420 REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
terminants. The table at the close of this topic giving the average 
dates of killing frosts at a number of stations in New York should 
be helpful in choosing a fruit region or locality. 
In the climate of a plantation the lay of the land is the governing 
factor. Every fruit plantation has a local climate varying in the 
different parts of the tract in accordance with the lay of the land. 
Low-lying spots show the greatest extremes — lowest temperature 
in cold weather and highest temperature in hot weather. Con- 
versely on the elevated portions of a tract the temperature is 
most equable — less cold in low temperatures, less hot in high tem- 
peratures. The direction of the slope of the ground causes varia- 
tion in the temperature probably because of the greater amount of 
heat absorbed from the sun by southerly slopes and because of the 
different exposures to prevailing winds. A slope also gives better 
air drainage than a level. These are well-known facts and yet they 
are not applied as often as they should be in planting orchards. 
The difference between high land and hollow, slope and plain, is 
often amply sufficient to account for the idiosyncrasies in frost 
injuries so often noted. 
Some fruit growers in the State claim to obtain a certain degree 
of immunity from frost through good air drainage secured by 
planting at a sufficient distance so that tops do not touch and by 
keeping the heads within bounds by pruning. 
Quite as essential as location in doing the little that can be done 
to avert frost injury is the selection of varieties. Some varieties 
of each of the several fruits blossom later than others and these 
are usually in least danger of frosts. The length of time during 
which different varieties are in blossom is worth considering though 
it varies considerably in accordance with the fruit, the variety, and 
most of all the weather. The table of blossoming dates, pages 452 
to 475, should be a fairly accurate guide as to these points. 
It is unfortunate that there are so few statements from fruit- 
growers or experimenters as to the comparative hardiness of 
varieties of the several fruits to frost. The only information in 
the discussions of frost injury in western New York is, that 
Wealthy, Fameuse and its seedling McIntosh, and Oldenburg, are 
less easily injured by frost than other apples which are blossoming 
at the same time. There are great variations in the blossoms of the 
varieties of all fruits and it must be that the flowers of some sorts 
are better adapted to withstand cold than are those of others. Thus 
a decidedly cup-shaped corolla must form some protection from 
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