Meeting at the State Fair. 125 



gregate of two hundred and eighty-one degrees below. On Janu- 

 ary 10th, it stood thirty-five degrees below, and on the 14th, it 

 was thirty-three below. The wonder is that more injury was not 

 done. 



Attention was called to the fact that notwithstanding the bard 

 winter and heavy crop of the year previous, wild crab, plum and 

 other native trees, were bearing heavy crops of fruit ; the oaks 

 and all nut bearing trees also hung full, and the opinion was ex- 

 pressed that this was due to the perfect hardiness of our native 

 trees, and that our remedy lies in securing a hardier stock for our 

 cultivated fruits. 



The secretary remarked that hardiness of stock was an element 

 very essential to success, but it was not the only thing to be con- 

 sidered. The native oaks placed in the same conditions as many 

 of our orchards, subjected to the same treatment, would eventu- 

 ally die out; were their roots confined to the surface soil, where 

 the effect of a few warm days in early spring would be to cause 

 a premature swelling of the buds, and the heat and droughts of 

 midsummer would check growth, and a warm and late fall would 

 so prolong the growth that the wood could not mature, they, too, 

 would be lacking in hardiness. We do not think too much of 

 constitutional hardiness, but we do pay too little attention to the 

 conditions on wbigh it depends, and the means by which it may 

 be secured and maintained. The character of our soil and the 

 peculiarities of our climate have a stimulating effect on all vege- 

 table growth, and the natural tendency is to promote an excessive 

 growth; and consequently a growth lacking in matuiity and 

 hardiness, and too often our method of culture tends to increase 

 the evil. Many orchards are on ground where the water stands 

 near the surface, or where a stiff, clayey, hani pan subsoil keeps 

 the roots near the surface, where they are easily affected by cli- 

 matic conditions. Were the land under J rained and the subsoil 

 broken up, the roots would strike down where they could get 

 needed nourishment in times of drought, where they would not 

 be influenced by exceptional weather, either in spring and fall, and 

 where they would not be all frizen up solid the long cold winter 



