THE CULTIVATION AND DISEASES OF THE PEACH. 73 



accounted for the fact that fruit buds are killed now more than in 

 former years ; they do not seem to be killed most in the severest 

 weather. He recollected well that not onl}' peach buds had been 

 killed under such circumstances, but a weeping willow tree was 

 killed to the ground. It does seem to be a rule that a temperature 

 of eighteen or twentj' degrees below zero kills peach buds. 



Mr. Hale said, in answering Mr. Strong's query, that he could 

 not speak from practical experience, but he had questioned old men 

 and the general answer was that the crop of peaches did some- 

 times fail. The best crops were after a winter of deep snows, 

 which kept the feet of ihe trees warm. The winter of 1886-87 

 there was deep snow, but in a place where the snow blew off there 

 was only a small crop. He recollected the cold winds of Decem- 

 ber 23, 1884, and December 22, 1885, which destroyed the peach 

 crop. 



David B. Flint said that he had seen peaches grown in Montreal 

 on walls covered with mats, though the mercury often falls to 

 thirty or fort}' degrees below zero there. He thought it was alter- 

 nate freezing and thawing that killed the trees. A heavy frost in 

 the autumn of 1881, when the wood was immature, destroyed the 

 crop. 



Mr. AVood said that there was no extremely low temperature 

 during the years referred to. Any peach trees could be cultivated 

 under glass without being troubled with 3'ellows ; this disease was 

 never known in trees under glass. 



Mr. Strong, referring to the remarks of the last speaker, 

 expressed the belief that as healthy trees could be seen in Mr. 

 Hale's grounds as could be seen an3'where. He could not himself 

 f think the crop so uncertain in former times as now. It is a ques- 

 tion whether slower growth would not enable the trees to resist the 

 cold better. The weeping willow which he spoke of previously 

 was probably killed by the suddenness of the cold ; later in the 

 season it might have endured it. 



O. B. Hadwen had had a little experience with peaches the last 

 forty years. He used to have a theory that the buds would stand 

 a temperature of ten degrees below zero unless accompanied by a 

 t' gale of wind, and he called to mind circumstances favoring this 

 view. He had known trees forty or fifty years of age, which 

 made a slow annual growth and bore fruit nearly ever}' year. 

 These were seedlings raised before budding was known, and he 



