PROTECTION AGAINST FROST 



367 



Table 71. — Date of First Blossoms Relative to Last Minimum of 29°F. at 

 Wauseon, Ohio, for 30 Years 



Blossoming relative 

 to frost 



Red 

 rasp- 

 berry, 

 years 



Type variety: 



Before 



After 



Early variety: 



Before 



After 



Late variety: 



Before 



After 



at Wauseon of the fruits under observation there (see Tj'pe fruits). In addition 

 an attempt is made to show how earher or later blossoming varieties of the respec- 

 tive fruits would have been affected. A somewhat artificial method was 

 necessary. Taking as guide the average blossoming dates of various fruits at 

 Geneva, N. Y.,^° the varieties studied in Table 70 were interpolated and the 

 differences between their average dates of blossoming at Geneva and that of the 

 earliest and latest blossoming common varieties grown there were used in the 

 Wauseon figures. Thus the apple was figured on the basis of Gravenstein being 

 2 days earUer in blossoming than the type variety (King). The Bartlett pear 

 was fitted into the New York tables on the assumption that it blossomed with 

 Clapp Favorite and Angouleme; Anjou and Vermont Beauty were the extremes, 

 2 days earUer and later respectively. The plum (variety not stated) was placed 

 in the middle of the Domestica group. 



The table should not be taken too literally as it is constructed on such arbi- 

 trary assumptions (including the temperature selected as injurious). Neverthe- 

 less it shows quite clearly the respective chances of frost damage to different 

 fruits at a given spot in northern latitudes and in a measure the relative import- 

 ance of early and late blossoming varieties which is much greater in some fruits 

 than in others. Furthermore, it should be understood clearly that the blossoming 

 dates of all kinds and varieties of fruits have a much wider spread in milder 

 cUmates than that of the northeast and these differences are much greater and 

 more important in these regions. 



Figure 36 shows the blossoming dates of certain fruits in relation to 

 the last spring temperature of 27°F. at a point in southern Utah. In no 

 year did the apricot or the almond blossom after the last temperature of 

 27°, and in no case did the Yellow Transparent, generally a rather early 

 blossoming apple, bloom before. Between these extremes lie the Elberta 

 peach, which blossomed after the last 27° temperature in 2 years out of 

 the 8 represented, and the German prune which preceded it in 1 year 

 out of 6 recorded. The likelihood of damage or safety from frost is this 

 locality quite evidently depends on the kind of fruit chosen, more so 



