150 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



fruit. The trees had exhausted all the moisture, and there was nothing to 

 sustain them in the winter, and the excessive frost then coming on killed 

 them. If there had been plenty of moisture stored up for the winter, it 

 would have been better for them. Those that had borne the heaviest 

 crops were most exhausted. 



In the winters of 1855-6, we had a very severe winter, and many of 

 our trees were killed. The cause of that was that the trees grew late in 

 the fall, and the sudden change of climate killed them. 



Mr. Nelson — Taking that as a fact, I would like to ask Mr. Mink- 

 ler what caused the death of our trees in the nursery, that had not borne 

 any fruit ? They were not exhausted by a crop of fruit. 



Mr. Minkler — One variety may have gone to rest early, and another 

 variety may have held on growing until late. The Early Richmond went 

 to rest early, and hence came through safe and sound ; while other varie- 

 ties, going to rest late, exhausted the moisture. 



Mr. Nelson — I believe the Early Richmonds on the President's 

 ground have been killed. 



Mr. Minkler — That may all be because they exhausted the mois- 

 ture by bearing a heavy crop. 



The President — I had an orchard of about six hundred trees that 

 bore a moderate crop last year, that were all killed ; and about fifteen or 

 twenty trees of the same age and the same year's planting, and three or 

 four planted the year previous, that were mixed with evergreens, came 

 through, and show well for a good crop of fruit for next year. 



Mr. Schuyler — The trees that were cultivated made a much larger 

 growth, and therefore would not endure as much cold weather as they 

 otherwise would. 



Mr. Wier — We are too apt to look at things superficially. In hot, 

 dry seasons, our trees do not grow thriftily, and after them they are more 

 liable to winter-killing, which we attribute to the severe drought. Pei' se, 

 of course it is the primal cause, but the drought alone, unless much more 

 severe than we have ever experienced, would not cause such disastrous 

 results. We must bear in mind that our long, hot, dry summers, are very 

 favorable to the generation of many minute noxious insects, particularly 

 leaf-destroying ones, as well as other animal, sporadic and fungoid life, 

 these preying upon the leaves at the most critical time, July and August, 

 send the tree into the winter in a feeble, impoverished condition, particu- 

 larly its roots. In such dry and hot seasons the leaves of our trees swarm 

 with leaf-hoppers, leaf lice, (or aphides,) and very often with mil- 

 lions of leaf-feeding mites, or acari. I have seen a young nursery of 



