SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 257 



recognition, others again are mere fallacies; the intelligent orchard- 

 ist will know how to discriminate between them. 



The unsatisfactory condition of the apple tree in its variations, 

 as we have it in the northwest, will not be surprising when we com- 

 pare the climatic conditions of this country with the climate of the 

 countries of Western Europe whence the present stock of our 

 assortments originated, viz: England, France and Germany. We 

 should not wonder that our trees can stand so little, but rather that 

 they can endure so much. For mark: they are not only required to 

 stand the sun-heat of Italy, but likewise, and at the same time, the 

 intense cold and dry air of Russia as found between the 50th and 

 ooth i)arallels of north latitude. The latitude of Chicago (42° 

 north) traced across the Atlantic, through Spain and the Meditera- 

 nean, runs across Italy between Rome and Naples. At the same 

 altitude above sea level as our prairies are located, we find in that 

 country an almost perpetual summer, with a climate very similar to 

 that of our own Florida: sub-tropical fruits, such as oranges, lemons, 

 pomegranates, dates, figs, olives, etc., being the regular products of 

 that country on its lower plains; only in the higher valleys and 

 plateaus of the Appenines do we find the apple. We notice, there- 

 fore, that neither the fruits of Russia nor of Southern Europe are 

 called upon to endure such extremes of heat and cold as our fruit 

 trees are required to endure. Is it a wonder then that so many 

 kinds succumb to these changes and are short-lived, unhealthy, and 

 unprofitable? We should refiect that the sun's rays during the day 

 heat up the lower part of the trunk considerably more than any 

 other part of the tree, and also that the coldest strata of air at night 

 sinks to the same level owing to its greater weight, so it naturally 

 follows that the bark must be ruptured and separated from the cam- 

 bium, and the sap cells must be destroyed, producing what is popu- 

 larly known as .•^loi-srald, and noticeable by the blotches of dead 

 bark found on the lower part of the stem after a winter of great 

 severity. The greatest damage always resulting in seasons of ex- 

 treme depression of temperature (30° or more below zero), while 

 scarcely a trace of this mischief is noticeable after comparatively 

 mild winters when the thermometer does not reach over 15° or 20° 

 below zero. 



Trees frequently leaf out in the spring and even blossom and 

 then die. This phenomenon is caused by the sap contained in the 

 branches and twigs becoming liquid; it compels the develoj)ment of 

 the foliage and blossoms, but no sap being able to pass through the 

 ruptured and deadened stem, the tree dries up when the foliage has 

 evaporated the sap contained in the upper i)art of the tree. It was 

 practically dead before the advent of spring. Time and again have 

 our nice promising trees been destroyed, and the memorable winter 

 of 1882-83, with its three coldest nights of 35\31°, and 29' below 

 zero, caps the climax as one of the most severe and destructive expe- 

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