Frost and Blooming Time. 127 



closely connected stations, represented by the letters 

 in the margin of the plate (page 126). One curve 

 represents the date of the last killing frost, and 

 the other the date of the opening of the peach 

 flowers. Wherever the frost line lies beyond the 

 bloom line, as in the first five stations, peach-grow- 

 ing is impossible. When it lies at the left, peach- 

 growing is possible, and the industry is safe in 

 proportion as the two lines diverge. At the stations 

 I, K, and O peach - growing may be considered to 

 be far beyond danger of late frosts. These tabula- 

 tions would be valuable, of course, in proportion as 

 they include a minute record of every farm in the 

 given territory ; but even a somewhat superficial 

 series of observations would possess great value if 

 accurately made, as indicating the probable influence 

 of local climate upon the given industry. If lines 

 tend to converge, or if the frost line crosses beyond 

 the bloom line, there is indication, at least, that 

 safe peach lands are few in those localities. The 

 information which these records ask could be well 

 ascertained from observations upon a few peach 

 trees here and there long before any general experi- 

 ment of cultivation had been tried. 



This method of study is a part of the science 

 of phenology, or that science which treats of the 

 periodical phenomena of animals and plants, as the 

 migrations and nesting of birds, awakening of the 

 frogs, and the dates of blooming and leafing of 

 plants. Such records are more accurate measures of 

 seasonal climates than instrumental measurements 



