ORCHARDS. 59 



The situation and aspect may vary according to circum- 

 stances, provided the soil is good. All low, damp exposures, 

 however, ought to be purposely avoided, as no fruit trees will 

 flourish there, nor can their productions be fine or well flavored. 

 A moderately low situation, therefore, is preferable to elevated 

 lands, provided it is dry^ because it will be sheltered from the 

 effects of tempestuous winds ; though a small declivity will be 

 very desirable, especially if its aspect incline towards the 

 east, southeast, or to the south ; which situations are always 

 more eligible than a western exposure " 



(The above directions respecting the choice 'of situation for 

 an orchard are inserted here to keep the reader in mind of the 

 necessity of caution in following the directions of European 

 writers on horticulture. Ample reasons will be given in the 

 course of this work for preferring even a northern situation 

 for both apple and peach trees in this country.) 



It is a well known fact that in those western parts of the 

 United States, which have a high exposure to the winter's 

 blasts, the northern sides of a ridge or mountain arrive sooner 

 and more certainly at a state of perfect vegetation than the 

 south sides, which are laid open to the power of the sun. Some 

 account for this phenomenon as follows : they suppose that the 

 southern exposure to the vehement rays of the sun, during 

 the infant stages of vegetation, puts the sap in motion at too 

 early a period of the Spring, before the season has become 

 sufficiently steady to aff'ord nurture and protection to the veg- 

 etating plant, blossom, or leaf; and, when in this state the 

 first eff*orts of vegetation are checked by the chilling influence 

 of cold nights, and such changeable weather as the contest 

 between Winter and Spring is ever wont to produce in their 

 apparent struggles to govern the season On the con- 

 trary, the northern exposures, which are not so early presented 

 to the vivifying influence of the sun, remain, as it were, in a 

 torpid state until the more advanced period of the Spring, 

 when all danger of vegetation being checked is over. Mr. C. 

 Yancey, of Amherst county, Virginia, who was remarkable 

 for his fine orchards and management of fruits, always pre- 

 ferred the north side of a lofty mountain for his peach orchard. 



