WIND-BREAKS 



147 



without destroying the top, and only a very severe 

 storm will cause any fruit to fall. The season of 

 high winds does no damage, as there is nothing on 

 the trees. 



Evaporation may be considerably checked by a 

 good wind-break. In the Southern fig belt this is 

 of little consequence, for the prevailing breeze is 

 laden with moisture. But winter winds are pecu- 

 liarly drying — a pond evaporating more in one day 

 during a clear norther than in a week of quiet sun- 

 shine. How often has a new fig orchard died to the 

 ground, supposedly from frost, or the shock of 

 pruning, when it was merely the result of wood 

 evaporation during the interval between early 

 pruning and spring growth. Even uncut limbs 

 lose vitality in winter very largely from evapora- 

 tion through the bark, especially if the stored 

 strength of the top is reduced by intermittent warm 

 spells of incipient growth. To so handle an orchard 

 that the trees will not thus waste their vigor re- 

 quires a thorough knowledge not only of wind- 

 breaks, but of the essential principles of horticul- 

 ture, and botany, and clear discretion in field work. 



The most desirable wind-breaks vary in different 

 places with their uses. The Californian protects 

 his orange grove with eucalyptus trees from fifteen 

 to seventy feet in height, or with cypress hedges 

 that grow thirty feet and have as great a spread. 

 In Manitoba, and the Northwest, wheat is sheltered 



