Covering and Whitewashing 259 



and it should be 10 feet or more long to allow of its being 

 twisted. The top is trained fan-shaped and is supported 

 by a stake, and the bend of the trunk rests upon a block 

 of wood. The long, horizontal trunk remains compara- 

 tively small and pliable year after year. It should be 

 covered with an inverted board trough at all seasons, to 

 prevent injury from the sun. The flat top is laid upon the 

 ground each winter, by twisting the trunk, and is covered 

 with boards; it is not lifted until all danger of late spring 

 frosts is past. A little ingenuity applied to the pruning and 

 training of fruit-trees will make it possible to lay them 

 down, by one method or another, with every hope of success. 



Some fruits may be advantageously protected by 

 covering them with temporary (or even permanent) 

 screens. This is extensively done in pineapple-culture, 

 in which the better varieties are grown under lath or slat 

 sheds, for the purpose of protection from frost, sun and 

 drought; and it is now a practice with citrous fruits in 

 parts of Florida. Small or amateur plantations of straw- 

 berries, or even of bush-fruits, may be easily covered with 

 lath screens when frost is feared. 



In the case of the cranberry, the plant may be covered 

 with water, as explained on the next page. 



Whitewashing as a protection. 



The experiments of Whitten have shown that the 

 whitewashing of trees may retard the period of bloom in 

 early-flowering fruits, and sometimes sufficiently to allow 

 them to escape spring frosts. The reason of this is that 

 the white covering reduces the absorption of heat rays, 

 since these rays are absorbed mostly by surfaces having 

 dark colors; the tree is therefore kept cooler. Thorough 

 spraying with lime-sulfur has a similar effect. 



