304 



f I K TI C U L T U R E 



September 21. 1918 



Since weather records have been 

 kept, there has been no such severe 

 winter as the one just past. During 

 the Christmas holidays, and just after, 

 minimum temperatures were recorded 

 of — 13° at the Weather Bureau (414 

 ft. In the air), — 10° at the New Yorlc 

 Botanical Garden, — 7° at the Central 

 Park Weather Bureau station, which 

 is nearly at ground level, and — 8° at 

 the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where 

 the thermometer is in a somewhat 

 sheltered place. The first four days 

 of the year showed minimum tempera- 

 tures of —5° + 2°, 0°, and — 3° respec- 

 tively, and on January 12 the temper- 

 ature was 50. Worst of all, on the 

 latter day, the velocity of the wind 

 was greater here than in any other 

 place in the country, the record show- 

 ing ma.ximum velocity of S4 miles an 

 hour, from the southeast. The follow- 

 ing of such extreme cold by a warm 

 wind of this great velocity apparently 

 played havoc with many valuable 

 plants in the Garden. With the ground 

 frozen to depths unknown before, as 

 there was practically no snow cover- 

 ing during the coldest days, the root 

 activity of most plants would be 

 stopped, while the warm wind on the 

 12th, when the maximum temperature 

 for January was recorded, would dry 

 out many evergreens, even if they had 

 withstood the cold of a few days be- 

 fore. Because of this combination of 

 . cold temperatures followed by warm 

 wind, it is perhaps impossible to as- 

 cribe all our losses to cold alone. Cer- 

 tainly one or the other, or most prob- 

 ably their combination, has had disas- 

 trous results, as the following notes 

 will show. 

 Shrubs and Trees Killed Outright. 



Pinus rigida (young specimen); 

 Juniperus oblonga; Picea alba, Al- 

 cockiana, Abies dumosa; Abies con- 

 color (young specimen); Chamsecy- 

 paris pisifera obtusa nana; Alangium 

 chinense; Alangium begonilfolium; 

 Poncirus (Citrus) trifoliata; Acer 

 opulifolium; Rosa bracteata; Amyg- 

 dalus persica; Prunus tenuifolia; 

 Cotoneaster foveolata; Cercis canaden- 

 sis; Laburnum vulgare; Ilex aquifol- 

 ium; Hypericum prolificum; Diospyros 

 (E. H. Wilson, No. 3615); Erica 

 stricta, vagans; Enkianthus perulatus; 

 Viburnum cassinoides. 



While none of the above can possibly 

 recover, for the next group of species 

 there is hope that they may grow 

 again. They were killed to the ground, 

 but are now making new growth. All 

 of the growth is deai and to regain 

 their former statue will, in some cases, 

 take three years. 



Shrubs and Trees Killed to the 



Ground but Making New 



Growth. 



Taxus baccata; Cunuinghamia sinen- 

 sis; Myrica Gale; Mahonia aquifolium; 

 Calycanthus floridus, occidentalls; 

 Rosa helvetica; Priusepia (Purdom 

 No. 324); Mains rivularis; Magnolia 

 obovata; Cercis japonica; Spartium 

 junceum; Coriaria j^onica; Euony- 

 mus japonicus; Ilex Fargesii, latifolia; 

 Styrax americana; Jasminum nudi- 

 florum; Vitex Agnus-castus; Buddleia 

 nivea yunanensis. 



None of these, as horticultural suh- 

 jects, could be relied upon, judging by 

 the experience of last winter, as after 

 a few seasons' growth, and just as they 

 are about to become handsome speci- 

 mens, an exceptional winter would cut 

 them back to the roots. 



In nearly the same category, so far 

 as reliability of continued growth is 

 concerned, is the following list. In all 

 of these the winter-killing, while not 

 down to the ground, has been very se- 

 vere, sometimes the loss representing 

 the growth for three or more years. 

 All of them are alive and doing well, 

 but there are great gaps in many of 

 them, and in most the winter-killed 

 wood is in unsightly contrast to the 

 young growth just starting. In many 

 of these the recovery will take from 

 one to three years, and in the conifers 

 many of the plants will never make 

 perfect specimens again. 



Shrubs and Trees Severely Winter- 

 Killed, but now Making 

 Recovery. 



EVERGREENS. 



Pinus Massoniana: Picea Abies 

 dumosa, Abies inverta, polita, obovata, 

 pungens; Abies Veitchii, Sachalinense, 

 numidica (nearly dead), pectinata, 

 cephalonica. firma (nearly dead); 

 Thuya orientalis, occidentalls lutea; 

 Juniperus pyramidalis, Chinensis au- 

 rea; Pfitzeriana (% a plant with 8 ft. 

 spread dead); Cryptomeria japonica, 

 dachryoides; Tsuga canadensis; Ced- 

 rus Libani; Chamaecyparis nutkaten- 

 sis glauca (nearly dead), nutkatensis 

 glauca pendula (nearly dead), lepto- 

 clada, obtusa nana; Sequoia gigantea 

 (nearly dead) ; Cephalotaxus drupacea, 

 Harringtoniana fastigiata; Taxus cana- 

 densis; Ephedra distachya. 



DECIDUOUS. 



Salix incana, rostrata; Morus Cath- 

 ayana; Ulmus alata; Quercus cerris; 

 Magnolia macrophylla stellata; Clem- 

 atis montana platysepala; Berberis 

 aggregata, (Wilson No. 4173) Wallich- 

 iana; Itea virginica; Ptelea tri- 

 foliata; Poncirus (Citrus) trifoliata; 

 Ilex apaca; Clethra alnifolia; Leu- 

 cothoe racemosa; Enkianthus perula- 

 tus; Pieris floribunda, japonica; 

 Potentilla fruticosa; Rubus idaeus 

 aculeatissinius odoratus; Prunus (Pur- 

 dom No. 284); Prunus chamaecerasus; 

 Pyrus elaeagnifolius; Cercis cana- 

 densis japonica; Colutea arbores- 



cens; Cytisus Laburnum: Styrax 

 japonica; Ligustrum amurense, sin- 

 ense; Jasminum nudiflorum (did not 

 flower for first time since 1911) ; 

 Clerodendron trichotomum: Paulownia 

 tomentosa (nearly dead) ; Lonicera 

 involucrata; Viburnum cassinoides; 

 Baccharis halimifolia. 



Much less seriously injured are the 

 following. In. most cases they were 

 winter-killed only a foot or two, and 

 not on all the branches, so that the 

 vigorous new growth is just now ob- 

 scuring the winter's damage. 



Shrubs and Trees Only Slightly 



Winter-Killed and Making 



Rapid Recovery. 



Abies Nordmanniana (young plants 

 apparently untouched) ; Picea pungens 

 glauca; Cryptomeria Japonica Lobbii; 

 Chamaecyparis obtusa nana; Salix 

 viuimalis; Philadelphus Lemoinei; 

 Gleditsia triacanthos; Corylopsis 

 pauciflora; Stacyurus praecox; Ilex 

 Sieboldii (both red and white fruited 

 forms), crenata; Phillyraea angusti- 

 folia; Ligustrum media; Celtis aus- 

 tralis (Wilson No. 343) ; Broussonetia 

 papyrifera; Carpinus Betulus; Magno- 

 lia Soulangeana, Fraseri; Ueutzia 

 scabra; Buddleia intermedia: Catalpa 

 ovata; Lonicera deflexicalyx, Koehne- 

 ana; Diervilla japonica Viburnum 

 rhytidophyllum betulifolium; Sym- 

 phoricarpos orbiculatus. 



A summary of the results of the 



winter on our woody collections shows 



that there were: 



Killed outright, 28 species and varie- 

 ties; killed to the ground, 20 species 

 and varieties; severely winter-killed, 

 70 species and varieties; slightly win- 

 ter-killed, 28 species and varieties. 



As many of these were in duplicate 

 or triplicate the disastrous effects of 

 the winter were very noticeable dur- 

 ing April and May, but fortunately re- 

 covery of the slightly and severely 

 winter-killed speoies is making fairly 

 rapid progress, so that by mid-summer 

 the collections, except in the most 

 stubborn species, will be in fair condi- 

 tion. Of course, those killed to the 

 ground are practically of no use to us 

 for years to come. It will be noted 

 that some species are found in more 

 than one place in the lists. This in- 

 dicates that we have several specimens 

 and that their reaction to the winter 

 has varied. It seems better to include 

 them in two places rather than arbi- 

 trarily assign them to one. which 

 might hide the facts. 



In addition to the species listed 

 above, nearly all our box and some 

 privet was either killed or so severely 

 winter-killed as to need replacement. 

 Norman T.vylor. 



