522 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Dec., 1899. 
When the work is well done, the temperature of a cold night may be improved 
by from 5 to 8 degrees, which is usually sufficient to prevent any harm being 
done by frost. ; ; i 
Again, if you will take the trouble to observe, were it only for one winter, 
two thermometers—one placed quite close to the ground, the other at a certain 
height above it, say, from 4 to 5 feet, you will find that on a clear frosty 
night the temperature is from 10 to 12 degrees lower close to the ground, 
It follows that delicate plants such as tomatoes, grape vines, &c., are less 
liable to frost when trained on high stakes and trellises than when allowed to 
trail on the ground. It should not be forgotten that a good drainage, be it pro- 
dueed by artificial or by natural means, tends to keep warmth in the ground— 
that is, plants become more easily frozen on an ill-drained than on a well- 
drained soil. A good layer of mulch retards also terrestrial radiation of heat, 
and can be used with success on strawberry beds, on tomatoes, potatoes, &e. 
Pineapples can be saved by simply putting a handful of hay or straw over the 
heart of the plant. Bananas stand a good deal of frost when their bunches are 
enveloped in a bag or with straw. In fact, I have seen, as far west as Charle- 
ville (488 miles from the coast), in a Chinese garden, banana plants which had 
survived the winter there, and were bearing heavy bunches of fruit. 
Tn places exposed to late frosts it isa good plan to retard spring vegeta- 
tion. This is especially the case with the grape vine, and is now regularly 
practised with success by many of the best Roma vignerons. 
Various means are used to reach that end. The spring ploughing is 
delayed as long as possible without exposing the vineyard to become a prey to 
weeds. The pruning is also deferred as late as can be without running the risk 
of having too much é/eeding, as the running of the sap from the cut is called. 
But, above all, the surface roots are carefully removed and are never allowed to 
develop. That is, at the first pruning, after a year’s growth, if you remove a 
bit of earth from around the collar of the vine, you will see usually from three 
to four roots radiating horizontally within a couple of inches of the surface. 
Cut them off straight away, thus inducing other roots to develop lower down in 
the ground. Jf you do not do that, you prepare yourself endless trouble. 
During a drought, or even during short eetatanl of hot, scorching, January sun, 
the sap gets practically baked in those surface roots, and the plant—leaves, 
fruit, and all—withers away, sometimes beyond redemption. In a wet season 
those surface roots are perhaps worse still. They absorb an extraordinary 
amount of water, more than the plant can elaborate and transform into 
nourishing sap. The results are yellow leaves, a sickly look, and tasteless, 
watery fruit. Those roots prevent you also from ploughing deep, depriving you 
thus of the principal condition of a good crop. But, above all, these roots 
predispose the plant to suffer from early frosts. Being so near the surface, 
they feel in the middle of the day the warmth of our sunny spring days. 
Although the nights are still cold, the sap is awakened and put into circulation, 
and the buds venture out of their warm, downy coverings by from a week to a 
fortnight earlier than would be the case with roots seated deeper in the ground. 
Such means apply, though to a less degree, to other shrubs and fruit trees, the 
vegotation of which can be accelerated or retarded at will by judicious manage- 
ment, That careful husbanding of the sap is indispensable to successful fruit 
and yine-growing. 
Whilst I am still upon the subject of the vine, 1 might as well mention 
here that all hopes should not be given up even after a severe frost. When a 
couple of days Ne elapsed, which is quite sufficient to show you the whole 
extent of the damage, take your secateur and re-prune carefully every vine. 
In her wisdom—and kindness—Dame Nature has provided the vines with a 
spare or under bud ( faux-bouton), which will now develop and not seldom give, 
in our climate, a fair erop of grapes.* Attend also carefully to the so-called 
summer pruning. Atter a frost, the vine, as well as other fruit trees, has a 
~ | * See article in thia issue, page 576, on “Tho Effects of the Late Frosts on Vines,” by 
Mr. E. H. Rainford, Vitieulturists—Ed. Q.4.7. : 
