50 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
December, 1917 
Winter Protection for Fruit 
Trees, Berries and Roses. 
We make no apology for giving 
below, word for word, directions 
for winter protection published in 
the October, 1916, issue of Wis- 
consin Horticulture. If the ad- 
vice was good then it is good now. 
From present appearances there 
will be plenty of opportunity to 
cover berry bushes and roses 
early in December. 
THE ORCHARD 
Don’t prune. Leave that job 
until March or April. Pruning 
leaves wounds and these not only 
will not heal until growth begins, 
but the wood will check and the 
bark and underlying tissues die 
and thus prevent proper healing 
next spring. 
Protect young trees from at- 
tacks of rabbits and mice. Wrap 
the trunks with tarred paper or 
use veneer strips fastened with 
string or wire. If paper or ve- 
neer is used it should be removed 
next spring. Tarred paper will 
surely injure the trunks if left on 
during the summer and veneer 
harbors insects. 
For protection against mice 
mound earth around the trees to 
form a cone of six or eight inches. 
This is usually sufficient to turn 
miee. Tramping the snow around 
the trunks is sometimes effectual. 
Miee rarely trouble trees in culti- 
vated orchards. Grass or weeds 
left around trees in the fall invari- 
ably attract mice. 
BERRIES 
Except in the extreme southern 
part of the state raspberries and 
blackberries should be given win- 
ter protection in order to insure a 
full crop. Some market growers 
never cover berry plants and 
claim they get a satisfactory crop 
every year. Their claims are not 
usually well substantiated. Crops 
from unprotected fields are often 
light and no t infrequently the 
canes killed to the ground. It 
pays to give winter protection. 
To the novice it seems an impossi- 
bility to bend down and cover 
with earth a row of six-foot canes 
and yet it can be done. Use only 
heavy forks, no spades, or shovels, 
Take out a little earth from one 
side of the clump, shove a fork 
down close to the canes on the 
other side and push and pull until 
the clump lies flat. It can be done. 
A few roots may crack but there 
will be plenty left. Anchor the 
tips with earth and proceed to the 
next clump. Later cover with 2 
to 4 inches of earth. Some grow- 
ers merely fasten the tips and de- 
pend on snow for covering. 
Sometimes we have plenty of 
snow. 
GRAPES 
Prune heavily and cover the 
same as raspberries. 
CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES 
Require no winter protection. 
ROSES 
The rugosas, the yellow garden 
roses, Persian and Austrian yel- 
low, Scotch white and a few other 
hardy garden kinds require no 
winter protection, but the hy- 
brids known variously as hybrid 
perpetuals, hybrid teas, etc., and 
including such varieties as 
“Jack,” Paul Neyron, La France, 
etc., must be covered; also the 
climbers, Dorothy Perkins and 
Crimson Rambler. By careful 
work, bending at the roots at the 
same time pulling down on the 
tops even large bushes may be 
laid flat without breaking. Peg 
down the tops and leave until the 
ground has frozen, when mice will 
have picked out winter quarters 
elsewhere ; then cover with straw 
or leaves. Carpets or sacks laid 
over the bushes furnish ample 
protection if fastened securely. It 
is sunshine that winter-kills roses, 
not frost. 
Roses may also be protected 
without bending them down by 
tying the bushes top and bottom 
and wrapping with carpet or 
sacks. In this case fasten the 
covering securely at the bottom. 
The loss of a few inches of the 
tips merely saves that much 
spring pruning but if the wrap- 
ping works away from the bottom 
we may have to prune close to the 
ground next spring. 
Herbaceous plants that are 
really hardy will come thru all 
right without any winter cover 
and no amount of cover will save 
half hardy or tender kinds. A 
light covering over the roots of 
hardy kinds will do no harm but 
should be removed very early in 
spring. 
So much at least we should do 
in October or November. It seems 
like a lot of work, but it can all 
be done if the spirit to do it is 
present. It pays, pays in dollars 
and cents and in the feeling that 
we have done our share. We owe 
it to the trees and plants. 
Apple Tree Bulletin 
(1) Rabbits and mice are both 
very fond of the bark of apple 
trees and very often “girdle” 
them. 
Protect the trunks of your trees 
all the way from the ground to 
the first branches. Use strips of 
wire (mosquito) screen^ folded 
around the trunks auu xastened 
with wire. 
(2) Tarred paper or even 
heavy building paper may protect 
from rabbits but not from mice. 
