7,6 HEDGES, WINDBREAKS, SHELTERS, ETC. 



buds will endure two or three degrees severer freez- 

 ing when the air is moist than when it is dry. It is 

 true that hedges and windbreaks and forests may 

 hinder the free circulation of air over a very adjacent 

 orchard, and they may harbor both insect ene- 

 mies and fungous diseases. Professor Bailey 

 suggests that we can and ought to do a 

 great deal, in the way of eliminating from 

 our forests, trees that are specially the breed- 

 ers of our enemies. For instance, the wild cherry, 

 which grows along the edge of our woods, is espe- 

 cially occupied by the tent caterpillar, and as a rule 

 should be cut down. I follow Professor Bailey still 

 farther, in his suggestion that we do not wish or 

 need to protect ourselves from all sorts of winds. If 

 wind passes over a large body of water, it becomes 

 warmer by taking heat from the water as well as 

 moisture. In this case a windbreak would be detri- 

 mental to the interests of the horticulturist. "From 

 a general study of the subject it appears that, for 

 interior localities, dense belts of evergreens, backed 

 by forest trees to prevent evergreens from becoming 

 ragged, are advisable, because winds coming off the 

 land are liable to make the plantation colder. In 

 localities influenced by bodies of water it is better to 

 plant just enough to break the force of the wind." 

 To sum up the whole subject : "A windbreak may 

 exert a great influence upon a fruit plantation. The 

 benefits derived from it are, protection from cold, 

 lessening of evaporation, decrease of windfalls, facili- 

 tation of labor, enabling trees to grow more erect, 

 encouragement of birds, and beauty of landscape." 

 I am so loath to divorce the useful and the beau- 



