New Yokk Ageicultueal Expeeiment Station. 
7 
On account of the difficulty of observation in matters of this kind, 
we may believe that there is error in No. 2 and No. 7, and hence these 
may be excluded from the comparisons. 
The sums of temperature for the remainder are, hence : 
NUMBER 
Planting 
to veg. 
Veg. to 
bloom. 
Bloom to 
edible. 
Edible 
to ripe. 
Veg. to 
ripen'ss. 
1 
731° 
1062 
475 
589 
956 
590 
398 
1417° 
1389 
1491 
1761 
1519 
1521 
1871 
1033° 
577 
956 
900 
590 
1469 
914° 
1700 
1128 
981 
3109 
3364° 
3666 
3575 
3642 
5220 
3 
4 
5 
6 
8 
9 
When we consider the difficulty of determining the exact day when 
ripeness occurs, and the loss of the early pods sometimes from mil- 
dew, we must note the uniformity of the days and the temperatures 
from the period from vegetation to ripeness; yet if we divide the 
sums of temperature by the number of days, we have for the mean 
temperature required 67, 71, 76, 75, etc., certainly not uniformities. 
The influence of climate appears, however, to have some relationship 
with the weight of the ripe seed. 
In investigations of this character, however, it will be remembered 
that a degree of temperature has not equal influence upon vegeta- 
tion in all portions of its scale, as all below 32° are absolutely nil, 
and the value of the fortieth degree and the eightieth degree are mani- 
festly unequal. There is, hence, a greater difference in the effect 
upon growth between the 67° and 71° and the 71° and 75° above 
given than their numerical differences. If we examine the tabular 
data, we note that in Nos. 6 and 8 the sums of temperatures from 
vegetation to bloom are practically the same, distributed over twenty 
days in the case of No. 6, and twenty-three days in the case of No. 8; 
yet, in the case of Nos. 3 and 5 we have the same twenty-one and 
twenty-three days, with a marked difference between the sums of 
temperatures. From these and other considerations which our data 
will readily suggest, we must conclude that this method of estimating 
climate through the observations of plants does not admit as yet of 
exactness of conclusion. 
While difficult to express in tabular form, yet an inspection of the 
soil moisture during the various periods must convince that the 
amount of available water is certainly as determining a cause of plant 
development as increase of temperature alone. 
The doctrine of phenology, or the estimation of climate by the first 
appearance of bloom, is an attractive one, but close observation may 
