42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



On Climates. 



"In this part of Canada we suffer from drought but not from 

 diminished rain-fall. I must explain this apparent contradiction. 

 England is a land of verdure, the lawns are like velvet, the trees 

 and thatched roofs covered with moss. What a contrast to our dry 

 climate, and 3et the annual rain- fall of London is nearly thirteen 

 inches less than that of Montreal. It is from aridity of air, and 

 consequent rapid evaporation that we suffer. 



In Russia we find fruit cultivated largely in climates where the 

 conditions of extreme cold, dryness of air, and scanty rain-fall are 

 greatly intensified. 



In the Government of Kasan, above latitude 55 where the winter 

 temperature is five degrees lower than in the city of Quebec, the 

 rain-fall a good deal less than one-half, the evaporation as great, we 

 find apple growing a great commercial industr^^ the industry, in 

 fact, in twelve peasant villages. This is the coldest profitable 

 orchard region of the world, and the conditions of growth deserve 

 study. The soil upon these exposed bluffs is a fine comminuted 

 dusty clay, like a " loess." For retaining moisture, for absorbing it, 

 for holding frost without injury to the roots, there is no better. 

 The dr}' fall here causes perfect maturity of growth ; the thick, fine 

 textured leaf does not suffer from the dryness of the air. It was 

 Mr. Budd, whose microscopic study of the leaves of these climates 

 first showed their peculiar cell structure. Thus we see that the 

 apple ti-ee of Kasan is a tree thoroughly adapted to the climate it 

 lives in. However, the cold of Kasan seems more uniform than 

 ours. In this Province we suffer from the warmth of the sun in the 

 late winter and earh' spring, warmth followed by sudden cold. 

 This results in "bark-bursting" and " sun-scalding" of the trunk 

 and lower branches. Such injury is rare in Eastern and Middle 

 Russia, but how much this is owing to the climate, how much to the 

 character of their hardy race of trees I cannot say." * * * * 



" St. Petersburg is in lat. 60, so far North that the stars cease to 

 be visible daring two months in summer, the sun is too short a 

 distance below the horison. A cold coast climate; a (iaspe. or 

 Anticosti climate, one would suppose. A cool, short summer, a 

 long changeable winter, not colder on an average than Montreal, 

 but subject to greater extremes of sudden cold. Earh' terminate 

 growth is the special characteristic needed here." 



