In making use of these dates, consideration must be given to the environment of the orchards at Geneva. The latitude of the Smith Astronomical Observatory, a quarter of a mile from the Station orchards, is 42° 52' 46.2"; the altitude of the orchards is from five hundred to five hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea level. The soil is a stiff and rather cold clay; the orchards lie about a mile west of Seneca Lake, a body of water forty miles in length and from one to three and one-half miles in width and more than six hundred feet deep. The lake has frozen over but a few times since the region was settled, over a hundred years ago, and has a very beneficial influence on the adjacent country in lessening the cold of winter and the heat of summer and in preventing early blooming. The dates are those 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. An inspection of the table shows that there is a variation of several days between the time of full bloom of the different varieties of the same species. These differences can be utilized in selecting sorts to avoid injury from frost. TABLE SHOWING BLOOMING DATES AND SEASON OF RIPENING ------------------+--------------------------------------+----------------- | Blooming date | Season of +--------------------------------------+ ripening | May | +--------------------------------------+-----+------+---- | | |Mid- | |4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18|Early|season|Late ------------------+--------------------------------------+-----+------+---- _P. avium_ | | | | Bing | * | | * | Black Tartarian | * | | * | California | | | | Advance | * | * | | Centennial | * | | | * Cleveland | * | | * | Coe | * | * | | Dikeman | * | | | * Downer | * | | * | Eagle | * | | * | Early Purple |* | * | | Elkhorn | * | | * | Elton | * | | * | Florence | * | * | | _P.