THE RELATION OF CLIMATE TO POMOLOGY 223 



are used for calculating crop risks, then many years the 

 grower limits his season much more than would have been 

 necessaiy. 



While a fruit-grower may attempt to determine places 

 that are safe for fruits by computing the average date of 

 the last killing frost, yet it must be expected that in the 

 most favorable locations there will occasionally be de- 

 structive frosts. For New York state Hedrick has recorded 

 a surprising frequency of frost damage in the fruit-growing 

 regions, stating that "Fruits were injured at blossoming 

 time by frosts in thirteen out of the twenty-five years 

 under consideration." ^ Frost injuiy may take the form of 

 russeting the fruit, occurring either in bands, in patches 

 about the basin or cavity, or in spots on the surface of the 

 skin. It may also cause blistering of the young leaves when 

 they first expand, in which case they do not fully develop 

 and often fall prematurely. In addition to the destruction 

 of the pistils and ovaries of the flowers, the stems may be 

 injured and the flower-cluster base may also be discolored, 

 which oftr>n results in a heavy drop of the fruit. 



193. Winds. — Heavy winds also play a part in the 

 weather conditions that affect fruit-growing. They are by 

 no means such destructive agents as temperature and rain- 

 fall maj^ be, but they may reduce the number of blossoms 

 which set fruit and prove ruinous to the crop as it approaches 

 the hai-vesting season. Just as rain or humid conditions 

 may prevent bees and other pollen-carrying insects from 

 working during the blossoming season, so winds may also 

 greatly reduce their activity and consequently reduce pol- 



1 N. Y. (Geneva) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 299. See also Wilson, W. M. 

 Frosts in New York. N. Y. (Coniell) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 31G. 1912. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bull. 1096. 1920. Paddock, Wendell, 

 and Orville B. Whipple. Fruit-Growing in Arid Regions. New York, 

 1910. 



