Influence of Bodies of Water. 41 
land if they are very deep. This is admirably illus- 
trated in the slender lakes of central New York, 
about which the fruit-growing has disposed itself. 
The distance to which the ameliorating influence of 
the water may extend is determined very largely by 
the conformation of the shore lands. As a rule, there 
are distinct slopes towards the water, and it is rare 
that the effect of the water upon the temperature 
extends beyond the crest of the elevation. As a 
matter of fact, when the elevation is three hundred 
feet or more high, the region of immunity from frost 
ordinarily does not extend more than. two-thirds of 
the distance to the summit. Along the central New 
York lakes, the area of the tender fruits, like grapes, 
does not reach more than half a mile, and at the 
utmost a mile, from the water. The famous Chau- 
tauqua grape-belt is confined to a strip about two 
to three miles wide lying upon Lake Erie, and reach- 
ing an elevation at its landward margin of less than 
also during the 13th, as the storm center lingered over the northeastern coast. 
The fall of temperature at this Station from noon of the 11th to the 12th was 
40 degrees, and by the 13th, 50 degrees. 
“This cold wave appears to have differed from ordinary frosts in the follow- 
ing particulars: Frosts commonly occur on elear, calm nights, when the cold 
air sinks to the valley bottoms ; but in this case the weather was cloudy or 
partly cloudy, and strong westerly winds prevailed. The valleys, being pro- 
tected from the wind, lost less of the soil warmth stored up during the pre- 
ceding week than the higher and more exposed localities, which suffered most. 
The temperature fell to 32 degrees or below over northern and central New 
York generally on the 11th, 12th and 13th, and probably we were saved from 
disastrous frost in the valleys and sheltered localities only by the warmth of 
the soil. 
“I may add that the high-pressure area in the central states brought severe 
killing frosts near Lake Michigan and the central valleys on the 9th and 10th. 
With us there was the added feature of the high winds, due to the storm area 
as described,” 
