STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 125 



RANDOLPH COUNTY. 



" The extreme changes of temperature last winter and spring destroyed the fruit 

 huds of the Peach trees in this section, and where budded trees were not sheltered by 

 timber, injured the trees to some extent. 



"Apples and Grapes were also injuriously aft'ected, except in a few favorable situ- 

 ations. The crop of Apples was small and very im])erfect in exposed orchards, while 

 orchards on hilly, timl)ered ground yielded the best and most perfect fruit. 



"Grape vines yielded scarcely half a crop on an average — sheltered vines yielded 

 the most fruit. 



"Gooseberries and Currants yielded nearly an average crop, but Blackberries were 

 almost an entire failure, both wild and cultivated, and the same may be said of Straw- 

 berries. 



"Apple trees seem not to have been injured. The oidy fruit tree injured to any 

 extent was the Peach, 



"The Pear, Cherry and other trees, escaped injury, but the yield of Cherries was 

 small and very imperfect. The curculio had no Peaches to work on, and selected the 

 Cherry as a substitute. 



"Shrubbery sustained no material injuiy, except, perhaps, in a few exposed situ- 

 ations. 



" In this section the influence of groves and protecting belts of timljer upon orchards 

 and vineyards is decidedly beneficial. Our most severe degrees of cold, during even 

 ordinary winters, are often accompanied by violent northwest and north winds, pro- 

 flucing sudden great changes in temperature. Large groves and thickly wooded belts 

 of timber, on the northwest and north sides of orchards and vineyards, protect them very 

 greatly and are beneficial. 



" The plow may be said to be the only implement used in this section tfi cultivate 

 orchards and vineyards. Other methods are not practiced to any great extent. Judicious 

 plowing every season seems to benefit vineyards. Manure is not much used. Orchards 

 >eem to do best in grass, if kept well pruned, and plowed once in two or three years. 



" All varieties of fruit trees, planted in locations where there is sufilcient drainage, 

 do well in this section in ordinaiy seasons. Long continued droughts in summer and 

 fall, short spells of extreme cold in winter, and late frosts in spring, seem to be much 

 more prevalent now than twenty-five or thirty years ago, and aft'ect all fruit trees injuri- 

 ously — some kind more than others — budded Peaches more than seedlings. 



"FRED. K. DETRICH." 



CLINTON COUNTY. 



"The eft'ects of the last winter upon all kinds of trees and plants were, and are, 

 most disastrous. Most of the old Peach trees, and all that were heavily loaded with 

 fruit the previous summer, are dead, or nearly so. 



" Many Apple trees that were not entirely killed, were so weakened as to simply put 

 forth leaves and maintain them through the year, without making any gro\\-th whatever. 



" Nearly all of the more tender Cherry trees are killed. Even the Early Richmond, 

 in many instances, was killed, especially whce it was on the Mahaleb stock. The trees 

 on Morello stocks were hardier, especially when budded low down. 



"The small fruits did not escape ihe general destruction. 



''■Raspberries and Blackberries weie killed down to the snow line, and have made 

 but little over half the growth this year ihey did last. Even the Kittatinny Blackbenv 

 was badly killed; so we had no cro]?. 



"Strawberries were much weakened — crop about one-fourth as much us usual. The 

 lowest temperature was 30° below zero. 



" The summer of 1872 was so very dry as to leave all kinds of trees and plants with 

 a very low grade of vitality. This, I think, may account for much of the damage done 

 by the cold of winter. 



" I don't think shelter belts or forests did any good or harm in this region. 



" Some orciiards had been well cultivated with plow and harrow, and othere were 

 entirely neglected, with the same results, as far as the winter is concerned. 



