New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 4II 
1883, 1886, 1888, 1889, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1898, 1905. In 1890 the 
rainy weather was hot and sultry. Frosts and cold weather accom- 
panied the rains in 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1802. 
Rain and the cold and wind that usually accompany it at blos- 
soming time cause the loss of more fruit than any other climatal 
agencies. The damage is done in several ways. The most obvious 
injury is the washing of the pollen from the anthers. The secretion 
on the stigmas also is often washed away or becomes so diluted 
that the pollen does not germinate. It is probable that the chill 
of rainy weather decreases the vitality of the pollen and an excess 
of moisture often causes pollen grains to swell and burst. Rain also 
prevents bees and insects from carrying pollen. 
5. A temperature low enough to be harmful to blossoms is 
usually associated with frost or rain; but a low temperature, even 
though it does not touch the frost point, nor accompany rain, is 
often disastrous to the setting of fruit. The injurious effect is prob- 
ably due to the prevention of the growth of the pollen-tubes. 
The average daily range in temperature is an important constit- 
uent of blooming time weather. When the daily range is highest 
the danger to blossoms is greatest. The most jeopardizing © 
weather to the fruit crop, from the standpoint of temperature, con- 
sists of warm, sunny days followed by still, cloudless, cold nights. 
The danger is all the greater in such stresses of weather because 
the heat of the day forces out the blossoms prematurely. 
6. Sunny weather is reported at blooming-time in western 
New York in the years 1885, 1887, 1896, 1897 and 1900. In each 
of the above years the sunshine was accompanied by warm, dry 
weather. It is a most significant fact that there were good crops 
of fruit in all of the years named and that in three of them there 
were record-breaking crops of one or another of the fruits and 
enormous crops of practically all of the tree-fruits. 
7. Wind of sufficient strength to damage blossoms in New 
York occurred in the years 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1895. In the 
years when rainfall was detrimental to blossoms, wind is men- 
tioned several times as an accompaniment. Wind is not men- 
tioned in any of the years of frostiness. 
The effects of wind may be summarized as follows: Winds 
whip blossoms from the trees and prevent insects from working. 
Long continued, warm, dry winds injure blossoms by evaporating 
the secretion from the stigmas, thereby preventing the retention 
and germination of pollen. Damp, warm winds, if long con- 
