves ten times as badly as that which is dry. 

 If one neglects to do these things, he may find half of the 

 plants thrown out of the ground, after a day or two of alter- 

 nate freezing and thawing. Good drainage alone, with 

 three or four inches of covering of light material, can pre- 

 vent this, although some varieties, like the Golden Defiance, 

 seem to resist the heaving action of frost remarkably. 

 Never cover with hot, heavy manure, nor too deeply v/ith 

 leaves, as the rains beat these down too flatly. Let the 

 winter mulch not only cover the row, but reach a foot on 

 either side. 



Just before very cold weather begins, — from the middle 

 of November to December ist, in our latitude, — we may, 

 if we choose, cover our beds so deeply with leaves, or litter 

 of some kind, as to keep out the frost completely. We thus 

 may be able to dig plants on mild winter days and early 



