296 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



December, 1907 



until the plants were large enough to 

 render the operation dangerous to them- 

 selves. The bed was a mass of glory 

 when, on October 10, 1906, the heavy 

 snowstorm which swept^;^over Western 



Ontario crushed them to the earth. 

 This experience teaches that successful 

 aster culture depends upon having good 

 seed and rich, mellow soil, well worked 

 and well watered. 



Winter Protection for Plants 



V. R. Gardner, Macdonald College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec 



ONE of the first questions asked by 

 people in northern latitudes about 

 a new variety of a fruit-bearing 

 or ornamental plant is: "Is it hardy?" 

 By experience they have come to know 

 that all varieties are not equally hardy 

 and that some are not suited to their 

 severe winters. Although some varie- 

 ties require no special winter protec- 

 tion, a large number are likely to be 

 destroyed without it; yet many of 

 these half-hardy sorts of both fruits 

 and ornamentals may be made to 

 thrive if only given a little extra care. 

 As the tender varieties are often the 

 best in quality, the subject of winter 

 protection becomes one of considerable 

 importance. At the same time it is 

 a rather difficult subject to discuss. 

 The plant that will need protection in 

 one locality may not need it in another. 

 The method of protection best adapted 

 to a particular plant in one locahty 

 may be quite unsatisfactory in a place 

 less than a hundred miles distant. 



j MUI^CHING MOST COMMON 



Generally speaking, mulching of one 

 kind or another is the one way of pro- 

 tecting half-hardy plants through the 

 winter. Strawberries, asparagus, peon- 

 ies, and many other herbaceous peren- 

 nials, are regularly mulched. Grapes, 

 raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, 

 and many ornamental shrubs are first 

 laid down and then mulched; in all 

 cases, the object being to cover the 

 plants with a blanket of some sort, to 

 keep out some of the frost. 



With herbaceous plants, straw, leaves 

 or litter of some sort is generally used. 

 These materials can be removed in 

 the spring without much danger of 

 injuring the crowns. Woody plants 

 which can be bent to the ground are 

 usually covered with soil. The depth 

 to mulch of course varies somewhat 

 with different plants and with different 

 conditions. Plants may suffer as much 

 from too deep mulching as from being 

 left exposed. If covered too deeply 

 they may decay in the spring before 

 the mulching is removed. With most 

 plants a mulch a couple of inches deep 

 is usually sufficient. Strawberries 

 should not be covered this deep, ex- 

 cept between the rows where the 

 mulching may be thicker. 



LAYING DOWN WOODY PLANTS 



With woody plants the main diffi- 

 culty lies in getting them down to the 



ground. Grapes, raspberries, black- 

 berries, and so forth, which are intend- 

 ed for mulching, should be pruned in 

 the fall so that no more wood than 

 necessary need be covered. In the 

 case of the brambles, all dead canes 

 should be removed and the new ones 

 thinned so as to leave only four or 

 five of the best to each hill. Then by 

 digging away from one side of each 

 plant with a spade and prying from 



Eucomis Punctata 



the opposite side, the plants may be 

 bent over without great difficulty. 

 Plants laid down in the same direction 

 each year are quite readily handled. 

 If all the plants in a row are bent in 

 one direction and made to lap over 

 each other, less material will be re- 

 quired to cover them. 



HANDLING GRAPE VINES 



There are several methods of prun- 

 ing the grape for laying down. One 

 of the most satisfactory is to train an 

 arm out horizontally in each direction 

 from the parent plant, and let verti- 

 cally trained shoots develop from these 

 arms each year. The arms, being near 

 the ground, can be readily covered in 

 the fall after the (fenes of the past sea- 

 son's growth have been removed. New 

 shoots are produced each year from 

 spurs on the two arms. Another 

 method of pruning grapes suited to re- 

 gions where the vines must be laid 

 down in the winter is what is some- 

 times known as the fan system. Ac- 

 cording to this system no permanent 



arm is formed; but instead each year 

 the plant is cut back so as to leave 

 only three or four canes, each one and 

 a half to three feet long, coming from 

 the stem at or below the surface of 

 the ground. These are flexible and 

 can be readily covered. In the spring 

 they are tied to the trellis in a fan- 

 shaped fashion. 



PROTECTION AGAINST MICE AND RABBITS 



In some sections, considerable injury 

 is done fruit and ornamental trees by 

 mice and rabbits. Care should be 

 taken to prevent litter that is hkely 

 to furnish material for nests from ac- 

 cumulating around the trunks of trees. 

 Tree protectors made of wire screen, 

 or wood cut into thin veneer-like sheets 

 and tied around the tree trunks like a 

 collar, are often used to advantage to 

 prevent girdling. 



Other methods than these mentioned 

 for protecting plants from severe cold 

 and from rodents are frequently em- 

 ployed. The above are some of the 

 simpler and more common. A little 

 time spent now in preparing our plants 

 for the winter may prevent consider- 

 able loss and disappointment. 



Canadian Holly- 

 Roderick Cameron, Niagara Falls, Ontario 

 Canadian holly. Ilex verticellata, is a 

 native plant that grows on the borders 

 of swamps and ponds. To see a clump 

 in full fruit with the ground round 

 about covered with snow, is a sight 

 that will never be forgotten by any 

 person that loves plants. 



There seems to be both fertile and 

 sterile plants of these. Two kinds are 

 found near each other, one literally 

 covered with scarlet fruit and the 

 other with none. 



These plants take kindly to cultiva- 

 tion on damp soil. They love to have 

 their roots covered with water during 

 winter and spring. During summer,, 

 however, they seem at home in a dry 

 ice like the edge of a dried-up pond. 



pl|c 



' Eucomis Punctata (spotted). — Flower, 

 green brown; scape, cylindrical; tall, 

 surmounted by a crownlike tuft of 

 leaves, which renders them interesting 

 objects, deserving of cultivation in the 

 outdoor garden. They have proved of 

 sufficient hardiness to survive our win- 

 ters at Niagara Falls. They are cape 

 bulbous plants of the lily family; hand- 

 some foliage, more or less spotted at the 

 base with purple. The illustration 

 shows a plant grown by Mr. Roderick 

 Cameron, Queen Victoria Park, Niagara 

 Falls, Ont. Probably it is the only one 

 that has been flowered in Ontario. 



When planning a garden, do not aim 

 to have it like that of any one else. Be 

 original. Produce the unKke. 



