5 g THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



three weeks lost in that way when the soil is dry is time never recovered. Besides, 

 water withheld until the last moment is for the most part wasted ; but a supply in 

 advance of rain, or applications of liquid manure, assures the full benefit being derived 

 from them. Needless waterings, on the other hand, are prejudicial through making 

 the soil cold, sodden, and sour. When the soil is moist it easily forms a ball when 

 pressed together in the hand, but when it is dry it crumbles on relaxing the pressure. 

 This may be taken as a test in watering. It should not be done when the soil is wet, 

 but always in advance of its becoming dry. Trees against walls and similar positions 

 will require water more frequently than those in the open ground, yet it must always 

 be used discriminately and with judgment. Water, when it improves the condition of 

 fruit trees, may be regarded as a manure, since it comes within the time-honoured 

 definition of that term " To improve the ground by manual labour." 



CLIMATE. 



Meteorological conditions control the growth of fruit trees and the perfection or 

 otherwise of their crops. Eoughly the temperature falls 1 in every 100 yards of ascent, 

 but it is influenced by cultivation, for as wet lands are drained and bogs and marshes 

 dried their beat, also that of the air, increases. Sandy soils admit more heat than loam ; 

 meadow lands are not so warm in summer as bare ground. The greater the extent 

 of the coast line a country possesses the more equable its temperature, and the water 

 by which these islands is girt moderates the heat of summer and cold of winter. Large 

 masses of water produce much aqueous vapour, and that, Professor Tyndall states, is of 

 as much importance to plant life in this country as warm clothing is to ourselves. All 

 the elements, therefore, combine to favour the growth and yield of our fruit. Valleys 

 have a higher summer and lower winter temperature than the coast levels. Some valleys 

 have a forcing climate, particularly southern slopes, which produce the earliest fruit ; 

 slight elevations sheltered from northerly winds frequently secure freedom from spring 

 frosts and favour early maturity. Low valleys are subject to mists and frosts in spring 

 that destroy a season's prospect of fruit in a single night. Hills and mountains are as 

 irregular in their fruit returns as in their surfaces, but where fruit-growing conditions 

 are favourable hill fruit is famous for its beauty and quality. 



Dew. In the daytime the earth both absorbs and emits heat. Flowers and foliage, 

 being good radiators, part readily with the heat they have absorbed; therefore their 

 temperature in periods when the sun is obscured, and at night, falls considerably below 



