178 PERMANENT PLANTATIONS. 



vegetation is aware, that even an elevation of two or three 

 feet of one portion of the same field or garden above the 

 other frequently proves a protection from an untimely frost. 

 In a dry and firm soil, vegetation is more exempt from 

 injuries by frost than in a damp, soft, and spongy soil on 

 the same level, not only because trees on such soils are 

 more mature and hardier in these parts, but because the 

 soil and the atmosphere above it are less charged with 

 watery particles that form the deposition of frost. Bodies 

 of water that do not freeze in winter, such as some of our 

 inland lakes, exert a favorable influence for a considerable 

 distance from their margins in protecting vegetation from 

 late spring and early autumn frosts. This is well illus- 

 trated in Western New York, along the south shore of 

 Lake Ontario. Here, in the counties of Wayne, Monroe, 

 Orleans, and Niagara, for a distance varying from five to 

 seven miles from the lake, the peach crop rarely fails ; 

 while farther inland, as the lake influence diminishes, the 

 peach crop, for the last ten years, has been, with occasional 

 exceptions, a failure. 



In some parts of the West, as in Wisconsin and Illinois, 

 the winters are so variable during the day as mild as 

 spring, and in the night the mercury falling many degrees 

 below zero that even the apple and pear trees in soft, 

 damp, and rich soils are frequently killed to the ground. 



In such localities, experience has taught cultivators 

 that elevated, dry, firm, and moderately rich soil, that will 

 produce a firm, well-matured growth, is the only safe- 

 guard against the destruction of plantations in the winter. 



In all localities where fruit culture has made any consid- 

 erable progress, there is generally experience enough to be 

 found, if carefully sought for and collected, to guide begin- 

 ners in fixing upon sites for orchards ; and no man should ven- 

 ture to plant without giving due attention to the subject, 

 and availing himself of all the experience of his neighbors ; 

 for experience, after all, is the only truly reliable guide. 



