£1 TT* 



PEAPvS ON QUINCE STOCKS. 539 



small branches and leaves were broken one against the other, so that the ground 

 beneath seemed as though the trees had been beaten with sticks. It was at this 

 period, beyond a doubt, that the Quince stocks suffered. Standing first in water, then 

 in ice which bound them with its iron grasp to full six inches below the ground level, 

 with not a flake of snow on the ground, the wind blowing a hurricane, and the ther- 

 mometer eight or ten degrees, or more, below zero, — was not this a trial for a tree 

 which is not a native of the frozen zone? The cold, intense as it was, would not have 

 inflicted the least injury, had it not been accompanied with a boisterous wind. Of this 

 we are perfectly satisfied : because trees standing in low, sheltered places, escaped 

 completely; while on all high ground, knolls, itc, the destruction was very great. In 

 our home grounds, which are sheltered by a high, abrupt eminence on the west side, 

 not a tree of any age, among many thousand Pears on Quince, was injured in the 

 slightest degree ; while on a distant part of the nursery, fully exposed, all the Quince 

 stocks on the high ground suffered, and all on the low ground escaped. A very slight 

 inclination from the wind quarter acted as a safeguard. Several cultivators, observing 

 that the trees suffered on the highest ground, imagined that it was the dryness of the 

 ground that led to the injury ; but this was a misapprehension, for trees in the dry est 

 grounds we have, but sheltered, escaped wholly. Others thought that some varieties 

 were more generally injured than others ; but our observations induce us to believe 

 that the injury was in proportion to the exposure, and to the proportion of the Quince 

 stock that stood in the water when the freezing commenced. The part above the water 

 and ice line, was, we believe, safe in all cases. In heavy clay ground, so compact as 

 to shed the water off its surface, instead of imbibing it, as light sandy ground did, 

 the trees escaped with less injury. 



The Quince fortunately possesses one property which greatly diminished the aggre- 

 gate of the loss, and that is, its tenacity of life. In many cases where the roots were 

 completely browned, as though they had been exposed to the air for six months, and 

 the trees to all outward appearance worthless as so many pea-sticks, new roots were 

 emitted through the dead outer bark of the old ones, and the trees grew well, — in 

 many cases where the stocks were stout and vigorous, surprisingly well. It was some 

 days after we commenced digging and packing in the spring, before we discovered 

 that any roots were effected, and then our attention was drawn to it by a neighbor 

 who had accidentally made the discovery. We had then sent away some of the most 

 seriously damaged trees. One lot was sent to a gentleman some sixty miles west 

 of Rochester, and he wrote us back that they were all dead. AVe sent him others, 

 and desired him to send back the dead ones, which he did. They did look bad, 

 certainly ; but under the blackened outside bark we found the roots generally sound, 

 and thought we would give them a chance for their lives. So we planted them with 

 many others in the same condition, and we do not believe that five trees out of the 

 hundred died ; and they have, notwithstanding the past very dry summer, made a 

 good growth. This result has been experienced by other cultivators in various locali- 

 ties ; and we think that if all damaged trees had been taken up, pruned, and rcpl 

 ed, they would have been saved : or even if they had been 'pruned — that is, if the 



