104 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



sible the orchard should be planted on 

 rolling ground or on a gentle slope. Un- 

 der these conditions both air and soil 

 drainage are provided. 



The orchards of the Upper Mississippi 

 valley are particularly subject to damage 

 from late spring frosts. These frosts are 

 always most severe on the bottoms and 

 lower levels. In many instances dam- 

 age occurs here when the trees on the 

 uplands escape entirely. This is because 

 the cold air, being heavier, naturally set- 

 tles to the valleys. Parasitic diseases are 

 also much less troublesome on the up- 

 lands, since the drier air discourages their 

 growth. The north slope has been often 

 advocated as the ideal orchard site, al- 

 though any slope is good. The funda- 

 mental requisite is to secure a slope of 

 some kind. In many parts of Iowa the 

 land is so level that there is little choice 

 in this regard. Reasonable success may 

 be attained on level ground in the case 

 of the home orchard. It is doubtful, how- 

 ever, if it is wise to engage in commercial 

 orcharding where the proper slope and 

 type of soil are not available. 



A. T. Erwin, 

 G. R. Bliss. 



Ames, Iowa. 



Ohio Conditions 



While apples may be grown with some 

 success in level sections of the state, it 

 Is a very great advantage if the site cho- 

 sen for the orchard be comewhat higher 

 than the land adjacent. An elevation of 

 even a few feet above the channels or 

 beds of local streams of water will provide 

 not only the necessary water drainage, but 

 also favor frost or cold air drainage which 

 Is of almost equal importance. It is a 

 generally well known fact that, under 

 weather conditions which favor frost, the 

 colder atmosphere being the heavier seeks 

 the lower levels of the valleys, ravines 

 and depressions, while the warmer, lighter 

 air envelopes the slopes and summits of 

 the higher ground, often entirely pre- 

 venting injury by frost in late spring to 

 the blossoms or young fruit. This is es- 

 pecially true of those areas of our state 

 remote from the larger bodies or streams 

 of water. The modifying and retarding 

 influences of Lake Erie upon tempera- 



ture, as affecting vegetation, renders a 

 large area of adjacent level land well 

 protected from extremes of temperature. 

 In the valleys of our larger rivers such 

 as the Ohio, Muskingum and others flow- 

 ing through the rougher parts of the 

 state and bordered along their courses 

 by high hills on either side, it some- 

 times occurs during extremely frosty 

 weather that the dense river fogs protect 

 the lower levels from frost while vegeta- 

 tion on the higher altitudes suffers se- 

 verely. For this reason there may be ex- 

 ceptions made in favor of orchard sites 

 on the more elevated portions of 'second 

 bottom' land of some of the greater river 

 valleys, as that of Ohio: but this will 

 not generally apply to the much smaller 

 valleys of the lesser tributaries. 



Hnmiditj' and Disease 



Excessive humidity in the valleys of 

 the great streams of water favors the 

 development of certain forms of fungi af- 

 fecting the apple — such as the "sooty 

 blotch" or fungus — which are rarely 

 troublesome on the more elevated sites. 

 AS a rule the preference of location for 

 an apple orchard would wisely be given 

 to the elevated hill-slope or summit. 

 F. H. B.4I.L0U, 

 Wooster. Ohio. 



North Carolina Conditions 



There is considerable difference of 

 opinion among fruit men as to what is 

 the best direction for the slope of an 

 orchard. The preferences of different 

 men of experience are so variable as 

 to include every point of the compass. 

 Each slope has its advantages and its 

 disadvantages. A northern slope is a lit- 

 tle later in forcing growth in spring, 

 and on that account the bloom is less apt 

 to be nipped by late spring frosts. On 

 the other hand, the fruit on northern 

 slopes, when developing, gets less sunlight 

 and does not have the high colors of that 

 grown on southern slopes. As it is the 

 sunlight that paints the bright colors, 

 the southern slopes always produce the 

 richest-tinted fruit. Southern slopes, too. 

 are the ones from which the sun drinks 

 the moisture most rapidly. They are apt, 

 tnerefore, to be droughty, and unless the 



