Horticultural Experimentation for Colorado, 189 



is ripened up in the fall. It may have made its growth, but if not 

 ripe there is not starch but water in the cells. The hardening com- 

 mences when cool nights begin, and continues till cold weather. A. 

 tree will not come out well in the spring if dag too early. There 

 can be no action in the tree unless there is starch in the celle. 



Prof. Tracy, of Missouri — At Cincinnati, a few years ago, this 

 same subject was discussed. Dr. Warder spoke of the damage done 

 to orchards in Ohio in '81, caused by freezing and loosening the 

 bark. The injury through Ohio seemed universal. Dr. Warder 

 stated that on a few occasions he had examined trees immediately 

 after their being damaged, and he had saved them by nailing the 

 bark back on the tree. He did not know how far this could be car- 

 ried. 



Prof. Burrill — If trees were in leaf, I think possibly they might 

 freeze outside first, but not otherwise. 



Mr. iMunson — We want to know how to keep trees from being 

 damaged. The Ben Davis was the only tree that stood in Texas. 

 (Dr. Gregory remarked it was so in Arkansas.) Some other varie- 

 ties almost escaped. If trees are hilled up when bursted it will of- 

 ten save them. 



Dr. Gregory — I have saved some by taking off the bark and put- 

 ting a plaster on. 



The President — We will have to stop this discussion for want of 

 time, for there is another paper for this morning. 



Prof. James Cassidy, of Colorado, read the following paper : 



HORTICULTURAL EXPERIMENTATION FOR COLORADO. 



BY PROF. JAMES CASSIDY, OF COLORADO. 



Never before, perhaps, in our history as a nation, has so much interest been 

 taken in the products of the garden and in everything that it takes to adorn 

 life and make it better worth living for, tlian at the present day. The pros- 

 perity of our manufacturing industries depends indirectly as well as directly 

 on the prosperity of the various departments of agriculture, and this fact is 

 intensified and comes home more forcibly to us every day as the country ac- 

 quires age. In Colorado, agriculture in its broadest sense, is in the pioneer 

 stage. Crops are planted with a view chiefly to immediate returns, taking 

 no account that a day of retribution is at hand; but all this is a necessity too 

 often, and peculiar to the settlement of a new country. The early settlers 



