Phillips—Hail Injury on Forest Trees. 51 
This is the total number of days that hail was reported 
for each month from April to September inclusive. A 
few hail storms were reported in March and October, but 
they were few and scattering. Most of the storms here 
reported were entirely harmless or did but little damage. 
These stations are considered the most reliable in the 
state. 
Excellent opportunity for studying this kind of injury 
was afforded by a hailstorm which occurred at Hutchin- 
son, Kansas, on the last day of May, 1908. The storm 
started about 5 a. m., and lasted for 20 to 30 minutes, do- 
ing damage both north and south of the city. The hail 
clouds came from the northwest against the wind which 
was blowing from the southeast. This probably accounted 
at least partially for the duration of the storm and ex- 
plains why the defoliation of forest trees occurred on the 
south and east sides although the clouds came from the 
opposite direction. The hail stones ranged from the size 
of a hazelnut to that of a hickory nut and formed a layer 
of 1 to 4 inches in depth. The stones on the outskirts of 
the storm were reported to be of a larger size but were 
fewer in number, and the injury to all forms of vegetation 
was less than in the center of the storm. 
Hardy catalpa suffered worse than any other forest 
tree. Except in rare cases whole stands were entirely 
defoliated and the bark badly torn on exposed branches. 
On trees 6 to 10 years old many wounds were measured 
which were continuous for 12 to 15 inches, and occasion- 
ally these wounds were an inch or more in breadth. Es- 
pecially bad effects were noted in one year old coppice 
stands. Such sprouts are very succulent, never possess 
side branches and have large, tender leaves. In such 
stands it frequently happened that many sprouts were 
broken from the stump, while others had the bark com- 
pletely girdled or shredded for their entire length. In 
coppice shoots older than one year as well as in seedling 
stands the current season’s growth was almost invariably 
killed back while in many cases the shoots were killed 
back into the last season’s growth. However, the bark 
