814 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Crops and Farm Notes 
The Effect of the “Blizzard” 
It is still too soon to be quite sure 
about the extent of the damage done by 
the recent cold wave, but a critical in¬ 
spection of our orchards brought us to 
the conclusion that in this immediate sec¬ 
tion it is not serious. Apple buds were 
scarcely enough developed to be seriously 
injured; pears and peaches in full bloom 
of course suffered more, hut there seem to 
be enough left in good condition to insure 
a fair crop, if nothing worse happens to 
them. Sweet cherries got the worst of 
it, but there is still hope for some of the 
sour varieties. Judging merely from per¬ 
sonal examination on our own place, we 
are inclined to think that tin* damages 
reported may be somewhat over-estimated. 
Orange Co., X. Y. c. W. SHAW. 
Our own peach buds were not quite 
open for the early varieties and tin* late 
ones were even better protected. Tem¬ 
perature registered -7 degrees the first 
night and 24 degrees the second, with de¬ 
cidedly high winds prevailing. The pis¬ 
tils do not show any signs of damage 
now. but personally I am expecting to 
find them weakened so that even if the 
fruit sets it will drop badly. < )ther or¬ 
chards not so fortunately situated as 
mine are undoubtedly cleaned out for 
this year. Plums are also gone, but the 
pears and apples appear to be all right, 
with cherries according to advanced con¬ 
ditions and location. 
F. HOWARD BROWN. 
Middlesex Co., Mass. 
The cold snap appears to have been a 
benefit, as about 10 per cent of blossoms 
were wide open and they were killed. 
The rest appear to be all right, but of 
course may not set well. Apples, cher¬ 
ries and pears show no color on buds, so 
look for little if any damage. It froze 
ice solid in a tumbler—enough to break 
glass, so it was quite cold, and we would 
just as soon thin by hand as to have such t 
a narrow escape. Little peaches are j 
black in all buds which were open, but j 
nice and green in those which were un¬ 
opened, so we think things are all right 
so far. O. F. HENRY. 
New Haven Co., Conn. 
My impression is that there was but 
a small amount of damage from our two 
nights of severe frost. In this locality 
the temperature got as low as 22 degrees 
for a short period, and every leaf and 
growing plant seemed to be frozen solid 
to the extent of severe tissue injury. The 
thawing process was gradual, and nature 
has restored things in a wonderful way. 
1 do not think there is over 30 per cent 
of loss with peaches. Plums are more 
tender and are mostly destroyed. Very 
little damage to cherries or to the small 
fruits. Pear and apple blossoms are per¬ 
fectly sound. A matter of some impor¬ 
tance, however, is the fact that apple 
foliage, the earlier leaves surrounding the 
blossom clusters, is in many instances 
showing frost damage, and will not at¬ 
tain its full development, w. S. teator. 
Dutchess Co.. N. Y. 
It. is a little difficult, at this time, to re¬ 
port definitely as the buds were in all 
stages of development. However, the in¬ 
dications are the injury is not so serious 
as at first seemed possible. The infor¬ 
mation that 1 have through personal in¬ 
spection and from reports received at our 
Farm Bureau indicate that peaches are 
only partly killed, sour cherries and Kief- 
fer pears are all gone, sweet cherries and 
other pears only partially killed. Plums 
seem in fair condition. \\ ith apples there 
is quite a wide range of conditions. In 
some locations where Greenings and Bald¬ 
wins were quite well advanced there is 
quite serious injury, but as a whole, I 
think the loss will not be great. Grapes, 
of which there is a large acreage in Yates 
Co. were not far enough advanced to be 
frosted much. H. s. fullagah. 
Yates Co., N. Y. 
Although we have had some very cold 
weather for the season (down to 23 de¬ 
grees i I still hope we may have a fair 
fruit crop. Although trees were not in 
blossom, there is some injury to Japan 
plums, peaches and cherries, with the 
Japans the hardest hit. As we had a 
freeze and not a white frost I hope some 
buds.may come through all right. I have 
seen fruit set after some pretty cold 
weather, yet not quite up to the last 
freeze. Wie notice the bees were still 
gathering pollen the next morning. 
Worcester Co., Mass. n. o. mead. 
I have examined my own orchards; as 
far as I can see practically no harm has 
been done. I talked with the manager of 
the Farm Bureau. He was out yesterday 
(April 28) examining trees, and lie re¬ 
ports that early cherries seem to be killed, 
at least those that lie examined. Peaches 
and late cherries seem to be all right. 
I just called a big peach man and he re¬ 
ports that his peaches are all right, so 
I hope that the cold weather lias not in¬ 
jured our buds to any great extent. Many 
places here it was down to 20 degrees. 
Wayne Co.. N. Y. w. p. Rogers. 
I have found no injury to apples ex¬ 
cept Stark, the center bud of many clus¬ 
ters of these are gone: 00 to $)5 per cent 
of Ivieffer pear buds killed. The hiss on 
all other varieties of pears is negligible. 
The loss of sour cherries is practically 
total, while the loss of some varieties of 
sweet cherries is not over 50 per cent 
of promised blossom. Peaches too, El- 
berta and Niagara, escaped with about 
50 per cent, of buds unhurt, while cur¬ 
rants will be cut at least 00 to 70 per 
cent. Gooseberries went through without 
injury. I should expect the strawberries 
still covered to be unhurt, while those 
recently uncovered were badly burned. It 
is still too early to judge the damage, if 
any. The same is true in regard to rasp¬ 
berries. wm. iiotalixg. 
Columbia Co.. N. Y. 
Apples are somewhat injured I am 
sure, but not seriously, except that the 
bees have been able to work so little, only 
a few hours at a time. We cannot tell 
about cherries until the usual drop of tin* 
sets is finished: some are much con¬ 
cerned about that.’ crop. No doubt straw¬ 
berries were cut by the frost April 28. 
but ours in the garden do not show as 
much injury as I expected to see. The 
most serious trouble for the growers 
seems, from late advices, to be the brown 
rot of the young peach sets, which is re¬ 
ported to be very serious in South Jersey. 
I have questioned if the brown apple blos¬ 
soms might be from this cause. Advice 
from New Brunswick is to spray peaches 
with self-boiled lime-sulphur at once for 
the rot. H. G. TAYLOR. 
N. J. State Horticultural Society. 
Growers report that the peaches which 
were in bloom are killed : this means that 
practically all peaches in the southern 
part of the State are gone; those in the 
central part have lost the early varieties; 
while about here and the northern sec¬ 
tions. none is in bloom, and while some 
varieties may be injured somewhat, the 
buds seem healthy, with a promise of a 
full crop. The plums which were in 
bloom are killed, central and southern 
part of the State most affected, scattering 
trees in other parts of the State. Sweet 
cherries are probably all killed. Sour 
cherries not', hurt. much. Apples do not 
seem to be affected at all in this section 
nor in the central part of the State. Small 
fruits injured little if any. 
Storrs P. O., Conn. s. p. iiollister. 
Very little injury of any kind visible 
now; more damage may show as time 
goes on. Early peaches and early apples 
that were throwing pink are not black 
yet. I am afraid cherries and pears will 
be low in vitality, but that is only a 
guess. Very sunny and high winds for 
two or three days with thermometer at 
20 degrees at times seem to have fixed 
all or part of the apples. We had a bad 
dose. C. AI.LIS. 
( )rleans Co., N. Y. 
The Cold Wave in the Lake Erie Section 
The temperature as recorded on the 
thermograph at the Vineyard Laboratory 
dropped to the freezing point about six 
P. M. on the eveuing of April 24. and 
from this hour till nine A. M. on April 
20. no higher degree was reached. The 
minimum recorded during this interval is 
27 degrees, both nights of the 24tli and 
25th reaching this minimum. The pre¬ 
vailing temperature for the interval be¬ 
tween these dates was 30 degrees. How¬ 
ever, the danger from low temperatures 
was considerably aggravated by the high 
wind from the northwest, which at. times 
reached the velocity of a gale. This was 
accompanied during the evening of the 
25th by a moderate snowfall, which was 
followed by a gradual rise in temperature. 
At frequent intervals during the day of 
the 25th flower buds from the peach, 
sweet and sour cherry, plum, currant and 
grape were examined for injury, but re¬ 
peated observation failed to reveal any 
such. A few early flowering peach varieties 
were in full bloom, but the writer did not 
have these for examination. Other peach 
varieties were within a few hours of the 
beginning of bloom, while sweet cherries 
were a few days behind, which in turn 
were followed by the plum, sour cherry 
and the grape. Japanese plums were 
probably as far advanced in their bloom¬ 
ing as the peach varieties, Hill’s Chili, 
Hale and Rochester, which form the basis 
of these determinations. < )u the 20th 
May 10, 1910 
further observations were made with all 
the above and no injury was at all evi¬ 
dent. except with Burbank plum and 
Wilder currant. It was plain that the 
blossoms of the Burbank on the windward 
side of the tree and the limbs were ser¬ 
iously injured, ranging from slight to 
complete killing. Other blossom buds 
that were somewhat protected by the 
limbs and trunks apparently escaped. 
Wilder currant also showed injury to 
leaf on the 2()th. but apparently the pis¬ 
tils were but little affected. An apricot 
in full bloom showed extensive injury, 
but a few blossoms that, had set came 
through uninjured. In this case it is im¬ 
possible to positively ascribe the withered 
condition of the pistils to the cold of this 
particular period. 
A few tomato and cabbage plants had 
been set in the immediate vicinity, and 
consequently these were killed. Many 
tomato plants but recently transferred to 
the frames were completely killed. Re¬ 
ports coming from sections further dis¬ 
tant from the lake seem to indicate that 
lower temperatures were reached in those 
localities than those noted at the labora¬ 
tory. The lowest thus far reported is 2(1 
degrees. Serious injury is reported from 
these districts with the peach, plum, cur¬ 
rant and gooseberry, while in one instance 
it was stated that grape buds were en¬ 
tirely blackened. This report has not 
been verified, but at this writing it is not 
believed that the grape has been injured 
except in a few unfavored localities. 
From our observations it is concluded 
that there has apparently been but little 
injury in tin* lake section to fruits, yet 
it is realized that the nature of the injury 
has been such that the extent of it cannot 
be correctly judged until some time after 
fertilization of the flowers takes place. 
It is further believed that owing to the 
almost dormant condition of the InHs of 
the grape that the principal fruit crop of 
this region is practically unharmed. 
New York._ F. e . gladwin. 
Crabsiiaw : “Why do you wish to leave 
school and go to work when you’re so 
young?” Willie: “It’s this way, dad. 
School is going to be a tough place for the 
next few years. We’ll have a new map 
of Europe to study, and if we fall down 
on it the teacher is likely to give us the 
Constitution of the League of Nations to 
learn by heart.”—Life. 
“That Settles It Dad—Til 
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