STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 151 



contact with the roots, is that numerous forms oi fungus, many of 

 which are very destructive, will be generated and reproduced 

 upon the tree, where they find a home, and carry death and 

 destruction to the living organism, from which they obtain an 

 existence." 



Extreme Variations of Temperature. — *"The great obstacle in 

 our section to the successful cultivation of fruit is undoubtedly 

 the constant liability to extreme variations of temperature. In au 

 orchard house we have this matter entirely under control, to regu- 

 late as we please, but outside it is not so easily done. Two or 

 three weeks ago, January, 1874, we had spring weather sufficient 

 to start the buds of our fruit and many other trees, and they are 

 often destroyed in this way in mid-winter, when after being 

 swelled almost ready to burst, a change of thirty to forty degrees 

 occurs in a few hours, often proving fatal. Then, again, fruit 

 crops are lost by a continuance of wet weather in the spring, and 

 in a particular condition of the blossom, which interferes with the 

 natural elasticity of the pollen, so that there is no proper connec- 

 tion between stamens and pistils. The dry spring of 187'2, on the 

 other extreme, was the most favorable to bud development we 

 have had for many years, and such crops of apples have hardly 

 ever before been gathered. Among remedies to counteract these 

 atmospheric changes, there are two or three worthy of notice. 

 First, instead of pruning up to high standards, and exposing naked 

 trunks to our hot suns, it may be an improvement in the manage- 

 ment of all fruit trees to encourage more the dwarf style, and 

 allow branches to start out two or three feet from the ground. 

 This will have another advantage, by promoting easier picking of 

 the fruit and the avoidance of some bruises in falling. When the 

 other system of high trunks is adopted, a email quantity of rye 

 straw tied perpendicularly around the trunk, will reflect the heat 

 of the sun, keep it more moist, and we have found it especially 

 valuable to the cherry. Another remedy is within our reach, 

 which will probably prove more effective than anything else, and 

 that is the planting of evergreens on the north side of fruit or- 

 chards as shelter belts, and also in a few places through the 

 orchard, but not so close to the trees as to injure them by shade 

 or the spread of their roots. There is one tree, and only one, 

 that we know of, so wonderfully adapted for this purpose, grow- 



*Paschall Davis, Pa. Fruit Growers' Soc. pp. 102 and 103 ; Report 1873-4. 



