46 NORTHERN EXPOSURE. 



heat for a long time to bring them forth from their 

 dormant state. Thus it will be seen that such spe- 

 cies as possess this quality will not be subject to 

 injury during the warm days of winter. Those 

 fruits, however, which are indigenous to a more 

 tropical clime, do not possess these outer scales, and 

 therefore a few warm days bring them immediately 

 into blossom. Even if they do not fully open their 

 petals, the heat has started the sap and irritated the 

 bud, and a sudden fall of temperature will kill the 

 tender germ. Such are the peach, apricot, and 

 nectarine. 



This is not only a property of species, but is more 

 or less modified in varieties. Nature does not be- 

 stow her gifts unnecessarily. A variety w^hich 

 originates where such protection would not be re- 

 quired, has this property so modified as to render it 

 tender in severer latitudes. Therefore native va- 

 rieties of fruit are generally better adapted to culti- 

 vation, and freer from disease, than those of foreign 

 origin. 



On a northern or northwestern exposure, these 

 tender species or varieties remain frozen during the 

 whole winter, and do not start in the spring until 

 all danger from severe frost is past. 



When we desire to extend the time of maturity 

 in a variety, it should be planted on such a site ; 

 while to hasten it, the opposite exposure should be 

 chosen. Grapes should not be planted on a slope to 



