66 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



when the area lengthens to the extent of letting the sun shine the greater part of the 

 day, from the spring to the autumn equinox, on the ground, it is so far a suitable 

 site for fruit trees. The next consideration is surrounding objects. If the place be a 

 new one, make sure before planting fruit trees that no buildings will be erected or 

 trees planted to deprive the site of morning, mid-day, and afternoon sun. Take into 

 account that lime and poplar trees, though they are not so bad as elm, have roots, 

 and if the tops through heading in do not deprive the garden of much sun, their roots 

 are great impoverishers of the soil. A low wall of four and a half to six feet will give 

 all the shelter required under narrow limits, or a hedge of similar height is equally 

 effective as a wind sifter ; but a wall or paling is better, as giving space for trained 

 trees of the choicer kinds and affording the requisite dual protection from winds and 

 intruders. Then come objectionable fumes. These arise from places of manufacture. 

 They may be innocuous, but it is well to take stock and look ahead. Chemical works, 

 gas works, and brick-kilns are all antagonistic to fruit culture. The former are the 

 most obnoxious ; in fact, they are mostly fatal. Factory chimneys pour out volumes of 

 smoke, or if it is compelled to be burned, as it ought, there are the products of com- 

 bustion that more or less disastrously affect vegetation. There is something gained 

 by keeping to the westward of those plague spots, as the winds are more frequently 

 westerly than easterly ; but in all cases give them as wide a berth as possible. 



If the space admits and the surface undulates, choose the highest sites for apples, 

 pears, and stone fruits, relegating the low and damp to such moisture-loving kinds as 

 black currants and raspberries. Fogs and frost settle the soonest and bite the keenest in 

 hollows ; but do not select a bleak, exposed place, as that will entail shelter. Therefore 

 we shall insist only that the site be open, that it be not prejudicially affected by neigh- 

 bouring objects, and that it be duly safeguarded against winds and intruders. 



In the country land is cheaper than near town, and the fruit grower has greater 

 opportunity of choice, while shelter can be provided where it does not exist ; but of 

 late years there has been a great change in growing semi-hardy fruits. 



In 1850 the late Mr. Thomas Eivers, by his little work, The Orchard House, gave 

 a great impetus to the cultivation of fruits under glass. Indeed, since the Great 

 Exhibition in 1851, walled gardens as a means of growing fruit have been losing 

 ground. The uncertainty of our climate in respect of spring frosts, and dull, wet 

 periods during the ripening of fruit, are forcible arguments in favour of glass structures, 

 which, admitting solar heat, and conserving it, practically render the alternating gleams 



