Effects of Rain at Blooming-time. 333 
“When we first began to spray our peach trees 
to prevent the fruit from rotting, the Bordeaux 
mixture used was not properly prepared, and as a 
consequence a large part of the leaves on the sprayed 
trees fell off prematurely. The next spring it was 
found that there was a larger proportion of live 
buds on the trees from which the leaves had fallen 
than on the rest of the same variety. My explana- 
tion at the time was that the buds become less 
hardy in proportion as they are more developed. 
We know this is true in the spring. The question 
at once arises, at what stage in the development of 
a bud is it the most hardy, and how ean we best 
control that development? This seems to me a 
promising field for careful study.” 
The effect of rain upon blossoms.—It is perfectly 
well known that the weather conditions in which 
plants are growing may profoundly affect the 
fecundity of the flowers. In the foreig of winter 
vegetables, for example, it is of the greatest impor- 
tance to keep the house dry and warm when_ polli- 
nation is to be effected, and better results—both in 
the amount of pollen produced, and in the ease 
with which it is discharged from the anthers—are 
commonly obtained in bright sunshine. (Nee, also, 
page 227.) It is very probable that if the flowers 
of fruit plants were to be kept constantly wet, very 
little pollination would take place. It is probable, 
also, that dashing rains at blossoming time wash 
away much of the pollen, but it is doubtful if 
enough of it would be lost in such passing storms 
