'New Yokk Agkicultukal Expekiment Station. 261 



Occasional night frosts usually do not defoliate the common decidu- 

 ous trees of this region in autumn. In normal seasons vegetative 

 activities of our trees cease about the latter part of October; yet apple 

 trees may retain their foliage until the latter part of November, if 

 the rainfall has been considerable during the months of August and 

 September. 



Goppert^ gives the vegetative season or rather the time between 

 the appearance and fall of the leaves of pear and apple as 184 days. 



In general it may be said that the conditions were very good for 

 vigorous and late growth in the fall of 1910. The rainfall in August 

 and September were 138.9 mm. and 83.6 mm. respectively, while the 

 averages^ for those months from 1882 to 1910 are only 96.5 mm. and 

 55.1 mm. The temperature was also conducive to late fall growth. 

 The averages in 1910 for September, October and November were 

 17.3° C, 12.7° C, and 2°C.; while the monthly averages of those 

 months for the years 1882-1910 inclusive are 17° C, 10° C, and 3.7° C. 

 respectively. It is thus seen that the temperature for September and 

 October in 1910 was above the 29-year average for those months, 

 and that the November temperature fell below the general average 

 for that month. To sum up, then, the temperature and rainfall 

 during August and September were above normal in 1910, and the 

 temperature in November was below the normal. In fact, the gen- 

 eral impression prevailed that wintery weather began about Novem- 

 ber 12 instead of the latter part of December and continued cold into 

 the early part of January, 1911, when it unexpectedly thawed during 

 terrific west and southwest winds which lasted several days. 



It was during the latter part of this warm period in January that 

 winter-injury was found to have occurred quite commonly on fruit 

 trees in the western part of the State. The inner bark and very 

 often parts of the cortex, medullary rays and pith of stems and 

 ascending branches of young apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum, and 

 other trees were found much discolored in spots. Some complaints 

 and requests for advice from fruit growers also came to the Station 

 regarding the discoloration evident on the west or southwest sides 

 of trunks and branches of young pear and apple trees or on smooth- 

 barked, upright branches of older pear trees. 



Some Medina orchards. — While visiting some such winter-injured 

 pear orchards near Medina, N. Y., on January 17, 1911, quite a 

 number of young apple trees were found which had loose bark on the 

 stems at the ground. The finding of one or more short and very 

 narrow clefts in the bark of the crowns led to the discovery. The 

 loose bark was living and normal in every way, except that there was 

 a faint brownish discoloration along its inner side and slightly more 

 along the radial cleft. The separation had apparently occurred in 

 the phloem or just outside the cambial region in most cases; but two 

 were found on which the separation had occurred in the cortex, so that 



^ Page 269 of his monograph cited on page 296. 

 * From meteorological records kept at this Station. 



