THE ORCHARD. 159 



Illinois, "Wisconsin, and others of the western as well as 

 in the southern States, where late and fatal spring frosts 

 prevail, the selection of a situation is a most important 

 point. In such localities an eastern and southern expo- 

 sure, and low grounds, are to be avoided. ^ 



John J. Thomas, in his Fruit Culturist, -states that, " In 

 the valley of the Conhocton, which is flanked by hills five 

 hundred feet high, peach trees have been completely 

 killed to the ground, but on one of the neighboring hills, 

 five hundred feet above, and probably twelve hundred 

 feet above the level of the sea, an orchard planted in good 

 soil yields regular crops. In the town of Spencer, Tioga 

 County, near the head of Cayuga inlet, peaches have with- 

 stood the climate and done well at an elevation of seven 

 hundred feet above Cayuga Lake." Lawrence Young, 

 Esq., Chairman of the Kentucky Fruit Committee, reported 

 to the Pomological Convention at Cincinnati, in 1850, the 

 case of an orchard in that State, lying within the peach 

 district, occupying the slopes of hills of no great height, 

 inclining gently toward a river distant only a few hundred 

 yards. Its success was that common to a -fickle western 

 climate a fruit year and a failure, or perhaps two years 

 of productiveness and three of disappointment in every 

 five. 



Within five miles of this orchard, however, is located 

 a hill six hundred feet high, upon which the peach crop 

 has not failed since he first knew it. Numerous other 

 instances are quoted and the particulars given with great 

 accuracy, showing the effects of even very slight eleva- 

 tions. 



Among others is an instance of the heath-peach bearing 

 a full crop in one part of an orchard, whilst in another 

 part thirty feet lower, the same variety bore not a single 

 fruit. Multitudes of such cases might be collected in all 

 parts of the country where the climate is variable, because 



