122 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



dates. By 'earliest' is not meant the first frost in 

 the spring, but the earliest date at which the season 

 has opened, while when applied to the fall it is the 

 first actual occurrence of a frost. By 'latest' is 

 meant the last occurrence of a killing frost in the 

 spring, and in the fall the latest date at which the 

 season has closed. The average date is in most 

 cases the mean of average dates given by the Weather 

 Bureau. 



"The states have been grouped into three regions, 

 the states of the coast plain, the states of the Ohio 

 River basin and its adjuncts, arid the states of the 

 Missouri River and its adjuncts. The first thought 

 in separating the states into these regions was that 

 they represented distinct faunal regions, and that 

 they probably represented distinct climatal regions. 

 This has been sustained in most part. The most 

 marked cases are eastern New York, or the Hud- 

 son Valley, and western New York, the former be- 

 longing to the coast states and the latter to the 

 Ohio valley states. There is a difference of eleven 

 days in the spring on earliest dates, twelve days 

 on latest, and two days on average ; Pennsylvania, 

 which falls in the same category, in the spring, 

 fifty-four days on earliest, eleven days on latest, and 

 twenty days on average dates. In the other regions 

 the difference is not so marked, and yet there is 

 some difference in all cases. 



"This tabulation is of interest in showing the 

 earliest and latest dates at which the seasons have 

 opened, for some of the data is based on records 



