306 State Horticultural Society. 



able to endure the drying which results from freezing. From his 

 observations in the experimental orchard containing a large num- 

 ber of varieties of peaches, the following summary is given : 



1st. Comparing cut back trees with those not cut back, both 

 in the Station orchard and in the orchards near it, for the winter 

 of 1903-4, when the lowest temperature was 14 degrees below zero 

 F., it may be concluded that for such winters, if there have been 

 no warm periods to start the buds, cutting back severely lessens the 

 hardiness enough to be of practical importance. This, however, 

 would not hold good for South Missouri where the lowest tempera- 

 ture was only 5 degrees below zero, as at Olden and Neosho. 



2nd. Twigs w^ere taken from trees that had been cut back, 

 and also from those that had not been cut back, and placed in a 

 warm greenhouse, and the latter grew earlier than the former. In 

 the winter of 1905-6 the buds were killed in the field at a compar- 

 atively high temperature, on account of having been slightly started 

 by previous warm weather. On account of this fact, a larger per- 

 centage of buds was killed on trees not cut back than on those that 

 were. From the above we may safely conclude that cut back trees 

 probably finish their resting period later than those not cut back, 

 and are certainly better adapted to withstand a winter like that of 

 1905-6. Since South Missouri has a large predominance of such 

 winters, when the buds are started on warm days, and since the 

 temperature seldom goes low enough to kill the buds on cut back 

 trees, the grower there should not hesitate to cut his trees back, 

 say, to the base of the one-year-old wood. No such definite state- 

 ment can be made for North Missouri. 



3rd. The wood on cut back trees, as well as on fairly young 

 trees, is not so severely injured by a severe winter as it is on ex- 

 tremely old trees not cut back. 



4th. The age of the bud, that is, whether it is formed early 

 or late in the season, does not determine the time it will finish its 

 resting period. On any one tree the buds that are slowest to start 

 in winter are those growing at the base of the twig, though late- 

 season buds on trees that continue their growth late are started less 

 than any buds on trees that cease growing early. 



5th. It is best to train the trees to have spreading, open 

 heads. Under such circumstances, the wood is stronger and more 

 buds are formed toward the base of the twigs, thus enabling us to 

 head back more severely those years when buds are uninjured. 



6th. The reason the Elberta, Crawford, Champion and other 

 important varieties grown in this State are not well adapted to 



