270 PROTECTION FROM WINDS. 



PROTECTION FROM WINDS. The effect of protection from the 

 winds is nearly the same for delicate trees as for delicate human 

 beings. " Keep out of a strong draught of air " is a common 

 admonition given to those who are healthy, as well as to invalids ; 

 and this, too, when only the pleasant breath of summer is to be 

 guarded against Now when we reflect that trees have not the 

 power of warming themselves by exercise, but must stand with suf- 

 fering patience the coldest blasts of winter, with no more covering 

 on body and limbs than sufficed them in genial summer air, how 

 thoughtless and heartless of us to expect any of them, least of all 

 the denizens of semi-tropical forests, to laugh with blossoms, and 

 grow fat with leaves, after being exposed to all the rigors of a 

 northern winter. Ought we not to be most thankful that even the 

 hardened species of northern zones can bear the vicissitudes of our 

 climate ? And if semi-tropical trees can also be made to thrive by 

 kindly protection, should we grudge them the care which their deli, 

 cacy demands? 



Much as our horticultural writers have endeavored to impress 

 the importance of protection from winds, by means of walls of 

 hardy evergreen trees, few persons have had the opportunity of 

 observing how great the benefits of such protection. Houses, out- 

 buildings, and high fences may generally be so connected by such 

 hedges and screens as to form warm bays and sheltered nooks 

 where many trees and shrubs of novel beauty may be grown, which, 

 in exposed situations, would either die outright or eke out a dis- 

 eased and stunted existence. This remark applies with most force 

 to the smaller trees and shrubs for which constructive protections 

 against winds may be erected with no great expense ; or verdant 

 walls may be grown within a few years. Yet larger trees like the 

 Magnolia machrophylla and the Bhotan pine (P. excelsa) may be so 

 protected in their early growth that the health and vigor acquired 

 during the first ten years of careful attention to their needs will 

 enable them to resist vicissitudes of climate which trees of the same 

 species, less judiciously reared, would die under. Vigor of con- 

 stitution in animals is not alone a matter of race and family, but 

 also to a considerable degree the result of education and training. 

 Delicate youths who nurse their strength, and battle with their own 



