202 State Jlorticnltural Society. 



all occurred at the end of the old ccntitry and the beginning of the 

 new, for histor}^ and science tell us thai e\ cry hundred years or about 

 the end of each century most of the planets that exert an influence 

 over our earth go ofif on a sky-lark, leaving the earth as it were at 

 sea, without rudder or compass, and that these conditions always 

 bring about extremes of weather. 



It is somewhat interesting to have studied carefully the two 

 drouths and noted results. The drouth of '97 did not begin until the 

 first of Jul}^, after most of the crops, both agriculture and horticul- 

 ture, were made, and therefore was not so seriously felt, so far as 

 crops were concerned, especially by those interested in agricultural 

 pursuits. It may be remembered by some of you at least, that from 

 early spring of that year up to July ist, barely enough rain fell to 

 keep moisture in the surface soil sufficient to make the crop, this 

 too, after a comparativeh^ dry winter. All this time, during the 

 growing season, the crops were drawing the moi&ture from the sub- 

 soil, so that when the rain ceased and the drouth set in the ist of 

 July, the earth was dry for several feet below the surface, and in fact, 

 drier four or five feet down than at the surface. 



The results may be summed up in part as follows : The deepest 

 rooted trees in the forest (the hickory), about the middle of August 

 began to die, and in some sections of the country, dozens of trees 

 could be seen at a look, that were dead or dying, and a little later, 

 other trees began to go; and by the last of Angus', the orchard trees 

 showed that they, too, were dying, so that by the time winter set in, 

 •thousands of trees in both orchard and forest, in many sections of 

 the countr}', were dead or dying. Small fruits were also damaged 

 to the extent of cutting the crop nearly one-half for the next year, 

 besides requiring a year or two to repair the damage. 



Orchards that were carrying a crop of fruit through this could 

 not form fruit buds for the next year and, of course, did not bear a 

 crop in '98; and this was perhaps best for the owners, as it gave 

 the trees a chance to rest and repair the damage. 



'98 was a fairly seasonable year and all crops of corn and other 

 cereals and grasses were about up to the average, but what was the 

 condition in the orchard and forest? As a rule, all the orchrads and 

 the forests in most sections carried an unhealthy, weak, imperfect 

 foliage, and by mid-summer, many trees that had been weakened in 

 vitality by the servere strain of the previous year were found dead 

 and dying, and many more so impaired that the unprecedented freeze 

 of February, '99, not only finished them, but damaged many others in 

 orchard and forest and especially in the nursery to such an extent that 



