500 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



One of the most valuable contributions upon the subject of 

 climate, horticultu rally considered, was published in the 

 Transactions of the London Horticultural Society, (vol. vi. 

 p. 1,) upwards of thirty years ago. Nothing that has since 

 appeared has added materially to our stock of knowledge 

 concerning it, and much that has been published has failed to 

 afford additional information to the cultivator. The writer was 

 Mr. J. T. Daniel, a member of the society, and the above is an 

 extract from the opening portion of his communication. We 

 have selected it with a view to show how highly he estimated 

 the importance of shelter in modifying the character of an 

 unfavorable climate, and rendering it congenial to fruits of 

 milder latitudes ; and to deduce from his theory, — which, how- 

 ever, can hardly be called such, but the accumulation of 

 long experience devoted to a particular purpose, — some useful 

 hints in regard to the successful growth of the finer fruits. 



It will certainly be somewhat surprising, if nothing more, 

 to many of our cultivators, to hear an English writer speak of 

 " a degree of dryness, parching in the extreme," in the climate 

 of Great Britain, where we have been led to believe the atmos- 

 phere was saturated with moisture, and though we may well 

 conceive that there may be, and undoubtedly are, extremes 

 of temperature in that country, we have supposed they were 

 very slight as compared with our own ; indeed, Mr. Daniel 

 says that, " though not constituting the greatest range with 

 which we are acquainted, they are great, and oftentimes sud- 

 den." In Great Britain the range is from 0° to 90°. In 

 America from 40° below zero to 102° above. How great 

 the changes of moisture are we have no tables at hand to 

 state, nor to give the greatest difference between the atmos- 

 phere and the dew point ; but that they are considerably 

 greater than in Great Britain, there is no doubt. Certainly 

 they are more sudden, and the effects of them upon vegeta- 

 tion hurtful in the extreme. 



But it is with that part of Mr. Daniel's communication 

 which applies theory to practice, that we wish to devote a few 

 remarks, and in connection therewith to draw attention to the 

 great importance of shelter as a means of modifying the 



