The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-03-02
Lettuce Not Injured so Bad Where
Covers Were Not Torn
Loss i'm Some Sections Will be Very
Hcavy-Strawberry Crops Not Far
Enough Advanced to be Injured and
it Will Prove a Good Thing as it
Will Keep the Plants From Bloom
ing Too Early.

The full extent of the damage done
by the cold that swept over this
section of the state on Tuesday night
and is still here cannot yet be esti-
mated and it will be several days be-
fore it can be told how badly the let
tuce crop is injured.
On Tuesday evening the farmers
feared that the loss would be very
heavy. The wind was high and they
know if the covers were torn from the
lettuce beds that the loss would be
great. Fortunately not many Gov
ers were torn off. The temperature
dropped some lower than vas expect
ed. Yesterday morning it was "a de-
grees, a drop within "a hours Of %
degrees Some of the lettuce was
headed up and in a few days would
have been ready for shipment. The
farmers fear that the heads were frOZ-
EN- and If this is the case it may cause
some OF them to decay. 1t is never
known to what extent the crop is
damaged until the weather warns up
and everything begins to thaw out.
Right after a cold spell lettuce will
often appear to be u%ninjured, but when
the weather turns warm it willis. Last
night was about as cold as the preVl-
.yious night and this will make the sit
uation worse. There was no wind last
night and this was a great relief Tor
it relieved the farmers from troubling
about the covers being stripped from
l.. the beds.
The lettuce crop is very fine around
Wilmington and it would be a serious
blow if the cold weather has damaged
il to any great extent, but such Is
Tot believed to be the case.
Other truck crops Jared worse than
tie lettuce. 1t is estimated that the
radish crop was damaged abou. so
per cent and farmers think it very
probable that the crop will have to
be replanted. Many acres of beets
had just been put out and although the
weather was not cold enough to kill
the plants it will dwarf them and have
a tendency to make the plants go to
seed instead of the beet maturing.
Strawberries were not far enough
advanced to be damaged and the cold
wave will really be a good thing II
the crop is too early the farmers never
reap as good results and more or less
trouble is experienced in placing the
crop on the market. There is also Sc
rious danger of a cold wave during
the latter part of March or frs. OF
April and if the berry crop IS TOO far
advanced it means a large loss. There
are a few isolated instances around
ChadbOurn where the berries are
blooming and there are a few berries
but this is by no means the rule. The
strawberry plants don't go to bloom
ing generally in eastern Carolina be-
fore the last of March and first OF
April.
What is true of the strawberry crop
is also true of nearly all fruit crops.
The fruit trees in this section were
budding and had the beautiful spring
weather continued it would have been
Fbut a short time before they would
have been in full bloom. The cold
weather will set them back.
There has bene but one time This
winter when the mercury went as low
as it did yesterday. On n occasion
it fell to 20 and with that exception
until yesterday morning the minimum
was 26.