312 



The Principles of Fruit-growing 



when frozen, is frost, — ^probably settles in a ring or belt 

 near the top of the fruit or midway down it. The exact 

 position and conformation of this deposit of dew are, of 



course, determined 

 by the shape, posi- 

 tion and exposure 

 ofthefruit. Fig. 119 

 shows the frost- 

 zones on young 

 apples. This in- 

 jured, corky tissue 

 has the power of 

 increasing itself by 

 the extension of the 

 abnormal cells, so 

 that the zone is 

 likely to widen with 

 the growth of the 



Fig. 120. Rusty frost-zone on a full-grown apple. i?„^ ■ j. Tv/r „ j. ^, « _ 



fruits, with the rusty frost marks still conspicuous, are 

 seen in Figs. 120 and 121. In some cases, the growth of 

 tissue in the injured zone seems to be slow, resulting in a 

 constriction of the fruit at that point. 



Among the most serious results of very late frosts in 

 the North are injuries to vineyards. Fig. 122 shows the 

 shoots of a grape-vine as injured by a freeze in the middle 

 of May. In treating frozen vines, like that shown in the 

 illustration, it must first be remembered that the injured 

 parts are of no further use to the plants, and they are very 

 likely to weaken the plant by causing it to lose much of its 

 moisture. The rational procedure, therefore, is to strip 

 off all the frozen shoots soon after the disaster, allowing 

 the energies of the plant to divert themselves to the pro- 



