152 



FIG CULTURE 



of winter condition, and peculiarly exposed to the 

 ravages of the storm. Trees in the third orchard 

 were active though not so far advanced as in 

 Orchard II, but sufficiently to account for their 

 lack of subsequent recuperation. The other two 

 orchards were practically dormant; the clay loams 

 of each, being moist, respond€d more slowly to 

 the warmth of the sun, and radiated very little 

 heat, while refraction was reduced. It would be a 

 strain upon the imagination to think that an en- 

 velope of warm air is ever created over clay soil 

 for more than a few hours at a time during the win- 

 ter season, and without heat there is nothing to in- 

 duce buds to swell. Botanists tell us that the initial 

 growth of a cutting, as well as a tree, is always from 

 the action of heat upon starch cells stored in the 

 top branches — not from root activity — and this 

 tendency to sprout appears at any time during win- 

 ter, or spring, when the enveloping air is contin- 

 ually heated to a degree comfortable and inviting 

 to the plant. 



A month after the freeze just referred to a second 

 one occurred in the same locality, the temperature 

 falling to 21 deg. F. This time Orchards II and III 

 were active again, and the entire top growth was 

 ruined. Orchard I was just about to start, leaf 

 buds being swollen, and wood less than two years 

 old was injured. Orchard IV, though but a year 

 from the nursery, was uninjured; between the two 



