398 



H K T 1 C U L T U K E 



May 15, 1920 



MANY PLANTS INJURED 



Effects of the Severe Winter at the 

 Arnold Arboretum. 



The winter of 1919-20, although less 

 destructive to plants in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston than that of 1917-18, 

 has been exceptionally severe. Once 

 In December, before the ground was 

 protected by snow, the thermometer 

 at the Arnold Arboretum fell to 12 de- 

 grees below zero; later heavy and 

 numerous falls of snow buried and 

 protected plants less than three or 

 four feet high. Unfortunately the 

 snow rested on a layer of ice which 

 did not thaw until the disappearance 

 of the snow at the end of March. This 

 ice layer Injured small plants, and 

 this, or the cold nights in December, 

 killed in the Nursery the seedling 

 plants of Juniperus Plnchotii. This 

 native of the Panhandle region of 

 northwestern Texas Is a handsome 

 tree with bright red fruit. Recently 

 Introduced into gardens by the Ar- 

 boretum, it was hoped that a tree 



which grows naturally in a region of 

 excessive winter cold would thrive in 

 New England. 



The heavy snow and high winds 

 have broken the branches of several 

 trees and shrubs, and the destruction 

 of the fine species of the dwarf form 

 of the Norway Maple (Acer plata- 

 noides var. globosum) by the weight 

 of the snow on the branches is a seri- 

 ous loss. This plant was imported 

 from Germany in 1888 and for several 

 years has been an object of interest 

 and curiosity to visitors to the Arbor- 

 etum, especially those who like to 

 study plants of abnormal gi-owth; and 

 its portrait has been thrown on the 

 screen at many popular lectures on 

 the Arboretum and its plants. 



Field mice, which have destroyed 

 during the winter by girdling thou- 

 sands of young trees in New England 

 orchards and nurseries, have done 

 comparatively little damage in the 

 Arboretum. A number of shrubs have 

 lost branches; a ring of bark has been 

 entirely removed from the stem of 

 one of the three plants of a Chinesa 



Box Elder, Acer griseum, and this 

 plant will probably not recover. Other 

 interesting young trees which have 

 been badly injured by mice are Acer 

 mandshuricum, the great Box Elder 

 of northern Korea and Manchuria and 

 Acer Davidii from western China. 



Rhododendrons. Kalmias and broad- 

 leaved evergi-eens are generally in 

 good condition, although the Kalmias 

 which last year produced an unusually 

 large crop of flowers this year are 

 carrying few flower-buds. A few con- 

 ifers have suffered, but the damage 

 to these plants is less serious than 

 it was two years ago, and, judging 

 by reports from Long Island and the 

 middle states, the Arboretum conifers 

 have suffered less than those in some 

 of the collections further south. 



The young Cedars of Lebanon 

 raised from seeds gathered in Asia 

 Minor, and for many years b«lieved 

 to be proof against the rigors of the 

 New England winter, have lost or 

 will lose many leaves as they did for 

 the first time two years ago. The 

 l)uds appear to be uninjured and the 



■fe 



The .lapjiiipsp Fir han Proved Very Hardy 



