A Consideration of Adverse Temperatures 315 



the blossoming period, which is followed by a dropping 

 tenaperature. If the blossoms are full of snow so that as it 

 warms up, the plant tissues which are surrounded by frozen 

 snow or ice thaw very gradually and in the presence 

 of much moisture, the damage is often considerably less 

 than it would be under any other conditions attendant on 

 the thawing. Under such conditions, even though the 

 blossoms have been frozen, a good crop of fruit may be 

 produced. 



A very sudden drop in the temperature from a safe to a 

 critical degree is more liable to cause damage than when the 

 drop is very gradual. In cases of a sudden drop to a critical 

 temperature, serious bursting of the bark of the trunks and 

 larger limbs is likely to occur. On the other hand, reports 

 are not infrequent of peach trees withstanding winter 

 temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees below zero, without injury 

 to the trees themselves, but where this occurs it usually 

 happens that these extremes have been preceded by a long 

 period of very cold weather. Moreover, the trees must 

 have become thoroughly mature and well ripened before the 

 advent of cold weather. 



The fruit-buds, however, rarely survive a temperature of 

 15 degrees below zero, though under especially favorable 

 conditions a peach tree will sometimes pass through a tem- 

 perature of 20 degrees below zero and still produce a fairly 

 good crop of fruit. As a rule, however, a peach-grower 

 begins to speculate as to the chances of a crop the next 

 season when the temperature goes much below — 10 de- 

 grees. The weaker, less mature buds will be likely to be 

 killed by that extreme even when the tree and buds gener- 

 ally are in a well-ripened condition. Considerable difference 

 is noted, however, in the cold resistance of different varieties. 



