146 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



slope toward one of the several Finger Lakes, or are near flowing water 

 in the Hudson. The equalizing effects of bodies of water on temperature — 

 warmer winters and cooler summers — and the effects of the air-currents 

 from bodies of water are so well known that comment is not necessary. 

 It is worth while noting, however, the distance to which the benign 

 influences of water are felt in the New York peach -districts. In the Hudson 

 Valley the peach can be grown only a mile or two from the river with 

 safety from frosts and freezes. With few exceptions, the peach-orchards 

 about the Central Lakes overlook the water. On the Great Lakes peach - 

 plantations are found from one to six or eight miles from the water, depend- 

 ing upon the height of the land, and the amount and direction of the slope. 



Usuall}'' the peach-plantations are some distance above the lakes or 

 river, generally from one hundred to three hundred feet. When the alti- 

 tude is much higher, immunity from frost and winter freezes ceases, 

 probably because the atmosphere is rarer and no doubt drier so that heat 

 radiates from the land rapidly inducing frostiness rather than f restlessness. 

 As the height increases, too, the sweep of the wind increases. But still, 

 one is often surprised to find vigorous orchards perched high above the 

 water, the sport of ever^^ wind, so that altitude in peach-growing must be 

 determined by experiment. 



The site, as we choose to consider it, is the situation with especial 

 regard to the particular plot of ground set aside for the peach-orchard — 

 altitude, soil, slope, exposure, local climate and all of the natural factors 

 which favor peach-growing. All these have been touched upon in their 

 relation to peach-districts and locations within the districts but we need 

 to particularize a little more closely to show how some of these factors 

 affect individual orchards. 



The best peach-orchards in New York are invariably higher than the 

 surrounding covmtry, such orchards having the two great advantages of 

 soil-drainage and atmospheric drainage. Rolling land seems not to be at 

 all essential, for many splendid plantations are on flat lands which, how- 

 ever, in all cases have an elevation on one or more boundaries iibove the 

 surrounding country. The more pronounced the elevation, within limits, 

 the better, though sharp declines of a few feet, ten or fifteen, serve for small 

 orchards as do gentle slopes of slightly higher elevation. Ideal spots where 

 the peach never fails are found in bits of tillable land, usually too small 

 for large commercial ventures, in the rough and steep gulches running 

 down from the highlands to the lakes, occasionally on the Ontario and 



