PEACH AND THE PEAR. I95 



Question 3. About seventeen years, We/l cared 

 for, twenty-five to thirty. 



Question 4. From Middletown to Delmar. The 

 present centre seems to be Wyoming. Another decade 

 will remove it to Harrington. 



Question 5. An extraordinary drought extending 

 into the late autumn may cause large portion of the 

 buds to perish, but there always seem to be enough left. 

 The most serious damage is done in the late winter or 

 early spring by excessive cold after very bright, warm 

 spells of weather. The warm weather starting the buds, 

 and the extreme cold and sharp winds succeeding, 

 causing the forward buds to perish. 



Question 6. Ten degrees below zero will, usually, 

 if continued 48 hours, kill the buds, and fifteen to twenty 

 degrees will be very apt to kill the young wood in this 

 climate. 



Question 7. A heavy frost is almost always fatal to 

 the peach after the bloom is made, and before the blossom 

 has dropped, though I do not believe that low tempera- 

 ture, on cloudy nights, is fatal. It is the congealed 

 moisture or frost contained and retained in the flower 

 that causes the young peach to perish. I remember that 

 about seven years ago, or six, Dr. Ridgely and I met 

 one forenoon, after examining our orchards, respectively, 

 and concurred in the opinion that the peaches were all 



