160 PERMANENT PLANTATIONS. 



in such situations vegetation is earlier excited than in those 

 more elevated and colder, and frosts always fall more 

 heavily on low than on high grounds. Every one who 

 has paid the slightest attention to the action of frost on 

 vegetation is aw^are, 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 inju- 

 ries 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 their parts, but because the soil and 

 the atmosphere above it are less charged with watery par- 

 ticles that attract the 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. 



In some parts of the West, as in Wisconsin and 

 Elinois, 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 apple and j^ear 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 

 safeguard against the destruction of plantations in the 

 winter. In all localities where fruit culture has made 

 any considerable progress, there is generally experience 

 enough to be found, if carefully sought for and collected, 

 to guide beginners in fixing uj^on sites for orchards ; and 

 no man should venture to j)lant without giving due 

 attention to the subject, and availing himself of all the 

 experience of his neiglibors ; for experience, after all, is 

 the only truly reliable guide. 



