SIx] WINDBREAKS AND HEDGES 
Horatio Seymour called the handsomest in Ameri- 
ca — shall not hide under the windbreak, and along 
fence rows — both for the berries that feed the birds 
and those that we ourselves consume. An elder- 
berry tart is a toothsome affair, even after we are 
seventy. 
A bee-house should have special shelter, and I 
advise a windbreak clear around the yard, or at 
least on two sides. If open to the wind at all, let 
it be on the south and east. Of course these: pro- 
tective hedges should not be so high or so near the 
hives as to entirely exclude the sun. No orchard 
will do its best without a windbreak; and this is par- 
ticularly true of a pear orchard. It often happens 
that a high wind in September strips the trees of half 
their crops — just before they are ready for harvest. 
I have had almost all the pears from exposed 
Anjous tumbled to the ground and rendered unfit 
for storage. It is a sad sight to one who has 
watched such a magnificent fruit develop all sum- 
mer, to find his Christmas pears snatched away 
from him, and flung, worthless, upon the ground. 
As a supplement to windbreaks of pears, I suggest 
spreading a good litter of soft grass or hay under 
the trees during the autumn months. 
[117] 
