LESSONS FROM THE WINTER OF 1898 99. 255 



LESSONS FROM THE WINTER OF 1898-9. 



J. S. HARRIS, LA CRESCENT. 



(Read at Summer Meeting. 1899.) 



The winter in our section of the state went on record as having a 

 temperature for a few days, between the 7th and 12th of February, as 

 low as any recorded, even in the most disastrous winters of 1872-3 

 and 1884-5, but the damage done to fruit trees and plants was slig'ht 

 compared with that on those memorable occasions, and the lesson 

 taught is that it is not extreme cold alone that is responsible for the 

 wholesale winter-killing of trees and plants during certain winters, 

 but more the atmospheric, meteorological and soil conditions of the 

 previous season and following spring or, perhaps, the conditions 

 and surroundings of the trees during the extreme cold. 



A severe drouth had prevailed in the late summer and autumn of 

 1872. "Winter set in without any moisture in the soil, and there was 

 no snow covering the surface of the ground until about the second 

 week of January, 1873, and the ground was frozen to a depth of five 

 to seven feet. When spring opened the trunks and branches of trees 

 were apparently uninjured, but the roots so badly killed that few 

 ever started into growth. 



The latter part of the summer of 1884 was very dry, greatly check 

 ing the summer's growth of trees, and cool weather and frosts oc- 

 curred in August, causing many trees to begin to lose their foliage. 

 This was followed by heavy rains in the first week of September and 

 continuous warm weather for two months. A new growth started 

 on trees and plants, and many of them blossomed and set fruit. 

 About the middle of November there occurred a severe frost that 

 caused bark-burst on many young trees and discoloring the wood 

 in the forks, or axils, of branches of nearly all varieties of apples, 

 greatly reducing their vitality. The cold of the following winter 

 was not more intense than that of last winter but of longer dura- 

 tion, and with it a peculiar storm wave that extended from Dakota 

 to Ohio. When spring opened it was found that great numbers of 

 our trees were killed to the ground or so badly injured that there 

 was no hope of their recovery. 



The full extent of the injury of the past winter cannot yet be de- 

 termined, but evidently it was slight compared with the winters 

 above mentioned. Nursery stock was very generally more or less 

 discolored in the last season's growth and in the axils of the 

 branches, but the spring and season so far has been very favorable, 

 and reasonably hardy trees are growing from the terminal buds 

 and making a layer of wood under the bark over the discolored 

 parts. There is likely to be a considerable number of what are 

 termed black-hearted trees among those that will be offered for sale 

 during the next year or two, and many of them may prove a disap- 

 pointment to planters that if they could remain undisturbed would 

 be long lived, useful trees, especially so if the remainder of the sea- 

 son is favorable and next winter not an unusually severe one. 

 Should the present moist term be followed by extreme heat and a long 

 drouth through July and August, I think that many trees that do 



