EFFECTS OF FREEZES ON CITRUS IN CALIFORNIA 293 



surprised to see them putting out such an abundant and vigorous 

 growth. 



Dying of New Growth. After this growth had become a few inches 

 long, much of it began to droop and die. A few weeks later many 

 young trees, which had started out with promise, were entirely dead, 

 and other trees kept weakening and dying throughout the summer. 

 Sometimes some of the new growth would droop and die because of 

 overcrowding. Frequently when two or three shoots sprang from the 

 same place, all would continue to grow until six to ten inches long, 

 and then one or two of these would droop, become loose, and fall out, 

 leaving one strong sprout. Where there were these fatal effects of 

 overcrowding, the trees were doubtless in a weakened condition. 

 Orange trees that were merely defoliated sent out a strong and abun- 

 dant growth along the trunk and the main limbs of the trees. This 

 growth had large leaves of good color and bore strong vigorous 

 flowers. The leaves that came out near the surface of these trees 

 were generally small and often variegated. This variegated color was 

 plentiful in groves which had previously been free from "mottled 

 leaf." 



Where the bark was split, the loosened bark usually curled and 

 died, leaving an elliptical patch of uncovered dead wood. The sound 

 bark surrounding this area began to grow in from all sides and cover 

 this bare wood the same as in the healing of any wound. 



After two or three months, trees which had been exposed to the 

 lowest temperatures began to show dead patches of bark on some of 

 the big limbs. These patches were not conspicuous, but could be 

 located by scraping off the outer surface of the bark. The scraping 

 revealed the brown areas, surrounded by bark, which was green and 

 alive. It was rare to find bearing trees ten years old or older, even 

 in the districts which suffered most, where the trunks of the trees 

 showed much injury. 



Blooming and Fruiting of Injured Trees. Slightly defoliated 

 orange trees, even though the crop had been a total loss, in many cases 

 set a larger crop than normal. Orange trees that had been entirely 

 defoliated in January produced bloom in March and April, a large 

 portion of which was small and dropped. During this time strong, 

 vigorous growth was developing on the large limbs within the tree and 

 fruit developed on this newly formed growth. The crop of these 

 trees, which had been entirely defoliated and badly injured in Janu- 

 ary, was found, to the astonishment of many, to equal in many cases 

 40 to 60 per cent of normal. 



Lemon trees that had suffered but slight frost injury to the fruit, 



'TTPTCTIT/TTTRF 



