THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



Jan. 



part of this great republic so fertile in the 

 products of the great farm staples as our own 

 state when propeily cultivated, at the same 

 time our farmers have the reputation of be- 

 ing bad managers and a shiftless set in gen- 

 eral. To these charges we must to some 

 extent plead guilty, but we think the time 

 is not far distant when we shall stand first 

 and foremost in the field of progress We 

 think we can show that our farmers as a gen- 

 eral thing are enterprising and that now 

 their eyes are open to the damaging eifect 

 of too much land their course will be upward 

 and cnward. 



[From the Cincinnatus.] 



The 



Site for an Orchard. 

 Warder. 



By Dr. J. A. 



The selection of a suitable site for an orchard 

 is a matter of no small moment to him who wo'ild 

 be a successful grower of fine fruits. Without, 

 at this time, pausing to inquire into the charac- 

 ter of the soil, let us extmine more pirticulary 

 the aspect of the field to be appropriated to this 

 important crop; for the orchard .s a permanent 

 investment, and so much depends upun the site, 

 that we should make some sacrifice of our conve- 

 nience, rather than commit any error in this par- 

 ticular. In the first place, then, let it be under- 

 stood that the orchard should be -well exposed to 

 the sun and air. The least desirable positions 

 for orchard planting are narrow valleys, particu- 

 larly limestone valleys in a mounteinous country, 

 traversed by a small brook, '^r where the surface 

 is spou'y from springs or subjacent water. Even 

 if such depressions are considerably elevated, but 

 surrounded by higher and abrupt elevations, they 

 will be found obnoxious to late and early frosts 

 in spring and fall, especially the former, which 

 are often disastrous in such situations, after the 

 fruit-Luds have expanded in the sheltered nooks. 

 Every one at all conversant with meteorological 

 observations made in a broken country, is aware 

 of the different range of temperature that wilt be 

 indicated by instruments suspen'^ed at different 

 elevations. When the cooling iaflaence of radi- 

 ation has lowered the temperature of the surface 

 of the earth and of objects near it, the stratum of 

 air in iciraediafe contact will be chilled, and grow- 

 ing heavier, will flow down into the most depress- 

 sei situations, and, accumulating there, will 

 cause a difference of several degrees of tempera- 

 ture. This, when iiear the freezing point, will be 

 of the greatest consequence to tender vegetation, 

 which may be preserved in perfect safety at forty 

 degrees, but will be destroyed at thirty degrees, 

 or even at a higher point, in some cases. 



Thcfro^t line becomes a very important subject 

 of inquiry in the selection of an orchard site, and 

 in some countries we find that its position may 

 be definitely settled within a limited range of 

 elevation ; net that a certa'n level can be indica- 



ted, above which there will always be an immu- 

 nity from frost, while all below will suffer, but 

 we may approximate, in certain situations, so 

 nearly as to indicate that certain sites are safe or 

 unsafe. 



Nor is it the absolute elevation alone that is to 

 be taken into the account; in any given locality, 

 we may assume that the higher the orchard ia 

 situated above the water levels, the safer it will 

 be, and that the lowest depressions are the most 

 unsafe or frosty. It is not always the mere ele- 

 vation, but rather the relative elevation of the 

 site, that renders it more desfrable than another 

 in the same region. There are many orchards 

 that are situated upon a moderate bluff, with a 

 rapid descent of only a few feet or yards, into a 

 swale or valley of moderate' extent; these we find 

 to be uninjured, when another at a greater eleva- 

 tion, but in a depressed basin surrounded by 

 highee lands, will be found to have suffered from 

 the influence of frost. In the one case, the cold 

 air could flow off rapidly into the adjoining de- 

 pression, while in the other, the cold air from ad- 

 joining slopes would collect, and accumulate in 

 the situati'^ns described. 



In the great plateaus of the world, we often find 

 immense tracts of land so nearly of the same lev- 

 el as scarcel;^ to afford sufBcient drainage for the 

 surplus water; of course, we should expect to 

 find, in such places, little variation of tempera- 

 ture arising from difference in elevation. But 

 even in such situations, whether we examine the 

 table-lands of our timbered regions, or the exten- 

 ded areas of the prairie country, we shall find 

 that the drift formation which covejs these vast 

 tracts, has not been distributed evenly, but that 

 there successive rolls or swells frequently recur- 

 ring, which give, in some instances, considerable 

 variations of level. A bold ridge, of fifty feet or 

 more in hight, rises abruptly from the level prai- 

 rie, stretching along for miles, and affording ad- 

 mirable exposures for orchard sites. Such pla- 

 ces are observed to be free from late and early 

 frosts. In other places, there is an abrupt de- 

 pression of the surface answering the same pur-- 

 pose — drawing off the cold air. These may be 

 very moderate in their extent, as the prairie 

 sloughs, or they may be small vales, the courses 

 of the minor streams, or of larger extent, tha val- 

 leys of rivers, or the depressions of lakes. In 

 these latter cases, the modifying influences of 

 considerable bodies of water enter into the frost 

 problem as an element of no mean value, and ac- 

 ting as favorable agents, warding off fiosts. 



Remarks. — We cannot better illustrate 

 our views as ia accordance with the Dr's., 

 than to extract from one of our letters to 

 the Chicago Tribune of December, 1858. 

 In company with other gentleman, we were 

 on a visit to the south part of our State ; 



SOUTH PASS, 



"A new station six miles north of Jonesboro, at 

 the head waters of the Drury and Cache rivers, 

 and on the south side of the " Grand Chain " of 

 hills, whose rugged tops and sunny slopes in- 

 vites to the cultivation of the peach, the grape, 



