New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 353 
the plants and placed between the rows. In about three weeks 
the straw remaining over the rows was again shaken up and part 
of it was removed to prevent smothering the plants, leaving 
enough, however, to keep the berries clean at fruiting time. Dur- 
ing the spring the beds were weeded twice. 
The plants came through the winter in excellent condition and 
gave promise of a full crop. Shortly before blooming time, sey- 
eral light frosts or freezes followed each other in rapid succes- 
Sion, seriously injuring some of the varieties and even killing 
fruit buds protected by two or three inches of straw. Had this 
not occurred, the yield of some of the varieties would doubtless 
have been greater. Not only was the injury apparent in the dead 
and blackened centers after the buds opened, but it could also be — 
seen by an examination of the unopened buds. By cutting into 
them the discoloration of the injured centers could be seen, show- 
ing all gradations of injury. Not only were the pistils dead, but 
in many cases the injury extended to the stamens, as was indi- 
cated by their changing in color to a light brown. The petals 
however appeared to be uninjured even in the unopened buds. 
The buds. opened as usual and to the casual observer appeared to 
give promise of a full crop, though in fact no fruit was set. The 
accompanying illustration shows injured (1) and uninjured blos- 
soms (2). 
Just before the blossoms opened all varieties were sprayed 
thoroughly with Bordeaux mixture. This tended to reduce the 
amount of leaf blight, commonly called “rust.” Some varieties 
were evidently much more subject to this disease than others, and 
were more or less injured by it, notwithstanding the treatment. 
Before and during the fruiting season there was an abundance 
of rain, as shown by the following table, which gives the maxi- 
mum and minimum temperatures and the rainfall for the months 
of April, May, June and July, 1902. - At no time were the plants 
suffering from lack of moisture. For this reason some varieties 
doubtless gave greater yields and larger berries than they would 
have produced in a season of less rainfall. 
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