SOIL, MA NUKES, SITUATION, AND ENCLOSURES. 53 



essary to plant such lands with tender crops two or three 

 weeks later in spring than the usual period on upland. The 

 successful cultivation of the peach and the grape, on the gen- 

 tle swelling hills called mounds, in the Western prairies, while 

 the crops are destroyed on the adjacent dark and porous soils 

 of the plains, affords another example. Sometimes the effect 

 of unfavorable soil more than overbalances that of situation. 

 In some of the hilly parts of western New York, where the 

 highest land is peaty, spongy, or springy, and the valleys dry 

 and firm, the latter are found best for the peach. 



The preceding facts furnish strong reasons for believing 

 that, in large portions of the Northern States, where the cul- 

 tivation of the peach has been entirely relinquished in conse- 

 quence of the only attempts having been made in the warm 

 valley, abundant crops might be regularly obtained by a 

 proper selection of soil and locality. Even much farther 

 south, the occasional destruction of tender fruits points out 

 the great importance of careful attention to situation. 



Large bodies of unfreezing water in the bottoms of valleys 

 will reverse some of the preceding rules, and the banks of such 

 waters are peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of tender fruits. 

 Note how grape culture follows such locations. They soften 

 the severity of the cold, by the large and warm surface con- 

 stantly presented ; on the other hand, they chill the dangerous 

 warm air which starts the buds in winter, and they afford 

 great protection by the screen of fog which they spread befoie 

 the morning sun. Along the borders of the lower parts of 

 the Hudson, and on the banks of the Cayuga and Seneca lakes, 

 tender fruit-trees often afford abundant crops, while the same 

 kinds are destroyed only two or three miles distant. Along 

 the southern shore of Lake Ontario, the peach crop scarcely 

 ever fails, and the softening influence of that large body of 

 unfreezing water extends many miles into the interior. The 

 same result is observed in northern Ohio, bordering on Lake 

 Erie ; and in western Michigan, adjoining the great lake of 

 that name. 



Fruit-buds, as well as tender trees, are occasionally de* 

 stroyed by thawing by the morning rays, after a cold night. 

 The protection from these rays afforded by an eastern hill, 

 buildings, or other screen, has led to the erroneous ccnclu- 



