THE IMPORTANCE OF SHELTER. 395 



sists, not so much in an actual increase of the average temperature of the entire 

 year, as in the comparative equalization of the same by the absorption of heat 

 in summer, and the returning of such heat to the atmosphere during winter; 

 the effect being to protract the cold weather of the latter part of v.'inter and 

 spring till the waters of the lake have become perceptibly warmed by the rays 

 •f the sun. The necessary inference from these facts is that it must be bene- 

 ficial to protect crops, whether of grain or fruit, as far as practicable, from the 

 direct influence of the lake winds during the early part of the season. 



It will be recollected that in the course of the discussions at some one of 

 the earlier meetings of our State Pomological Snciety, the idea was advanced 

 by lake shore fruit men, that the interposition of timber between their planta- 

 tions and the lake had apparently acted as a check upon the free passage of air, 

 and in so doing had occasioned injuries from spring frosts which otherwise 

 Hiiglit not have occurred, from which assumption occasion was taken to advocate 

 the clearing away of such timber, leaving the plantations directly exposed to- 

 the winds and storms from the lake. 



We are willing to concede that a forest, or even a belt of timber, would be 

 likely in a slight degree (and more especially if the slopes were quite gradual), 



TO CHECK THE OUTFLOAV OF COLD AIR, 



during a frosty night, and that a plantation, in such case, miglit be subjected: 

 in a somewhat increased degree to liability to frost; still such increased liability 

 must necessarily be slight, and in our judgment not at all commensurate with 

 the danger of loss of crops from full exposure to the long cold storms from the 

 lake, so liable to occur during the fructification of the blossom and the setting 

 of the fruit, and which, even in interior localities, and hence comparatively 

 sheltered, sometimes quite as seriously affect the crop as do occasional spring 

 frosts. 



To the above considerations must bo added the greatly increased force of the 

 lake winds upon the trees when loaded with fruit, and hence very liable to be 

 seriously if not fatally injured. The increased loss of fruit, from blowing dowti 

 before the time of gathering, will also be found to be no inconsiderable item in the 

 account; and if to these considerations we add the increased liability to injury 

 during such trying winters as the one just past, and possibly even during more 

 moderate ones, it hardly seems possible to doubt that the preponderance will 

 be on the side of protection. ■ 



We were forcibly impressed with the importance of these considerations, so 

 far at least as winter protection is concerned, when, in passing along the lake 

 shore in the vicinity of South Haven, not long since, we were shown what had 

 evidently been a fine plantation of peach trees, situated at a point where the 

 timber directly along the shore bad been cleared away, letting in the full force 

 of the winds from off the lake, and where, apparently as a consequence, the 

 peach trees had been utterly ruined by the severity of the past winter, except 

 where a fence had intervened and possibly prevented the drifting away of the 

 snow. That 



TOO FREE EXPOSURE 



was the true cause of the misfortune was also strongly confirmed by the healthy 

 condition of a similar plantation in the vicinity, but fully protected by an in- 

 tervening belt of timber, in which scarcely a tree showed signs of injury. 



While the considerations already advanced are generally of prime impor- 

 tance as bearing upon the question of the success or failure of a plantation of 



