82 STATE POMOLOGICAI. SOCIETY. 



difference in time of ripening. As nearly as I can get reliable 

 data, an elevation, in this particular orchard, of each lOO feet 

 makes a difference of about one day in the development of the 

 fruit from the blossoming to maturity. I have some tempera- 

 ture records which indicate that there is a perceptible difference 

 in temperature, the upper side being the colder. I ought to state 

 that this orchard is above the usual frost line. When it is cold 

 enough to do so, it freezes, but frosts are almost unknown. 



Such differences as the ones last mentioned are often observed 

 between the same variety growing on different slopes, a southern 

 slope being relatively earlier than a northern, but here the dif- 

 ferences are doubtless really climatic ones, the rays of the sun 

 being less direct and less intense on the northern slope, hence a 

 lower temperature. 



But, as in case of soil influences, so with climate — there are 

 subtle and mysterious ones producing certain variations from all 

 usual types which are generally accorded to climate, but which, 

 at present, admit of no satisfactory explanation, neither is it 

 permitted us to say what particular element of the climate is 

 responsible therefor. We must, for the present, merely accept 

 the fact. For instance, many varieties of apples which are 

 normally round, in cross-section, become distinctly pentangular 

 when grown in some sections of the Pacific slope. In the same 

 spirit of blind acceptance of fact, do I mention it : Some varie- 

 ties, usually roundish or roundish-oblong in general form, 

 become so distinctly oblate in southern California that their real 

 identity is all but lost. "Smith (Cider)" is an example of this. 

 The other extreme is met in northern Michigan where one finds 

 such varieties as "Talman" and "Northern Spy" so much elong- 

 ated over their usual proportions that it seems incredible, 

 almost, that they are really these varieties. The remarkably 

 "waxy" appearance of the fruit grown in the semi-arid districts 

 of our country where sole dependence for moisture rests in irri- 

 gation, and oftentimes the presence of a heavy bloom on apples 

 otherwise entirely free from this, are not so difficult phenomena 

 to explain, for the absence of rain to wash oft* the bloom and the 

 transparency of the atmosphere seem to be sufficient to account 

 for these things. Other instances of variation which are char- 

 acteristic of certain sections might be multiplied, but enough 

 has already been said to illustrate the point at issue. 



