48 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
pose that the reason of it is that winds there find 
free course. The truth is, however, that several 
features conspire to render these lands congenial to 
fruits. Some of these characteristics are the follow- 
ing: Good atmospheric drainage; the avoidance of 
still air in frosty weather; good water drainage ; 
earliness or lateness, according as they are southward 
or northward exposures. High or strong winds are 
always to be avoided, if possible, for they blow off 
the fruit and injure the plants. 
As a rule, winds are beneficial to fruit planta-- 
tions only when they bring warmer air, or when 
they keep the air in motion in frosty weather. If, 
therefore, high lands could be protected from winds 
without endangering atmospheric drainage or expos- 
ing the plantation to frost, much should be gained. 
In dry regions there is a special reason for de- 
siring to abate the winds, from the fact that they 
abstract so much moisture from soil and _ plants. 
Even a slight impediment in the path of the wind 
may give marked results in the conservation of 
moisture. Upon this point, King* writes as follows: 
“In arid or semi-arid countries, and in districts 
where the soil is light and leachy, but especially 
where there are large tracts of land whose inco- 
herent soils suffer from the drifting action of winds, 
it is important that the velocity of the winds near 
the ground should be reduced to the minimum. 
We have in Wisconsin extensive areas of light lands 
which are now being developed for purposes of 
*The Soil, 204. 
