14 ORCHARD ASPECT AND SITE. 



Aspect, Climate, and Site. — The Aspect and Site of the 

 Orchard involve its Climate, and there is no subject on which the 

 writers of the 17th and i8th centuries differ more, for though all 

 agree in preferring the South, they embrace also nearly every other 

 point of the compass. The " Complete Planter and Cyderist " 

 (1690) recommends a South, South East, or South West Aspect 

 protected from the North, North East and North West winds by 

 buildings, woods, or high ground. Dr. Beale in his " Tract on 

 Herefordshire Orchards" (1656) preferred a South Aspect inclining 

 rather to the rising than to the setting sun. Mortimer in his 

 " Husbandry " recommends any site from East to West. Mr. 

 Thomas Andrew Knight also thought any Site from East by South 

 to West favourable for orcharding. 



The general belief is that the Southern Aspect with an 

 inclination to the East is best adapted for the Orchard, thus 

 following the popular idea of the health giving powers of the morning 

 sun ; in other words that this aspect gives a better supply of light 

 and heat, and therefore affords a better promise of healthy vegetation 

 and fruitful crops. This belief holds good for Herefordshire, where 

 the West winds are apt to prevail with much violence, but apart 

 from such special circumstances, any Southern aspect tending 

 Westward is the proper one for an Orchard. It is well known that 

 if plants are exposed to the direct influence of the rising sun at the 

 time they are frozen they will suffer, and in some cases altogether 

 perish ; but if the same plants are shaded until gradually thawed by 

 the increasing temperature of the air, they recover from the effects 

 of the low temperature without injury. Hence it is that an Orchard 

 exposed to the direct influence of the morning sun is almost sure to 

 suffer from a spring frost when the trees are in blossom, or when 

 the fruit is setting ; whereas with a Western Aspect which does not 

 receive the direct rays of the sun until the increased temperature of 

 the air has dispelled the frost, the blossoms escape and the fruit crop 

 is saved. One side of an Orchard, or one side of a tree is frequently 

 found bearing fruit abundantly whilst the other side is almost bare, 

 and this generally arises from the same cause. If frozen blossoms 

 could be shaded till the sun had diffused its warming influence 

 through the air, and thus had gradually dispelled the frost before its 

 direct rays reached them, the blossom would be saved. 



