122 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



ing. ]\Iany individual cases were cited of orchards having cover 

 crops surviving this cold winter or that when nearby orchards 

 without the covering crop holding a muffler of leaves and snow 

 were killed. The peach growers in the two regions consider the 

 cover crop the most effective treatment of their orchards to 

 avoid winter-killing, holding that they protect the roots from 

 cold, cause the trees to ripen their wood quickly and thoroughly, 

 and assist in regulating the supply of moisture. 



ARE SEEDLING TREES HARDIER THAN BUDDED VARIETIES? 



Seedling peach trees are popularly supposed to be hardier 

 than budded varieties. Most of the correspondents in this in- 

 vestigation state that such is the case but none give reasons for 

 the supposed greater hardiness of the seedlings. The state- 

 ments made are in no way convincing and the greater hardiness 

 of the seedlings can be proved only by carefully conducted ex- 

 periments. Two hypotheses should be tested in determining 

 whether there is a difference in hardiness between budded and 

 seedling trees: i. Budding may decrease hardiness. 2. Seeds 

 for the stocks of the budded trees come from the South and 

 these may produce more tender trees than would northern-grown 

 seeds from which seedlings come. 



IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE IN HARDINESS ' BETWEEN LOW-HEADED 

 AND HIGH-HEADED TREES? 



All growers in both States prefer low-headed trees, claim- 

 ing that both trunks and branches are more often injured in 

 high-headed trees. Buds, however, often survive on the higher 

 branches and not on the lower ones. The reasons vouchsafed 

 for the difference a'^e : the effects of winds in drying out the 

 wood of high-headed trees; low-headed trees are usually most 

 vigorous ; and lastly, better protection to the trunk from the 

 sun and hence from sunscald, one of the effects of freezing and 

 thawing. Attention is called by several growers to the fact that 

 buds on high-headed trees usually suffer less from spring frosts. 



ARE WINDBREAKS A PROTECTION TO TREES OR TO BUDS? 



There was much difference of opinion. From the experi- 

 ences given it seems that the value of a windbreak depends 



