1861. 



THE ILLIN'OIS FAEMEE. 



There are benefits as well as evils attendant upon 

 tbe motions of the atmosphere. The swaying of 

 the limbs, when agitated by the breeze, gives 

 them tone and strength, and may assist in the 

 circulation of the sap within their cells; and the 

 constant agitation of the atmosphere, comming- 

 ling the warmer with the colder portions, will 

 often modify the temperature to such an extent 

 as to give an immunity from the frost in the open 

 prairie, at the same moment that the more tran- 

 quil air, within a limited clearing of forest lards, 

 has been cooled down by radiation to the frost 

 point. On every account, therefore, the moder- 

 ate and reasonable exposure to the infiuences of 

 a mobile atmosphere is rather to be courted than 

 shunned. 



The subject of protection is here plainly 

 stated, and it is the same ground taken in 

 our address before the State Horticultural 

 Society at Bloomiugton. Wc would prefer 

 deciduous to evergreen trees for the orchard, 

 but for the garden the evergreen would be, 

 DO doubt, the best. 



Aspect. — We are most decidedly in fa- 

 vor of an eastern aspect, if we are to plant 

 on the open prairie without timber protec- 

 tion, but with a belt to break the force of 

 the westerly wind, wc would not be particu- 

 ular about the aspect. A southern aspect 

 with an eastern and northern protection, we 

 should consider the worst of all, and nest 

 to that a northern aspect open to the sweep 

 of the northwest wind. But protection is 

 of little value on stiff clays without adequate 

 underdraining. The condition of the soil 

 at this time is that of one well underdrain- 

 ed, but so soon as we have a few heavy rains, 

 we shall be able to appreciate the value of 

 underdraining. — Ed. 



The views that have been advanced by the ad- 

 vocates of protection for orchards on the prairies, 

 have been somewhat modified since they weie 

 first promulgated. We are now told, by those 

 who have opposed "protection," that narrow tim- 

 ber-belts of evergreen? and deciduous trees, 

 should be planted on the windward sides of or- 

 chards, to moderate, not to cut olf, the aerial 

 currents; in this all will agree, and those who 

 have any sympathy for a tree will surely prefer 

 to have the blasts that sweep over miles of open 

 country somewhat checked and tempered before 

 reaching either themselves or their orchards. 

 The testimony as to the effects of cold in shelter- 

 ed and in exposed situations, it must be confess- 

 ed, appears somewhat contradictory; but this is 

 because we have not all the elements of a complex 

 problem. 



WiNTER^KiLLiNG. — A most serious evil, both 

 to the nurseryman and orchardist, is the severe 



injury sometimes done to the trees by frost. This 

 is commonly known by the term of "winter-kil- 

 ling," which has, at times, destroyed millions of 

 trees, and thus blighted the hopas of long-contin- 

 ued labor nud large investments of capital. Some 

 orchardists have been disheartened, and have 

 given up in despair. The investigation of the 

 causes of this disaster, and the conditions under 

 which it occurs, will be of great value to future 

 planters; and though, perhaps, we have not yet 

 at command sufficient data for the full explana- 

 tion of the phenomenon, it may be well to look 

 into the attendant circumstances that have been 

 ebserved; and as some of the most important 

 considerations depend upon the soil and exposure, 

 they may be well introduced in this esswy. I 

 have already alluded to the theory nf northern 

 hill-sides maintaining a l^ter growth than other 

 situations, and have stated that (he facts do not 

 sustain the position. The waim ext.osures on 

 southern slopes and sheltered nooks, are npt to 

 favor the premature startin^i of the sap in the 

 mild weather that often occurs during the winter, 

 in our changeable climate. On the prairies, and 

 on flaf. lands elsewhere, an excess of humidity in 

 the soil will contribute to this efi"ect; ano in such 

 situations we may often observe the most ifr'-ible 

 destruction following a great and sudden change 

 of temperature. Exposure to long-continued 

 cold, with severe winds, seems to dry up the jui- 

 ces of the plants, in some instances, and thus ef- 

 fect their destruction. This, in the far North, is 

 believed to be a frequent cause of the evil. The 

 condition of the tree upon the access of severe 

 cold is too important a subject to be lost sight of, 

 and has already been alluded to. 



Of any given variety, the more perfectly dor- 

 mant the plant, and the more complete its condi- 

 tion of hybernation, the greater will be its immu- 

 nity from this evil. The atmospheric changes 

 and conditions we can not control, and we can 

 modify them only in a very limited degree, by 

 hedges, by timber-belts, and by evergreen 

 screens, the value of which begin to be apprecia- 

 ted. The state of the soil as to its moisture, is 

 under our control, and by thorough and surface- 

 drainage, we m:y obviate one very important 

 condition that conduces largely to the injury un- 

 der consideration — the excess of moisture. 



The more perfect ripening of the wood is also 

 a matter of great moment, and this is subject to 

 our control, particularly in young trees in the 

 nursery and orchard. 



Some varieties are much iZore suhject to irjury 

 from cold than others. Among these are some of 

 the most thrifty and free growing sorts There 

 appears to be an inherent quality of hardiness in 

 others, that enables them to resist tbe most try- 

 ing alternations of temperature. Why some; 

 should be thus hardy, and others tender, we do 

 not know, but it is not their Northern or South- 

 ern origin; some with the former are most ten- 

 der. Sad experience has taught us tbe fact, and 

 since the dreadful winters of the past decade, ia 

 some parts of the West, the first question a^ked 

 respecting a new variety of fruit is that regard- 

 ing its hardiness. Pomelogical societies have 

 endeavored to collate the names of the Lardy &bi3. 

 tender kinds, and have thus, by theij united ex- 

 perience, been enabled to present lists, of a few 



