212 THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



winds prevail for many successive days and weeks, who 

 does not perceive that the very life-sap of a growing tree 

 must yield to the imperative demands of the furious wind ? 

 This perpetual draught of the drying wind on the scanty 

 supply of sap and moisture, which is sucked out through 

 every pore of the buds and bark, exerts such a deleterious 

 influence on the productiveness of the fruit-tree, that the 

 embryotic fruit is destroyed, and the vitality of the tender 

 branches so seriously impaired that the trees can scarcely 

 survive during the growing season. These suggestions fur- 

 nish a philosophical reason why it is found so exceedingly 

 difficult, in the West and North-west, to obtain fruit-trees 

 that will endure the rigors of our Northern winters. 

 Every intelligent pomologist will readily understand and 

 appreciate the conditions, circumstances, and influences to 

 be encountered if one attempts the cultivation of a fruit- 

 orchard. 



The question will then arise, Is there any practical reme- 

 dy ? And is it available ? Yes, perfectly so. If a plot of 

 ground be cleared in the centre of a forest, and an orchard 

 planted, the fury of the drying winds will be spent on 

 the breast-work of forest-trees, and the draught for moist- 

 ure will be less severe on the buds and branches. The 

 ground, also, will not be frozen to so -great a depth. And, 

 as a consequence, the circulation of the vital fluid will not 

 be so completely obstructed. Hence the embryotic fruit 

 will not have the last drop of moisture sapped from the 

 dormant buds. Therefore the vitality of a fruit-tree will 

 suffer but little injury from protracted periods of cold and 

 drying weather. All these conditions and circumstances 

 are controlled and regulated by natural laws, which are as 

 reliable as the vicissitudes of the seasons. And it is the 

 business of pomologists to study the operations of the laws 

 which affect vegetation, and to make an application of the 



