THE EFFECTS OF THE COLD. 



PIiiiiis, in some localities, were entirely destroyed. These losses were not pecu- 

 liar to old and decayino; trees, but we saw whole rows of young trees, which were 

 vigorous a year ago, that gave no sign of verdure this year. These losses were 

 greatest in partially sheltered localities. Next to the i)each and plum, the cherry 

 was the greatest sufferer. Some few trees in the circle of our observation were 

 lost, but the damage was principally in the loss of the later growth of last year. 

 The quantity of cherries was moderate, very. 



Pears. — The trees stood the winter without any apparent injury beyond the 

 breaking down of branches of small trees by snow. They gave a fair amount of 

 blossoms, but in conse(iucuce of the continued cold winds while they were in bloom, 

 but little fruit set — ^such as matured was perfect in its kind. The trees have made 

 a fine growth the last season, and give a reasonable prospect of abundance of fruit 

 in future. 



Apple-trees wintered well, the only drawback being the depredations of the 

 mice, which is perhaps as much attributable to a want of care on the part of the 

 owner as to any peculiarity of the season, though the great length of the winter 

 probably had a tendency to increase their appetites beyond the supplies they had 

 provided for the exigencies of the season. Unlike their usual mode of warfare, 

 which confines thcii^ depredations mainly to grass lands, they pitched battle on 

 trees on grounds where hoed crops had been taken off, and were sometimes more 

 destructive there than in grass plots. The simplest preventive we know of for 

 such cases, is to stamp the early snows thoroughly around young trees. 



The apple orchards bloomed abundantly, but a succession of cold northerly 

 winds, almost amounting to frost, continued from the first opening of the buds 

 until the petals fell. These winds were fatal to the general crop, so we have but 

 very few apples, and these are principally on the sides of trees, and in orchards 

 most effectually sheltered from these winds— localities where ordinary frosts which 

 collect in the still, cold air would have been fatal. 



In view of these experiences, we can see no particular cause for the fruit growers 

 to be discouraged in their labors. The pear and the apjile have given us a new 

 and very cheering assurance of their adaptedness to our soil and climate, and if 

 they have failed to produce the usual amount of fruit for " this once," it was owing 

 to causes seldom existing rather than to anything in the ordinary course of nature. 

 The peach has shown itself capable of standing a long-continued severity of uniform 

 cold, and yet expand its pink blossoms to the sun. Had Avinter closed her frozen 

 reign at the ordinary period, and spring come on with her glad sunshine and warm 

 breezes, these blossoms might have matured into fruit, and the long-confined 

 branches might have given forth beautiful and healthy verdure. Be this as it 

 may, however, let no one neglect to cultivate the peach, though timidity may 

 induce it to be done in a small way. The plum has failed to some extent as the 

 result of the season, but the loss on tliis account is small, indeed, compared with 

 that entailed by the yearly depredations of insects. The season showed marked 

 effects on our native evergreens as well as on our delicate fruits. The hemlock, the 

 pine, and the kalmias, in their native soil, in many instances exhibited their dried 

 leaves as though a fire had passed through their branches. So it was not the 

 exotic — the far-fetched and dear-bought alone — that suffered the influences of a 

 season which those of us who witnessed it will not be likely to forget. 



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