49 



SITUATIONS FOE OEOHAEDS. 



From the circumstance that fruit orchards which are situated in val- 

 leys and in low, sheltered places are not so healthy and prolific, and 

 are more liable to injury from changes of temperature than those situ- 

 ated in more elevated and exposed places, it has been argued that all 

 kinds of protection and shelter to fruit trees should be condemned as 

 injurious, and that the coldest and bleakest positions on northern slopes 

 are greatly to be preferred for fruits. This is probably going from one 

 extreme to another. It is conceded that one of the very worst situations 

 for a fruit orchard is in the rich laud of a contracted, sheltered valley, 

 for in such a position the trees are subjected to great extremes of tem- 

 perature; a difference of 20 degrees is not uncommon between the 

 temperature of the valley and that of a point on the hillside 60 feet 

 above it during periods of severe frosts. It is very evident that such a 

 site would be of the worst selection, and, so far as topography is con- 

 cerned, the elevated northern exposure would be greatly preferable; 

 but, a sufficiently elevated site once selected, it does not follow that it 

 should not be judiciously sheltered, locally, from the exhausting effects 

 of arid or cold winds. The benefits of local shelter are well known, and 

 should not be confounded with the evils which follow a bad selection, as 

 above stated. 



OECHAED PLANTING. 



It is a common observation that the outer rows of trees in established 

 orchards are finer and more productive than the trees in the interior 

 plantation. This superiority is all the more conspicuous if the orchard 

 is bordered by cultivated fields, and it is fair to presume that the extra 

 luxuriance is owing to the trees having a greater extent of unoccupied 

 soil for the ramification of their roots. Something is also undoubtedly 

 due to the greater space available for the expansion and spread of the 

 branches ; but it is in accordance with all experience in the cultivation 

 of plants that a rotation of crops is absolutely essential towards secur- 

 ing the best results of the fertility of the soil. Keeping these facts in 

 view, it is suggested that an improvement upon the present method of 

 planting orchards would be gained by planting two rows of trees from 

 18 to 25 or more feet apart, depending upon the nature of the trees, 

 and alternating the plants in the rows. Then allow a space, varying 

 in extent from 30ft feet to any greater distance, before planting another 

 series of rows, and so increase the plantation as far as may be desired* 

 The intervening spaces between these double rows of trees would be 

 available for the cultivation of the ordinary crops of the farm. The 

 roots of the trees would not only participate in the benefits of cultiva- 

 tion, but would also have practically unlimited room for extension 

 before meeting with other roots of their kind. Immediately under the. 

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