18S STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



EFFECT OF THE WINTER'S WORK. 



But what has all this commotion and this gigantic wall-building to do witk 

 the effect of Lake Michigan on the fruit-growing of its eastern sliore ? I re- 

 ply, it is the method this lake has, not only of protecting the ordinary banks 

 of the lake from incursions during the winter storms, so that the farmer on 

 the shore may not lose his acres, but this mass of ice forms one of the princi- 

 pal agencies of the lake in retarding the expansion of the peach-buds during 

 the spring. It is the great refrigerator or reservoir of cold that holds back the 

 peach -buds until the danger of a late frost has passed. It is the fruit-grower's 

 ice store, piled up without any of his labor and placed just where it is needed 

 for protection from that sudden transition from winter to summer so remark- 

 able in this latitude. Under its cooling influence the peach buds " bide their 

 time " and do not burst into blossom until danger of blighting frost is over. 

 This accumulation of cold, so to speak, is just as important in the spring as 

 was the store of warmth in the fall. The whole effect is to prevent sudden 

 transition from heat to cold and from cold to heat. The lake is the great 

 evener of the temperature at all seasons, counteracting all extremes of tem- 

 perature and modifying the effect of all sudden changes. 



THE SXOW DRIFT. 



Nor is this great ice wall and its accompanying fioe of broken ice in the 

 lake, important as they are, the only provision made by the lake to protect the 

 fruit husbandry of the adjacent country. The operations of the lake breezes 

 on land during the terrific snow storms of v;inter are of similar importance. 

 The snow that would, were it not for the wind, fall on the lake, is takea over 

 the coast, on and on, from one to six and frequently ten miles, where it is 

 drifted to great depth. "Were it not for the wind this snow would cover the 

 ground twelve to twenty inches evenly, and the first few days of warm weather 

 would dissolve it; but piled in immense drifts it continues for weeks giving 

 forth its cooling influences gradually ; retarding vegetation in locations that 

 would otherwise be but little benefited by the lake, and thereby carrying lake 

 benefits further inland than could be secured without. So important is this 

 snow drift regarded by some fruit men that I have heard it claimed as mark- 

 ing the true peach belt. But I am inclined to regard it as a wise provision for 

 widening and increasing the security of that belt. 



WHERE THE DRIFT FORMS. 



This drift does not form in gulleys or on low spots alone. It is just as like- 

 ly to form on high as on low land, wherever some obstruction to the course of 

 the wind renders the location favorable for a drift. A peach orchard that is so 

 located as to attract the drift, as is often the case within the limit named, 

 secures almost certain protection from winter and spring frosts. In such 

 localities figs could be grown with almost the same certainty as peaches, the 

 snow being a most perfect protection for these exotics. 



THE ROUTINE. 



I have now passed in review the operations of Lake Michigan during the four 

 seasons of a year. These operations are varied at different seasons, but all pro- 

 duce the ultimate effect desired on the adjacent country. Different years als» 



