324 Peach-Growing 



that Is frozen solid. Moreover, the fact that different colors 

 absorb heat in varying degrees is of importance in its relation 

 to the swelling of peach buds in early spring. There is 

 considerable difference in the color of the bark of peach 

 varieties. That different colored branches have actually 

 different temperatures during sunny weather in spring when 

 there is no foliage to shade them is capable of easy demonstra- 

 tion by means of the simple experiment of cutting off some 

 of the small limbs, boring a hole in the end of the stubs thus 

 made, and inserting a small round thermometer in each one. 

 During sunny days a very perceptible difference in tem- 

 perature will be registered, the thermometers in the stubs 

 having the darker colored bark registering the higher. This 

 makes it apparent that the buds under the influence of the 

 higher temperatures might be expected, naturally, to advance 

 more rapidly than those on branches having the lower 

 temperatures. 



In line with this general result Whitten ^ has shown that 

 when peach trees are kept thoroughly coated with whitewash 

 during the winter, the swelling of the buds in warm spells 

 may be prevented in a very large measure for a time and the 

 blossoming delayed from two to six days. Under some 

 conditions, as has been pointed out previously, the holding 

 of the trees perfectly dormant throughout the winter and 

 the retarding of the blossoming several days in the spring 

 may be the means of preventing disastrous injury to the 

 prospective crop. 



However, in order to be effective, the fruit-buds as well 



as the twigs and branches must be kept thoroughly coated 



with the whitewash. The first application, under Missouri 



conditions, should be made the last of December and fol- 



1 Mo. Expt. Sta. Bull. 38. 



