Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-03-29
SUDDEN COLD SNAP
WORKS HAVOC WITH
FRUIT PROSPECTS
Reports From All Sections Are
That Freezing TemPera-
ture Has Killed Buds.
ALL VEGETATION INJURED

Vast damage to the fruit crop on the
Peninsula is believed to he one of the
results of the sudden drop in temper
ature yesterday afternoon and last
night \ fall i'll temperature OF
90 degrees. accompanied by co'o
rain. hail and sleet. and followed by
severe freeze has made fruit growers
apprehcnsive that the prospects lof
fruit this year have received the sever
est blow in years.
Yesterday afternoon the thermometer
registered in the neighborhood OF y
degrees. Soon after i o'clock the TEN
perature began to drop, and by night
the wind was pretty keen out of me
north About rain came. and TINS
turned into hail at some places. and
there was some sleet.
Reports from various sections OF the
state indicate that the temperature
went as low as 81. reports ranging from
that figure 10 %. At one place. IN the
Grubb's Corner section. il was said that
The thermometer registered as low as
20.
Garden truck generally was not lar
enough advanced to be greatly damaged.
unless the, freeze has been severe
enough to reach sprouting seeds and
kill them In : few places peas and
beans were reported up and killed ny
the freeze.
Strawberries in some sections down
state were reported killed. In other
sections the plants were reported not
far enough advanced to bC greatly
damaged.
Kent Berries Suffer.
REPORTS from that section Of Kent
county around Dover arc that practic-
aIlv ali the fruit has been killed. IN
,iudinc strawberries and il is believed
,hat grapes in that section arc also bad
III damaged one fruit grower IN the
central part of Kent county, after so
INK through his orchard this morning
,it- Jared i; looked as though the trees
nad been struck by fire. - black were
;hey veherc the buds had hcen killed.
Peach and pear trees in Kent county
were praetically all in bloom. and early
APPLES were in blossom. reported Frank
Bancroft Of Wyoming. ConslderaoIe
han feu during the night followed by a
,old rain and wind. The temperature
went as low as -, ii is reported. Fruit
growers all over Kent county are ap-
prehensive that the crop has been bad
= damaged if not entirely ruined al
though the full damage cannot be told
Yet
Sussex Hit Hard.
About Bridgeville. in Sussex county.
all peach. pear and plum trees were in
fulI bloom, and early apples were also
III bloom, said Coulter Messick. II IS
believed that peaches. plums and pears
have been killed. and apples badly dam
aged Some hope is held for apples. as
the Williams Early trees were not
very far advanced and ii is believed
they were not damaged. The buds OF
other apple varieties were killed by the
cold The ice in that section OF the
state this morning was reported nearly
half an inch thick. and the temperature
was 2s There was considerable hail
and a cold rain, and the ground was
well frozen Strawberries were not far
advanced, and may have escaped severe
damage.
Albert b. Peet al Milford reports the
reach prospects badly da mayed by the
soId snap and freeze, if not entirely
ruined. Plums. cherries and apples were
also badly damaged. but part of the
apple crop may have escaped In Nil
ford and surrounding country there
was a hard rain, followed by some sleet
Continued on page s.