STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 99 



mercury was down nearly to forty degrees. It is said by our 

 friend that it was the peculiar condition of the sap in the trees in 

 the fall. I have no doubt but the extreme cold, day after day, 

 freezes our trees dry and when spring opens there isn't life 

 enough left in them to get up a good circulation on the outside. 

 The hardiest varieties start and struggle along and if the next 

 winter is favorable they recover, leaving a black ring in the 

 middle of the tree, making them black-hearted. 



Mr. Pearce. How was it some ten or twelve years ago when 

 we had so many trees killed, was it the cold weather that killed 

 them ? 



Mr. Smith. No. I want to say I have been through three of 

 these winter-killing periods; 1866-7, 1872-3 and 1881-5. To a 

 certain extent brother Dartt is right. But when he says the cold 

 does all the mischief, I would call attention to the fact that each 

 one of these disastrous Avinters has been jDreceded by a late 

 fall and continued growth late in the season, so that trees were 

 killed before the very cold weather set in. Again, we have had 

 extreme and continued cold without results. Forty degrees be- 

 low don't kill an apple tree if in proper condition. 



Mr. Latham. Mr. Chairman, I think there is a fact about 

 this that we ought to recognize as individuals and as a society. 

 I have been a member a good many years. We have been 

 through these cold spells, and I have noticed after every one a 

 disposition on the part of members of the society to ascribe the 

 loss of our fruit trees to something besides cold weather; there is 

 always good cause for it. The winter of 1873 was one of these 

 hard si^ells and at our next annual meeting there was a long dis- 

 cussion, and I remember that some of the members from the 

 southern j)art of the State thought it was because the ground was 

 so very dry down there; but in this section of the State it was 

 because the ground was so wet. [Laughter.] I was a young- 

 member at the time, but I was amused to hear the discussion and 

 all so persistently ignoring the fact that it had been so very 

 cold. If we had no cold weather here we could raise peaches 

 and bananas. The trouble with raising apples and pears in this 

 country is our winters are too cold, and v/e might as well face 

 that fact. Our trees are not hardy enough for the climate. I can 

 stand the climate with proper clothing, but to wear moscxuito net- 

 ting might cause me to freeze to death; it doesn't follow that I 

 couldn't live elsewhere. We must look for something that will 

 stand the winter, and we might as well face the real situation. 



