30 Peach-Growing 



of weather are apt to occur in January or February, alter- 

 nating with periods of seasonable winter weather. So long 

 as the latter continues, the peaches are safe, but with the 

 occurrence of the warm spells the buds swell enough to be- 

 come tender and are killed later by lower temperatures 

 which are not unseasonable, and which would cause no in- 

 jury with the buds in a dormant state. The loss or partial 

 loss of crops from this combination of temperature condi- 

 tions is more serious, perhaps, in the southern peach dis- 

 tricts than is the loss from extremely low temperatures in 

 the northern districts, and in which disastrously warm 

 periods in winter rarely occur. 



Another factor of temperature that sometimes causes 

 great loss to peach-growers is late, or untimely, spring 

 frosts that occur during the blossoming period. Some 

 regions are rendered unfit for commercial peach-growing 

 by the frequency with which the blossoming period of the 

 trees and the occurrence of killing frosts coincide. Other- 

 wise, good crops of fruit could be produced in them with 

 reasonable regularity. Regions having low altitude, or 

 level topography, either of which may presage poor atmos- 

 pheric drainage, and in which the climatic conditions com- 

 monly induce early blossoming, are very apt to be poorly 

 adapted to peach-growing for the above reason. Obviously 

 a prospective peach-grower in seeking a desirable location 

 should aim to correlate the spring frost factor with the 

 average blossoming dates of peaches in any locality that he 

 may consider. If it is found that in a locality the average 

 date of last killing frost in the spring occurs during or 

 after the average dates of blossoming of peaches, it becomes 

 apparent at once that frequent loss of the crops might be 

 expected should an orchard be planted there, unless it oc- 



