LA CRESCENT TRIAL STATION. 51 



previous winter that their growth was all made very late in the sea- 

 son. An examination of such trees made late in November, be- 

 fore winter had fairly set in, showed some discoloration under the 

 bark of some varieties at the union of the new growth with the older, 

 unsound wood, and a few such trees were found to be entirely dead 

 at the opening of last spring. A rain occurred on the 9th and loth 

 of December (1899) that wet the soil to a depth of four or five 

 inches, and was followed by a snowfall of nearly two feet, so that 

 frost did not penetrate the ground to any great depth, and no root- 

 killing occurred in the orchard or to the undug trees in the nursery. 

 Notwithstanding, Ave had a severe lesson in root-killing. Some 2,000 

 nursery trees had been dug and buried while the ground was yet dry 

 and came out with the roots nearly all dead, while a few hundred 

 others dug later and only indifferently heeled in, came through unin- 

 jured. The buried trees were in an exposed place and in rather 

 light soil, where the snow was blown off; while the heeled-in trees 

 were left between rows in the body of the nursery. 



The early spring was backward, and the ground was well satu- 

 rated with moisture from the melting of snow and moderate rains and 

 continued too wet to work nicely through the most of the month of 

 April, and the weather between the i6th of April and 3rd of May was 

 warm and favorable for the starting of vegetation. Quite severe 

 frosts occurred on the mornings of May 3rd, 4th and 5th, at which 

 time native plums were generally in full bloom, and either from the 

 effects of the frost or because there were no insects about to aid in 

 pollinization, but little fruit set, and the larger part of that which did 

 set, except De Sotos, was destroyed by curculio before fully grown. 

 Following these frosts, the weather became very warm for the sea- 

 son, and on the 13th of May the thermometer indicated 90° in the 

 shade. Apple trees came forward rapidly and bloomed fully as 

 early as usual. The amount of bloom was wonderful, and the set- 

 ting of fruit large ; so large that but for the quantity that fell in the 

 usual June drop it would have been disastrous to the trees. Still, 

 after the heavy drop nearly all varieties were loaded to their fullest 

 capacity at mid-summer, when, with many varieties, a second drop- 

 ping began. The Walbridge, Fameuse, Westfield, Shockley, Utter, 

 Scott's Winter, Malinda, Anisim, Plumb Cider, Virginia crab and 

 a few seedlings, were about all of the varieties that were hanging 

 on well at the beginning of September — and these were mostly down 

 before the loth of October. The Tetofsky and Duchess were fit 

 for use when the second dropping began, but decay followed the 

 dropping so close that much of the fruit was lost before it could be 

 got to market, and the best would not bring the prices of first-class 



