Mr. Corsan: The temperature Mr. Rush spoke of rather surprises me. Last year at Toronto it did not fall lower than 9 degrees below zero. We had summer almost until New Year's and then a very severe winter until April. I didn't notice any evergreen trees killed, but at Detroit, the Bronx and various other places, I never saw a winter so disastrous for killing evergreens.
The Chairman: Not only that but nurserymen all over eastern New England said they suffered greater losses last winter than ever before.
Prof. Smith: I would like to ask Mr. Rush if it would be possible to cut scions by December 1st, so as to escape danger from such great freezes.
Mr. Rush: I really have little experience in keeping scions. This fall I put some in the moist cold earth in the cellar. I think the experiment will be successful because I have known chestnut scions cut in the fall, to be kept under leaves in the grove till spring.
Prof. Smith: I should like to suggest that you try the following experiment; bury them, wrapped up in a gunny-sack or something, entirely underground where they will have absolute moisture and be shut away from the air. I have found that very successful.
Mr. Rush: Sometimes the trouble is they get too moist.
The Chairman: There is a principle here, and we had better keep down to principles as much as we can. That principle is that if the cells of the scions are distended with water a certain chemical process is going on all the while, because a scion is just as much alive as the red squirrel; it is a living organism. Now then, if the cells are a very little below normal dryness the chemical processes mostly cease, and that is better. We have to use nice judgment in avoiding having a scion so dry that its cells perish or so moist that its cells are undergoing chemical processes too rapidly. Our scions are cut, say, the last of November, then covered with leaves enough to prevent freezing and thawing. That will carry scions pretty well through the winter and perhaps is the best way, but we must never forget that in dealing with scions we are dealing with living red squirrels just as when we are dealing with pollen.
The Chairman: The driest leaves in the woods contain more water than you think they do. They carry enough to maintain the life of the cells, if they are packed pretty firmly about your scions, and at the same time the scions are still allowed to breathe. I keep them above ground. I put a layer of shingles on the cellar floor, if I've got a bare ground cellar floor, and then a layer of very fine leaves like locust leaves, then a single layer of scions and then a good big heap of leaves over those, packed tight, a good big heap of apple leaves or anything you have at hand. Try it on the basis of principles. It is a complex question. You can't settle any of these questions off-hand. Every man who has had much experience has learned that he needs a whole lot more.