New Yorx AcricutruraL EXperiMENT Station. 225 
were injured the most and none of them bore any fruit. Fre- 
quently the benefit of an elevation of a few feet was apparent. In 
March it was noticed that the discoloration of the bark and wood 
of the trunks of the trees became less intense as the altitude of 
the location of the tree increased. 
So thoroughly has the advantage of high altitudes as sites for 
peach orchards been impressed upon fruit growers that many 
have expressed their intention of using only such sites for peach 
orchards in the future. 
The reason for the difference in the amount and seriousness of 
the damage between trees and vines in low as compared with 
those on high sites is because the cold air rapidly passes from the 
high lands and settles into the lower places. This, of course, 
causes a very low temperature for a considerable length of time 
in these places, while the temperature of the high lands mod- 
erates to some extent. 
Thus the factor of air drainage becomes an important one. 
This was strikingly brought out in an observation of the damage 
done to trees and vines growing in hollows or “ pockets,” and 
also upon flat lands, though of good altitude but so level as to 
furnish ng means for the cold air to drain away. An example of 
the latter was found at Marlboro where all the vines in a young 
vineyard of Delaware grapes planted upon a very level field were 
killed to the snow line, but at one side of the field there was a 
sharp decline and the vines growing there where the cold air. 
sank away were entirely alive. Many similar observations could 
be given, but this one is typical. 
The great disadvantage of using hollows or “ pockets” for 
orchards and vineyards was apparent in many places throughout 
the hilly fruit region of the Hudson Valley. In these places the 
cold air settled and remained, doing immense damage. In many 
of the peach orchards all of the trees in these low places were 
practically ruined. In a vineyard of Campbell’s Early grapes at 
Marlboro all of the vines growing in the lowest part of a “ pocket ” 
were killed to the snow line, while none of the vines on the 
surrounding higher land were seriously injured. 
In many of the peach orchards of Western New York there 
are areas of slight depression or “low spots.’ On these it was 
common to find that the trees had either been killed or were seri- 
15 
