New York AckRicULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 215 
WINTER INJURY TO FRUIT TREES.* 
H. J. EUStTAcs. 
SUMMARY. 
The cold of the winter of 1903 and 1904 was unusually severe 
and prolonged. The climatic conditions during the growing 
season of 1903 were not normal and not altogether favorable. 
Insects and fungus epidemics were serious upon some kinds of 
fruit trees. It was a combination of all of these factors that in- 
jured or killed many thousand trees, especially peach and pear. 
Trunk and branch injury was most common. Root injury was 
not often found. 
The damage was greatest in the Hudson River Valley where the 
cold was most severe, more than 40° below zero being reported. 
In the fruit growing regions of Western New York temperatures 
of from—10° to—15° were frequently reported. At the end of the 
winter the outward appearance of the trees was normal. Upon 
examination the bark and wood of the trunk above the snow line 
and of the branches were found to be discolored from black to 
all shades of brown. 
No reliable symptom of fatal injury was found that was appli- 
cable at the end of the winter. Discoloration of the bark and 
wood is a symptom of injury, but not an indication of death. 
Old trees did not withstand the cold, nor recover as well as 
young trees. 
Trees died at irregular times during all of the growing season 
of 1904. Fruit that matured on injured trees was undersized. In 
proportion to the degree of injury the foliage was undersized and 
of abnormal color, and the usual amount of new growth was not 
made. 
Trees and vines in low “spots” or “ pockets” where the cold 
air settled suifered severely, as they also did on flat land where 
air drainage was poor. 
* A reprint of Bulletiv No. 269. 
