i 



SHELTEE. 



much more injurious to vegetation than the most intense cokl which we ever experi 

 euce. A great many tender trees and shrubs stood the severe winter of 1851-2 in 

 sheltered places without the least injury, while our mildest winters, such as '52-3, 

 would have ruined them in an exposed place. Vie have beds of China Roses, and 

 specimens of tender Yews and Junipers, that resist our coldest winters without cover- 

 ing, simply because they are surrounded with a thick plantation of evergreens. A 

 single instance of this kind is as good as a thousand in showing the advantages of 

 shelter, and every observing man may find such on his own premises. Those who 

 have the management of glass structures know how shelter from the wind lessens the 

 difficulty and expense of heating, and the risk of danger from sudden changes of 

 weather. Every year we see orchards in sheltered situations bearing full crops, while 

 those much exposed fail entirely. Throughout the whole range of cultivation we 

 witness the same results. 



But it is not merely against the winds of winter we need protection ; we need it 

 even more in spring, when the young leaves are unfolding and the blossoms expanding. 

 This is the season of the year when our fruit crops and tender trees sutler most from 

 exposure. Peach buds can resist a cold in winter several degrees below zero with- 

 out injury ; but a cold, dry wind, which lately we scarcely ever fail to have, at 

 the moment when the buds are opening, arrests the course of vegetation, curls up the 

 leaves, dranges all the functions, causing the fruit to drop, and gives the trees a shock 

 from which they can scarcely recover. In such a time we see the advantages of shelter. 

 Cold and violent winds, lasting two or three days in succession, are frequent in the 

 season of the blossoming of the Cherry, Pear, and Apple, and we see the blossoms 

 broken off and blown about in showers before the fi-uctifyiug process has been com- 

 pleted. Last spring this was the case here, and in many parts of our grounds three- 

 fourths of the crop was destroyed ; in all the outside rows and exposed points this is 

 particularly observable. In ornamental gardens there can be no complete success or 

 satisfaction without ample shelter. We have seen charming beds of Hyacinths and 

 Tulips ruined in a single hour where the wind had free access; and it happens that the 

 finest flowers require protection most. 



In midsummer we need protection as much as at any time. High winds bruise and 

 and break the soft and succulent leaves and shoots, and bend and blow over trees. 

 We have seen, in an exposed nursery, hundreds of fine young trees broken down and 

 destroyed in a few minutes. Then in autumn, when the fruit is attaining maturity, 

 how often do we see trees broken down and three-fourths of the crop scattered on the 

 ground, a heap of worthless windfalls. 



Shelter, therefore, is one thing indispensable at all seasons of the year — there is no 

 safety without it. The cultivator, whose gardens and orchard stand exposed to the 

 pelting of every wind that blows, must certainly be ill at ease ; he cannot count upon 

 the safety of his crops a moment. Under the most favorable circumstances there are 

 great hazards ; but his are doubly — trebly great. Like a cowardly landsman at sea, 

 he watches every gathering cloud with alarm, lest it may bring forth a hurricane 

 will destroy his hopes, 



