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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



prtitulliiral grprtmciit. 



LOCATION AS IT AFFECTS TEMPERATURE AKD 

 VEGETATION. 



The influence of location ou temperature, and on 

 the successful cultivation of fruit, is a subject well 

 'worthy the attention of all horticulturists, and espe- 

 cially of those about to set out orchards. Unfortu- 

 nately, however, we have few well establisTied princi- 

 ples to guide Bs, -and suet as we have are so affected 

 by circHiHstances, as to lead to different results in 

 diiFerent localities. We need more extended and 

 definite observations, and our main object in writing 

 this article, is to call out the experience of our 

 readers. 



In a comparatively level country, such as a portion 

 of AVestern New Fork, the principal object is to 

 gaard against the injurious influence of the severe 

 winds from the west and north-west. A situation 

 where a belt of woods, or a hill, which breaks the 

 fsrce of these winds is desirable ; and when such a 

 situation cannot be obtained, artificial shelter may 

 frequently be provided with great benefit, by planting 

 a hedge of American arbor vitJE, or a belt of rapid- 

 ^owrng deciduous and evergreen trees, such as the 

 European Larch, Lombardy and Balsam Poplar, 

 Soft Maple, Abele, and Norway Spruce. 



In a hilly district, and where I*te spring frosts are 

 to be feared, a southern and eastern exposure should 

 be avoided, as it is desirable to keep the buds from 

 starting till all danger from frosts is past. Low land, 

 too, must be avoided, from the fact that it is subject 

 to greater variation in temperature than the hill side 

 — being warmer in the day time, and colder at night 

 la such situations, too, the wood is but imperfectly 

 matured before its grov/th is checked by early frosts 

 in the fall. It is well known that a slight frost in 

 the fall, frequently cuts down Indian corn growing in 

 the valley, while that higher up the hill escapes. — 

 This m;iy be owing to two causes : the increased 

 succulence of vegetation, and the decreased tempera- 

 ture in the valley. That the air is colder in the 

 valley during a still frosty night, than higher up the 

 bill, is well known. Thomas, in his American Fruit 

 Cviturist, says : " In the winter of 1845-6, when the 

 ©old, on a clear night, sunk the thermometer several 

 degrees below zero, after the peach buds had been 

 swelled by a few warm days, trees which stood on a 

 hUl thirty feet higher than the neighboring creek 

 valley, lost nine-tenths of their blossoms, while on 

 another hill sixty feet high, nine-tenths escaped. 

 The lake of cold air which covered the top of the 

 smaller hill, did uot reach the summit of the larger." 



Th3 same author mentions several cases going to 

 pro re the importance of elevated sites. 



In the beginning of March, of the present year, 

 some experiments were made in the garden of th9 

 Horticultural Society (Tumhara Green, London), 'or 

 the purpose of determining the lowest temperatare 

 experienced during the night, at various elevations, 

 between the surface and 36 feet above it. Upon a 

 perpendicular pole, five accurate self-registering ther- 

 mometers were fixed at six feet distances, and a sixth 

 was placed on the ground. Every morning, the 

 state of these thermometers was carefully noted — and 

 we extract the result from the Gardeners' Chronicle — 

 for a few days in April and May, when vegetation 

 was becoming active, and when all tender crops were 

 most sensible of low temperature. 



It will be seen that in the spring of the year, 

 when frosts are so injurious, the temperature at ths 

 surface of the ground, during the night, is on the 

 average 31'^ colder than at 12 feet above the ground, 

 and nearly .5° colder than at 24 feet. Above 24 feet 

 there is little increase in temperature. On the 6th of 

 May, the temperature at 12 feet from the ground, 

 was just at the freezing point, while at the surface it 

 was 5*^ below. " An immense difference," says Pro- 

 fessor LixDLEY, "when we consider how sensitive 

 plants are to even small variations of temperature, 

 especially when they are growing fast as in the spring:.' 



These observations are confirmed, in a prac- 

 tical way, by a correspondent of the Gardener^s 

 Chronicle, who states that the blossoms of pear trees, 

 in the lowest part of his orchard, were destroyed 

 hy foggy frost to the extent of 80 per cent., at tea 

 feet from the surface ; about 50 per cent, at 20 feet 

 from the surface, and uninjured at 30 feet. This 

 spring, the frosts were of the same description 

 (foggy), and the result, as tested by examination of 

 the ground, as it rose from the brook, showed that 

 the damage diminished gradually — the lowest being 

 the most injured. The ground was divided, for this 

 comparison, into belts, by contour or level lines, fol- 

 lowing the inequalities of the surface, each 5 feet 

 above the other. Hessel and Beurre Diel pears had 

 all their blossoms destroyed in the valley, but set a 

 portion of their fruit 70 feet higher up the hill. The 

 damage to the gooseberry and curpant crops was also 

 far the greatest on the low grouiid, and diminished 

 gradually with the ascent. 



In this country, and in England, it is well known 

 that fruit escapes spring frosts on the topmost 

 boughs of a tree, while it perishes on the lower, and 

 hitherto the fact has been accounted for on the 

 supposition that the buds on the lower branches 

 were started earlier by the reflected heat from the 

 ground, while those on the upper branches, being in 



