102 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
green plantations on the college grounds. Not only 
were these evergreen branches placed outside to 
some thickness, where they were held by cords 
wrapped around, but the spaces in the interior were 
filled with them as compactly as possible. To sup- 
port this heavy mass of material, two or three 
stakes were driven alongside the tree in position to 
be wrapped in with the branches. This attempt 
was followed by results but partially favorable. 
While the trees that had the advantage of protec- 
tion showed more bloom than those alongside not 
so protected, the difference was not sufficiently 
marked to warrant the conclusion that this method 
eould be made of practical benefit. It was found 
to be a matter of difficulty to retain the evergreen 
branches closely enough in and about the head of 
the peach tree to keep out the killing cold. More- 
over, covering material of this kind could not be 
obtained in our state, except by accident, and some 
substitute must be found. As a cheaper and, it is 
probable, a better material, we should have made a 
repetition of the trial with corn fodder, had we not 
been led by a stray suggestion to modify the method. 
“The following fall, 1888, the trees were in good 
condition for further trial. The shortening-in . of 
some branches and the thinning-out of others had 
left abundant fruiting wood, favorably distributed and 
well covered with fruit-buds. Our plan was now to 
bend the trees downward, bringing them as near the 
earth as possible, and keeping them in this position, 
to be covered by a mass of hay or similar material 
