SWELLING BUDS IN DANGER 



Winter-Kill May Be the Fate of Many 

 Shrubs and Trees— Forsythia and Dande- 

 lions Bloom in New Bedford J ' ' j-, 



[From the New Bedford Standard, Jan. 2B] 

 Spring in January, buds swelling, early 

 flowers blooming, and the grass growing 

 green, are among the results of the sur- 

 prising spell o£ warm winter weather which 

 New Bedford has been experiencing this 

 season. The probabilities of a severe cold 

 snap the first of February, horticultural 

 experts say. threaten many shrubs and 

 trees with the danger of winter-kill. 



William Keith, superintendent of the T. 

 M. Stetson estate, told the Standard this 

 morning that on tlie north side of the 

 imas M. Stetson estate gate on Ash 

 street, a forsythia has been blooming since 

 .^ihortly after Christmas, and was in bloom 

 week. He also reports that maple 

 trees are bleeding at cuts and scars— an in- 

 dication that the sap is running and a 

 very unusual condition in January. A cold 

 snap will raise the bark from the pith 

 (which carries the sap) and endanger the 

 trees with winter-kill. 



"Buds of all kinds," Mr. Keith stated, 

 "have swelled to a more or less degree. 

 Unless the weather continues mild through- 

 out the winter, the season will be hard on 

 shrubs." 



For twelve years Mr. Keith has i^ept 

 careful records of the weather in connec- 

 tion with his work. He declares that 

 taking the average of any three months of 

 year and comparing it with the aver- 

 age of any three months of the same sea- 

 in other years, the difference Is 

 very slight. His records since 1903 shows 

 the following weather conditions: 

 JAN. 23 



1913. Clear, light wind, northwest, high 

 temperature (at 10 o'clock) 42; low, 32. 



1012 Clear, light northwest wind, high 

 temperature, 18; low, 7. 



1911. Partly cloudy, light northwest 

 wind, high temperature, 46; low, 23. 



1910. Clear, light variable winds, mostly 

 northwest to southwest; high temperature 

 28, low, 13. 



1909. Partly cloudy; light winds, north- 

 west to west; high, 45; low, 32. 



1908. Partly cloudy, light winds, north- 

 west to southwest. Blizzard of 15 inches o£ 

 snow on Jan. 24. High temperature 32; 

 low, 8, 



li)07. Snow, light winds, southeast to 

 northeast. High, 24; low, 3. Thermometer 

 at 13, Jan. 24. 



1906. Light snow flurries. High wind, 

 north to northeast. High temperature, 29; 



ItiOo. ' Snow, northeast gale; a blizzard in 

 afternoon and evening. High, 28; low. 24. 

 1904. Clear, blowy, west wind. High, 20; 



]!)03. ' Snow, heavy fall. Light winds, 

 northeast. High temperature, 31; low, 26. 



Among the flowers that are reported In 

 blossom are dandelions, tulips, pussy wil- 

 lows, pansies. Apple trees and shrub buds 

 are swelling. 



Dr. William G. Branecomb picked a 

 snowdrop in his garden this morning. 



Crocuses and Snowdrops 



Bnt No Ice, Snow or LogslnK to Spealc 

 of About Rntlana, Vt. 



[From a Riitland (Vt.) despatch In the Burlington 

 News] 



The flaini In lloral rataloguos that cer- 

 tain hardy bulbs will bloom beside a .snow- 

 bank Is <lcmon.'itrated on the lawn of Dr. 

 Ray li. Smith in this city, where may ba 

 seen crocuses and snowdrops, the blossoms 

 looking as fresh as on an ordinary April 

 morning These bulbs usually blossom out 

 of door at Easter time. 



The roritiiuii'd warm weather is causing 

 buds of all the early flowering trees to 

 swell and for weeks "pussy" willows have 

 been in evidence. Not once this season has 

 the thermometer reached the zero point in 

 Rutland and only on four occasions in De- 

 cember and .January has the early morning 

 temperature l>een below 20». 



.4.1 no time has the kuow been over three 

 inehe.s deep in Itiitland and at. the present 



JANUARY PHENOMENALLY MILD. 



Warmest First Month of Year in 101 

 Years According to Blue Hill Obser- 

 vatory. 



Plienomenally milil weather |irpvrtile<l 

 throughout .lanuary, tlie nunitli lieiiig 

 the warmeist of the name in the past 101 

 years, which is the length of weather 

 observations in this vicinity. The mean 

 temperature of .'16.0 degrees was 10.0 

 decrees abo\'e normal and 3.0 dofirees 

 higher than the next warmest .January, 

 which occurred in 1000. h\ marked iHm 

 trast, the mean temperature of .rnnuary, 

 1012, was 17.7 degrees, the lowest for 24 

 years. In the nuiiith just eloacd. tlie 

 temperature rose above freezing on all 

 but four days and the highest reached 

 was 60 degrees on the 6th. The lowest 

 of the month was 8 degrees on the Oth. 



There was fre(|iient. though not heavy, 

 ]u-eeii.itation thr(Uighout the month, 

 the total being .1.21 inches, which is .91 

 inch less than the iKirmal amount and 

 .66 inch less than the total in .laimary, 

 1912. An appreciable amount fell on 

 \n days, mostly in the form of rain, and 

 the iiiost in one day was 1.14 inches on 

 the Sth. Two inches of snow fell during 

 the month and this is the Hmallest 

 snowfall in Jamuiry on record at Hlue 

 Hill with the exception of 1911, when 

 there was only one inch. The normal 

 Hiiowfall for the month is Hi inches and 

 in .January. 1912. there were 2H inches. 



There was less ilian the usual rela- 

 tive humiditv. the mean for the month 

 being 69.9 [ler cent. lliere was 7 

 per cent, less than the usual amount of 

 sunshine and somewhat more than the 

 average cloudiness. There was more 

 ■wind than customary and the prevail- 

 ing direction was southwest, which is 

 unusunl in .January. The maximum 

 veloeitv of the month was 68 miles per 

 hour from the south on the 3rd. This 

 was the highest velocity in three years 

 and was an acenmpaniment of the lowest 

 barometer since Xovember. 1994. The 

 mciin barometric pressure for the month, 

 however, was decidedly above normal. 

 M the end of the month there was no 

 H-e in the neighboring ponds and no 

 fi i).>,t in the ground. 



U A. Wells. 



