100 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



that had occurred at Grand Kapids and Lansing, 38^ and 45° below zero, and 

 suggested that nursery stock grown in the vicinity of these places might be 

 injured. The great amount of severe cold that has occurred all over the 

 country then and since makes it doubly important that purchasers should be 

 on their guard. The degree of cold that injures young trees is by no means 

 nniform. It depends much on the condition of the wood when they go into 

 the winter. Well matured wood not grown too rapidly, and consequently not 

 over groicn, is uninjured, when soft, immature wood is either killed outright, 

 or so severely damaged that the trees will have a sickly life and die prema- 

 turely. I believe as a general rule 20*^ to 25° below zero is considered danger- 

 ous. I should not want to risk Baldwins and Greenings or any other varieties 

 equally tender which had endured that amount of freezing; nor would I any 

 of the hardier varieties, unless I knew that they had not been inislied with 

 manure, and that the wood was well ripened. Hard freezing makes trees sickly j 

 set them ever so carefully and nurse them ever so tenderly, they start feebly, 

 live a sickly life, and die a premature death. Beginners, you want trees, — good, 

 healthy, sound trees, — trees that will yield //va'Hnstead of disappointments. 

 You cannot be too careful noiv. In my remarks above alluded to I referred to 

 the cold of Grand Eapids and Lansing. I do not now know how cold it baa 

 been at Paiuesville, Ohio, Nurseries, nor at the nurseries in the vicinity of 

 Eochester, N. Y. But before you order trees from either of those places or 

 anywhere else, by all means be sure that they are not damaged. I have seen a 

 published statement that at the Grand River Valley nurseries the mercury 

 only marked 24*^ below zero, when it went 38*^ degrees below at Grand Rapids. 

 When it is considered that these nurseries are forty miles inland, and of course 

 beyond the reach of water protection, this seems very remarkable indeed. I do 

 not question the truthfulness of the statement. I only s;vy it is remarkable — 

 very. 



Me. TiiACY — The Grand River nurseries are peculiarly well situated in 

 respect to land climate, being on an elevated table land, and it is quite possible 

 that the thermometer should stand several degrees higher there than at Grand 

 Rapids or even at the village of Lowell. 



Mr. Ayery — We have learned much within the last few years, about what 

 shape or formation of land is necessary, to the growing of healthy nursery 

 trees, and productive orchards. It is not many years since a large nursery wag 

 started on the Genesee River near its mouth, on a plat 150 feet lower than the 

 surrounding country, because the proprietor thought that protected situation 

 was just the place to grow good trees. The fact that \\q froze, out, before he 

 Eold out, should warn others about like situations, while other locations on 

 higher rolling land in the same neighborhood grew healthy trees that have 

 made the reputation of Rochester nurseries world wide. So you will remember 

 Eamsdell's nursery at Adrian, Michigan, — now extinct, — was ruined by extreme 

 cold eight or ten years ago. This was owing to insufficient atmospheric drain- 

 age. Iq taking a drive of a few miles with your Secretary the other day, I 

 noticed in orchards growing on low, level ground, nearly one-half of the trees 

 had been reset, and that the bodies had a covering of old bark and moss 

 (nature's protection against cold), while orchards on land that had an oppor- 

 tunity for the cold air to run off, had smoother bark, and bright butternut 

 colored limbs. 



Orchards, to be paying investments, set in 45** N. latitude, or any other lat- 

 itude, should never be set on low ground, especially when there is no lower 

 land in connection. 



