634 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



TREATMENT OF WINTER-INJURED FRUIT TREES. 

 From U. S. Department of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 251. 



Recently attention was called to some of the causes of winter in- 

 juries to fruit trees. A number of means of preventing winter injury, 

 either wholly or in part, were there suggested as the result of observa- 

 tions at the different experiment stations. 



When, however, the injury has been done, the next step is to find 

 out how such winter-injured trees should be treated. H. J. Eustace, 

 of the New York State Experiment Station, has recently reported the re- 

 sults of experiments along this line. The winter of 1903-4 was unusu- 

 ally cold and long in New York, and resulted in great injury to all 

 kinds of orchard fruits throughout the state. Fruit growers in the dif- 

 ferent sections were anxious to know how to distinguish between trees 

 that were fatally injured by cold and those that might be expected to 

 recover. It was supposed by some at first that the amount of dis- 

 coloration of the wood of the tree would indicate the extent of the 

 winter injury, but this was found not to hold true, as was pointed out 

 by M. B. Waite in Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin 51, part 3. In 

 one instance, peach trees which were located in a low hollow or "pocket" 

 were examined in March. Below the snow line the wood was sound 

 and of normal color, but above this line the bark, though tight on all 

 portions of the tree, was very dark brown all through and the trunk 

 wood was black. On the limbs the bark and wood were discolored as 

 high up as a man could reach. These trees completely recovered and 

 made a good growth of new wood during the season, though none of 

 the trees bore fruit. The next season every tree was in good condition 

 and bore a good crop of fruit. 



In another orchard many pear trees two to five years old were ex- 

 amined. The wood and bark of these trees were badly discolored, and 

 the common opinion was that the trees in which the bark was badly 

 discolored were practically ruined, and that the best way would be to 

 cut thean off below the snow line and let them send up sprouts from 

 the stumps. These young trees, however, with but few exceptions, made 

 good healthy foliage and a good wood growth during the season, and 

 by the next season had made a very good recovery. 



In another orchard of old peach trees the bark on the trunk of many 

 trees could be easily peeled from the wood and these trees were thought 

 to be dead beyond any question by all who examined them, or the most 

 part, however, they produced a good crop of healthy, large-sized, well- 

 colored foliage and made a very fair recovery. 



In another instance a Keiffer pear orchard was found in which the 

 bark and heartwood were discolored black all through and the trees 



