20 



PEOFESSOR BLAKE. Yes. There were orchards on 

 slopes where, at the upper or the highest side of the orchard, 

 the trees had full crops, and as you went partway down the 

 slope the fruit was all in the tops of the trees, and at the 

 bottom of the slope there was scarcely any fruit at all. The 

 distinction could not be any more marked than it was there 

 in 1912. 



MR. R. H. RACE. Now, we want to get at the practi- 

 cal side of this thing. If you lived in Berkshire County, 

 where the thermometer got to 15 or 25 degrees below zero, as 

 it did night before last, what would you do about setting 

 out a peach orchard? 



PROFESSOR BLAKE. Well, I think where the ther- 

 mometer goes down to 25 below it is quite a lottery. I think 

 you have a good chance if it doesn't go below 15 or 18, if 

 you have good elevation. 



MR. RACE. We have got elevations from 1000 to 

 2600 feet. 



PROFESSOR BLAKE. Well, I couldn't say exactly 

 what would be the effect of winter temperature at an eleva- 

 tion of over 2000 feet. I think there is a limit to the height 

 you ought to go. I would not recommend selecting a loca- 

 tion severely exposed to the strong prevailing wind, for T 

 believe you may have as much damage from a strong, high 

 wind in spring and summer as from anything else, so I 

 wouldn't recommend an exposed slope where the wind was 

 very severe. I have seen orchards in full bloom exposed to 

 a very high wind, and many of the petals would be actually 

 stripped off by the the high wind. I do think, however, that 

 elevation is quite important, especially above the general 

 land level. 



MR. E. M. IVES OF CONNECTICUT. I know a loca- 

 tion in the town of Templeton in this state, where peaches 

 were grown successfully last fall at an elevation of 1200 

 feet, which is of course away up above the country around. 

 I don't know about the year before that. Is such an eleva- 

 tion in the northern end of the state likely to be a successful 

 position for an orchard? 



PROFESSOR BLAKE. That is a hard question to 

 answer, as I do not know the conditions of the locality. 



