Frost and Blooming Time. 127 
closely connected stations, represented by the letters 
in the margin of the plate (page 126). One curve 
represents the date of the last killing frost, and 
the other the date of the opening of the peach 
flowers. Wherever the frost line lies beyond the 
bloom line, as in the first five stations, peach-grow- 
ing is impossible. When it lies at the left, peach- 
growing is possible, and the industry is safe in 
proportion as the two lines diverge. At the stations 
I, K, and O peach-growing may be considered to 
be far beyond danger of late frosts. These tabula- 
tions would be valuable, of course, in proportion as 
they include a minute record of every farm in the 
given territory; but even a somewhat superficial 
series of observations would possess great value if 
accurately made, as indicating the probable influence 
of local climate upon the given industry. If lines 
tend to converge, or if the frost line crosses beyond 
the bloom line, there is indication, at least, that 
safe peach lands are few in those localities. The 
information which these records ask could be well 
ascertained from observations upon a few peach 
trees here and there long before any general experi- 
ment of cultivation had been tried. 
This method of study is a part of the science 
of phenology, or that science which treats of the 
periodical phenomena of animals and plants, as the 
migrations and nesting of birds, awakening of the 
frogs, and the dates of blooming and leafing of 
plants. Such records are more accurate measures of 
seasonal climates than instrumental measurements 
