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XVII. Upon the beneficial Effects of Protecting the Stems 

 of Fruit Trees from Frost in early Spring. By Thomas 

 Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. fyc. President. 



Read February 1, 1825. 



The blossoms of Fruit Trees fall off abortively in some 

 seasons, and produce much fruit in others, in which the wea- 

 ther, relatively to temperature and moisture, has been nearly 

 the same during the flowering season of such trees ; and it is 

 in very favourable, or very unfavourable seasons only, that 

 the gardener can, with any degree of precision, pronounce 

 what portion of his blossoms will afford fruit. If a larger part 

 of it, than he has been led to anticipate, prove abortive, he 

 generally attributes its falling off to something which he calls 

 a Blight, and which he supposes to be the operation of some 

 unknown noxious quality in the atmosphere, during the sea- 

 son in which his trees have been in blossom. 



Many circumstances have, at different periods, come under 

 my observation, which have led me to draw a different con- 

 clusion, and to believe that whenever a very large portion 

 of the well organized blossom of Fruit Trees falls off abor- 

 tively, in a moderately favourable season, the cause of the 

 failure may generally be traced to some previous check, which 

 the motion and operation of the vital fluid of the tree has 

 sustained. 



