New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 285 



An experiment in rapid thawing and swaying of apple trees. — On 

 January 8 about 5 liters of water with a temperature of nearly 60° C. 

 was poured in splashes on the lowest crotches of each of two apple 

 trees in the oldest orchard, and allowed to run down the trunks. 

 Immediately after application of water the trees were swayed vigor- 

 ously during about a minute. It was in the afternoon and the tem- 

 perature had risen to about — 26° C. The trees were of normal 

 appearance. One of them had been set about 9 and the other about 

 12 years. Perhaps a liter of water was left after the second tree had 

 been treated and was let stand in a tin vessel in the snow while the 

 tree was being swayed. The remaining water was then splashed on 

 to the lowest crotch of another large apple tree and ran down its 

 trunk. On another tree two branches about 2.5 cm. in diameter 

 were bent downward, considerably, a number of times, but not far 

 enough to cause any audible breaking. 



By testing with a knife it was found that the bark and a little of 

 the outer wood had been thawed by the hot water, but a few minutes 

 after the application of water had been made the whole wet surface 

 was coated with a thin sheet of ice. One of the swayed trees was 

 sawed off about 20 cm. above ground and carefully examined for 

 indications of discoloration or injury, but none could be found in any 

 part of its trunk. 



About the middle of March, after all aerial portions of trees had 

 been thawed for several days, practically the entire bark of the re- 

 maining tree-trunk receiving the hot water treatment in January 

 had died and become brown. There were only a few small blotches 

 of green colored outer cortex here and there that seemed to be alive. 

 The whole phloem as well as the outer surface of the wood had become 

 discolored over all parts of the tree where the hot water had been 

 applied. On the inner side of the branches as much as 2 dm. above 

 the crotches the bark had all died and become brown. All the bark 

 on the stump of the tree that had been sawed off was also dead and 

 brown to the ground. On the side on which most water had been 

 splashed the bark was dead below the surface of the ground and 

 around the bases of some roots. 



The bark had not become loosened on the trees given the hot 

 water treatment but considerable disorganization had occurred in 

 the phloem region. Above ground the injured bark seemed to have 

 dried out a little, but underground and at its surface the affected 

 bark was full of brown " sap." About a fourth of the bark of the 

 tree on which the last water had been poured was also found dead. 

 The greatest effect occurred in the crotch and over an irregular area 

 extending down the trunk about 3 to 4 dm. on the side receiving the 

 hot water. 



The bark on both of the branches which had been bent downward 

 was partially loose on the upper side, and dead over a length of about 



