WINTER-KILLING. 05 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

 WINTER -KILLING. 



THERE is a difference in the hardiness of quince trees. 

 Some varieties endure severe freezing better than others. 

 A variety that lives one winter may die the next because 

 of the changes surrounding it ; and so a tender variety 

 may live, when one naturally more hardy dies. Sudden 

 changes often work disastrously. This was seen in the 

 winter of 1853-4 in a belt of country extending from 

 New York to Michigan. Quince trees and pear trees on 

 quince stocks were greatly injured by rapid successions 

 of very warm and intensely cold weather. The result was, 

 that nearly all the trees that were not sheltered were de- 

 stroyed, or so weakened that they continued to die till 

 late in the summer. The warmth had promoted sap 

 circulation, and the sap, suddenly freezing, formed- little 

 crystals in the wood, which lacerated the fibers by every 

 motion of the swaying trees. This cause may be supple- 

 mented by such a freezing and thawing of the limbs and 

 branches as dries the life out of them. In all such cases 

 the injury to trees will be in proportion to the expos- 

 ure, and so the protection of good wind-breaks is of 

 great importance. In that season of such widespread 

 loss, those trees that chanced to be sheltered from the 

 winds escaped. It was also observed that the loss was 

 not so great with trees on clayey soil that shed off the 

 water, as on sandy soil that was filled with water. 



Trees transplanted in the fall, too late for the cut 

 roots to heal, and for all to resume their normal func- 

 tions, may in consequence fail to supply their tops with 

 needed moisture, and they will become shriveled and 

 winter-kill in consequence. The newly-set tree badly 

 planted may suffer by the frost lifting its roots out of 



