FLORIDA STATU HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
55 
earlier season. In fact, vve generally con¬ 
sidered that there was danger any time 
after Christmas. The first two weeks 
of January were the point of danger. 
The great freeze came on the 8th and the 
second the 12th, and the last came as late 
as the 19th of February, which is the 
latest cold. Mr. Gaitskill has a theory 
that there is an evolution from the stars 
by which the cold weather is being re¬ 
moved on, and that when it is absorbed 
in the warmth of April we will have no 
cold weather. But, like everything 
else, this period in which the cold will 
come is a matter of controversy. Now, 
the Chinese have a system of keeping 
back their peaches and other fruit by re¬ 
moving the earth from the roots. If we 
can manage to keep the sap back to the 
20th of February we will probably have 
no danger whatsoever. 
Mr. Hubbard—There is a way for 
keeping back the growth of small trees, 
but the effect is bad. This last winter 
we had several rather cold snaps. On 
the 24th of February, on the surface of 
the ground, the thermometer was 35 de¬ 
grees. Some of my neighbors covered 
trees with veneer boxes. Some of the 
trees were not covered. Inside those 
boxes where they had been kept tight 
and dark no growth had been made 
at all. It was as cold inside the 
boxes as it was outside. No damage 
was done to the trees because they had 
made no growth. But keeping them 
shut up retarded them, and after the 
cover had been removed some of them 
were a month later making growth than 
those that were outside, and the trees 
which had been boxed up tight had prac¬ 
tically no fruit. As far as my observa¬ 
tion went, it would seem that keeping 
trees shut up close and dark has a bad 
effect. 
Dr. Kerr—With six years passed and 
the next hard freeze to come in fifty-four 
years, although a comparatively young- 
man, I am not afraid of that freeze. But, 
what little experience I have had in the 
covering of trees in the past winter, I 
have had just the opposite experience of 
that which Mr. Hubbard has spoken of. 
The trees that I had enclosed were not 
affected at all. I had them banked two 
and a half feet high. Then I had a 
strong string drawn around the trees, 
and drew them together and built a box 
over them. I had a loose cover top, 
and when the weather was pleasant I re¬ 
moved it. The boxes were only three 
feet square. All the trees that I had 
treated in this way, the first of March, 
when I removed the boxes entirely and 
took down the banks, the growth was 
six inches, and they are the only trees 
to-day that bloomed and have fruit upon 
them. Other trees looked well, but 
they were a month'later catching up to 
these trees. They looked better, were 
greener, and showed it in every respect. 
One night I was a little frightened and I 
had all lamps ready, but concluded that 
it was not necessary. Only one night 
did I place lamps in these boxes, and 
then I believe that it was unnecessary. 
Mr. Russell—I believe Dr. Kerr has 
said that he took the top of the cover 
off at times to air those trees, and Mr. 
Hubbard told about boxing his trees. 
Mr. Hubbard—The trees that I spoke 
of where the growth was retarded were 
kept covered up tight. Trees, of course, 
that had the covers removed, except on 
cold nights, made more growth than 
those outside. Where cloth covers 
