The weather conditions of last winter were not any too favorable for plants and fruit trees.  In fact the cold was at times severe and long continued, reaching its maximum with 38 degrees below for one day.  The total subzero weather for the winter amounts to 489 degrees, of which January figures with 285 and February with 168 degrees below.  This is some cold, no doubt, and yet our hardy fruit trees did not suffer.  But other trees not quite hardy suffered more than usual.  This is particularly noticeable on my German pear seedlings.  The wood of the branches as well as of the stem had turned black down to the ground.  All the imported European varieties of pears are dead and ready for the brush pile.  Prof.  N.E.  Hanson’s hybrid pears have suffered just a little.  This, however, may be due to the unripe condition of the wood rather than to cold.  They had been grafted on strong German pear stock, made a vigorous growth and were still growing when the frost touched them.  Another season they may be all right.  All our cherry trees, too, are almost dead and will be removed and their place used for a trial orchard.

It was of great advantage to plants and trees that we had much snow, giving them good protection in root and stem two feet up.  But this deep snow helped the rabbits also in reaching the lower branches of the apple trees.  They were very active during the winter months and did much damage by biting off the buds and smaller twigs from those branches, but did no injury to the bark of trees otherwise.

Spring was rather cold and late.  Up to the middle of May there was not much growth of any kind.  But we started work at the station as soon as the ground could be worked.  Apple and plum grafts made last winter were set out.  The orchard was gone over and trees pruned where needed.  The grape vines were uncovered and tied up on the trellis.  A liberal dressing of manure was worked in around vines growing on poor soil.  More than a hundred Alpha grape vines were planted along a students’ walk for their future benefit.  The everbearing strawberries were looked after and a new bed was started.  Some apple trees were planted in the orchard to replace others.  Quite a number of German pear seedlings were grafted with hardy varieties an inch below ground.  We expect this will give us healthy and hardy trees and fruit in due time.

[Illustration:  Patten’s No. 108 in blossom at Collegeville Station.]

A friend of mine sent me from Los Angeles, Cal., four fine large cherry trees:  the Tartarian, Napoleon Bigarreau and Early Richmond.  These are one year old budded trees; they have made in the congenial climate of California a growth of about eight feet and are an inch through the stem.  They arrived the first week in March.  It was cold yet and the ground covered with a foot of snow.  As we could not plant them, we applied water to the roots and kept the trees unpacked in the cool root cellar till planting time.