NEw YorRK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 447 
In making use of these dates, consideration must be given to 
the environment of the orchards at Geneva. The latitude at the 
Smith Astronomical Observatory, a quarter of a mile from the 
Station orchards, is 42° 52’ 46.2”; the altitude is from 500 to 525 
feet above sea level; the soil is a stiff and rather cold clay; the 
orchard lies about a mile west of Seneca Lake, a body of water 
40 miles in length and from 1 to 3% miles in width and more than 
600 feet deep. The lake has frozen over but a few times since 
the region was settled over a hundred years ago, and exercises a 
powerful influence on the adjacent country in lessening the cold 
of winter, the heat of summer, and in preventing early blooming. 
The dates are those of the first open blossoms and of full bloom. 
They were taken from trees grown under normal conditions as to 
pruning, distance apart, and as to all other factors which might 
influence the blooming period. For most part the dates are from 
the same trees. | 
Special attention is called to the following deductions from the 
list of blooming dates: 
Simultaneity of blooming.— It is evident that, if cross-fertiliza- 
tion is to play an important part in fruit-growing, in planting to 
secure it kinds must be chosen which come into blossom at the 
same time as those which they are expected to fertilize. This table 
shows the sorts that bloom together or nearly enough so to make 
cross-pollination possible. It will be found upon examining the 
list that, under normal conditions and during the average season. 
varieties of any one species overlap sufficiently for the above pur- 
pose unless it be the very early and very late varieties. Variations 
due to locality and to season must be expected but within the 
bounds of New York these will be slight. Properly interpreted 
the table of dates should be a useful guide as to the simultancity 
of blooming. 
Is the time of blooming correlated with the time of fruiting? — 
Many fruit growers consider that there is a correlation between 
the time of blooming and the time of ripening of fruits. Or, to 
nut it in other words, they believe that early varieties bloom 
earlier than late ones and that late varieties are therefore less 
liable to have blossoms injured by late ‘frosts. By selecting a 
large number of any of the several fruits for which blooming dates 
are given and by making a list from the fruit manuals of their 
period of ripening, one soon sees that there is absolutely no correla- 
tion between blooming and fruiting, although there are many ap- 
