SnELTEEING LANDS. 



Eiiglisli market, and not often anj-whero else. Tliat succulonce will dopciul upon tenipcrn- 

 ture a3 nuicli as other causes. The Avarnier the Asi)aragns bed is kept wiiilo tho sprouts 

 are rising, the more brittle they will be, provided the temperature of tho soil does not rise 

 above To degrees at the most. Now under ordinary circumstances, everything is done to 

 keep it>cold; buried twelve or thirteen inches below the surlace, the inlluence of the sun 

 is slowly felt, and very imperfectly into the bargain. It is only when the roots are lightly 

 covered by some rapidly conduotiug material that the sun can exercise his proper influence, 

 unassisted by artiticial contrivances. Hence, one of the greatest faults that the Asparagus 

 grower can commit is to bury his plants deep. Only observe }>[v. Kendall's practice ; his 

 plants are just covered with soil resting upon a deep bed of tlie most nutritious matter* 

 The earliest rays of the sun are felt in such a case, and as soon as the dormant energy of 

 the plant is roused, it continues to be exercised Avithout a day's interruption. It is true 

 that the Asparagus thus obtained is green; and so it should be. Green-grocers and cook- 

 maids are of a different mind, and we believe are the only authority to the contrary. 

 Their opinions may, we think, be fairly examined by the evidence of the senses of those 

 wlio have eaten this vegetable ; and to that ordeal we have great satisfaction in committing 

 them." 



SEELTERING LANDS. 



BY WILLIAM BACON, PJCIIMOND, MASS. 



Every oLserver has noticed the difference between the starting of vegetation in spring 

 in different localities, and. those often but a few feet separated. In the mountain glen, 

 shut out from cold winds, and almost from sunshine, there is usually a ditierence of 

 some days in the starting of the leaf and opening of the blossom compared with the 

 occurrence of the same event on the bill top near by, where rude winds sweep 

 unresisted. On the south and east sides of the grove the same effect is always visible ; 

 verdure and freshness are seen there, when in the open field nothing greets the eye 

 but the desolation that winter has wrought. Even the few trees that are sometimes 

 planted around dwellings are found to modify the climate — softening the asperities 

 of winter, and yielding cool and healthful breezes in summer. 



These facts, so common and so strongly marked, must have been noticed by every 

 one, and yet how few of the many who deplore the severity of climate — lamenting 

 the ravages of frost both in late spring and early autumn — have ever taken the hint 

 from Nature to protect fields and gardens by belts of trees, not only from these frosts, 

 but the cold breezes of winter and the rough winds of early spring ? We prophecy 

 a reform in this matter — not immediate and universal, to be sure, for such an event, 

 even in these days of rapid progress, would be miraculous. But the thing is begin- 

 ning to be done. Its benefits are seen and appreciated, and, if we mistake not, before 

 the commencement of the next century such protections will be as common as gardens, 

 if not as numerous as cultivated fields. 



The objections which will bo brought against this improvement are easily antici- 

 pated. First, the everlasting objection to setting out trees of all kinds, that "it will 



