Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1874 — Protection for Winter. [ARTICLE]

Protection for Winter.

There arc two leading causes which injure plants in winter beside a low temperature, namely: the- sweep of cutting winds and the rays of the sun on frozen tissue. Both of these should be taken into account in providing protection for winter. We sometimes see striking cases of injury by the winds. Plants are occasionally thrown partly out of the ground by the heaving frost, and hard winds have twisted and uprooted them. An extensive farmer assured us that his wheat crop was often lessened to one-half the amount by this cause alone in exposed places—a loss which the shelter of woods or timber screens prevented. A striking case of a similar character once occurred on our own ground in the days when Mediterranean wheat was generally cultivated. An exposed field was partially covered with a thin coat of straw, spread after the ground had become frozen; the other part had no straw applied. The thin covering of straw was sufficient to shield the wheat-plants and prevent their destruction, and the subsequent yield on this part was about twenty bushels per acre. The sharp winds destroyed nearly all the wheat on the bare portion, and it was not deemed worth cutting. The action of winds on garden plants often produces similar results. Strawberries are sometimes heaved by frost, and then killed in the same \vay,*wlien a flight covering would serve completely to protect them. Where they are not killed, more or less injury is done by exposure. Any gardener can easily satisfy himself on this point by covering a portion of his strawberry beds and leaving a part exposed; the former will come out fresh, green and vigorous in spring when the covering is taken off, while the latter will be browned and of weakened vitality. Some years ago we made a series of experiments of the depth of the frost in the soil early in winter. Where bare ground was fully exposed to the sweep of the winds it had frozen down to a depth of six inches. In small hollows, or sheltered places, it had not frozen three inches, and under the lee side of an evergreen screen the frost had not gone down more than an inch. Then, again, even quite thin grass afforded much protection, the frozen ground not being more than half as deep as where there was bare exposure. A heavy mat of grass had nearly prevented all freezing. and the soil where the grass was under the lee of an evergreen screen was not frozen at all. This difference would of course be less as the cold weather of winter continued; nevertheless, the ference was strikingly obvious after spring opened, the thickly-protected grass having started early and grown several inches, while the green points on the shortly-cropped suriace were just making their appearance. If so gieat a benefit results to farm crops, not less beneficial will be the effect of protecting garden crops and ornamental plants. Straw berries would be earlier as well as more vigorous and productive with a moderate degree of covering. Herbaceous peiennials. even if quite hardy, would start earlier in spring and grow and bloom better if properly protected. The results would vary with seasons, an open winter vrith little snow rendering protection mole important than when there is an ample snow covering. Its importance, therefore will vary with different regions of country. At such a place as Grand Traverse, in Michigan, for example, where the snow covers the ground deep from autumn into spring and where potatoes remain out all winter without harm, it would be needless. The same result how ever, be produced in northern latitudes by employing evergreen screens. B. Macomber, of Grand isle, Lake Champlain, us that his screens usually prevented the winds from blowing the snow off so effectually that the earth did not freeze at all during winter. This suggests protection in

; two ways: either by spreading evergreen | branches,on the surface or planting a [-temporary Screen several feet high by Lsetting large evergreen branches into { crowbar holes in a row before the freezj itx.tr up of winter. There is one precaution which inexperienced gardeners may learn fretfi some !gf the cases, we. have cited, and this is ' not to cover green leaves or green plants so densely as to exclude air. The farmer know s that very deep- snow will smother and rot his wheat plants; a similar result will take place if too dense or im- ■ pervious a covering is spread oyer strawberry l i as, orvoff jtrostrattrTsspberry canes or grapevines, the Wood of which remains soft and green, and which has not been well ripened. This is one cause of the unfavorable reports of covering vines. And for this reason it is safer merely to prostrate them on the ground, or if covering is required to-use evergreen branches for this purpose. Strawberries do well with evergreens for a cover, or, if litter is used, corn-stalks or stiff rye straw are better than fine and soft straw, r jvhich, when wet, will pack too closely for the good of the plants. But tender plants, which part with their leaves before winter, may be densely covered without harm. Trees and plants often reputed perfectly hardy, although not actually killed by severe winters, are often retarded in grow th for a time. We tried the experiment on a vine of the White Sweetwater grape. A portion w-as left on the trellis, another portion was* merely prostrated on the ground, and a third received a thin stratum of earth. All survived the winter; but the covered vine opened its buds fresh and green before the others; then the prostrated vines; and lastly, and slowly and feebly, the exposed part. In the case of an unprecedentedly severe winter, when the thermometer went 2G deg. below zero, a weeping ash not killed was so checked in vigor that a part of its buds did not open till the following August. Such facts as this will suggest the importance of cutting and securing “grafts early in winter; if their full vigor is to be insured, although in some winters it might make no difference. On a large scale, in large vineyards or field plantations of raspberries or strawberries, such suggestions as some of these may not be applicable, or protection may be impracticable, yet on more limited grounds the different modes here indicated may often prove of much importance.— Country Gentleman,