SOIL, FERTILIZERS, SITUATIONS 



57 



Fig. 30. A stub is a menace to the 

 life of the tree 



SITUATION FOR FRUIT PLANTATIONS 



Where only one piece of land is 

 available for a fruit plantation, the 

 trees susceptible to frost injury, espe- 

 cially as to buds Peach, Japanese 

 Plum, Almond, Apricot should be 

 placed where they will be retarded as 

 much as possible in Spring. The best 

 position for them is the north side of 

 a building, a wall or a northern slope; 

 the worst, an eastern, south-eastern, a 

 southern slope or near a wall facing 

 in these directions. The reason is that 

 the northerly and westerly are the 

 retarding aspects; whereas the southerly 

 and easterly are the accelerating ones. 

 Buds are sure to be injured by frost in 

 the latter situations because they are 

 encouraged to swell prematurely. In 

 a less degree the same remark is true 

 of most other early blooming tree and 

 bush fruits. Currants and Gooseberries 



are exceptions. For them the steam does not have to be turned on to 

 make the place warm enough to dress in ! They are often in leaf 

 when the last snow falls. 



Where the land is pockety or low it is often unsafe to set early 

 blooming fruit plants, because such situations are generally frosty 

 from the settling of cold air in them. Conversely, elevated situations 

 are much more safe as a rule, because the cold air drains away just 

 as water does. In one case I know well there is a fall of five or 

 six feet from the front to the back of a 140-foot lot and a valley about 

 75 feet deep in the rear and deepening farther away. The air drainage 

 thus provided helped perishable plants such as Lima Beans, Dahlias 

 and Cannas to live until late October, whereas only a few hundred yards 

 away they were killed a month earlier. Where an elevation such as 

 this can be secured it is therefore an asset. What is true of Autumn is 

 also true of Spring in this respect. 



Nearness to a large body of water also has its influence upon fruit 

 growing. The lot mentioned above is about half a mile from a bay on 

 Long Island Sound. The cold breezes in Spring help to retard bud 

 swelling and the warm ones in Fall help to extend the season. Only a 

 couple of miles away the influence of the water is nil. There the 



