C 135 ] 



XIII. On Planting the Moist alluvial Banks of Rivers with 

 Fruit-trees. In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. John 

 Robertson, F. H. S. 



Read September 19, 1826. 



Sir, 



Fe w situations combine so many advantages for the planta- 

 tion of Orchards or Fruit Gardens, as the low grounds that 

 form the banks of rivers ; the alluvial soil of which they are 

 generally composed, being an intermixture of the richest and • 

 most soluble parts of the neighbouring lands, with a portion 

 of animal and vegetable matter, affords an inexhaustible fund 

 of nourishment for the growth of fruit-trees, which derive 

 from it such habits of health and vigour, that when sheltered 

 by the higher grounds, which mostly accompany these flats, 

 they set their bloom with a certainty, and ripen their fruit to 

 a degree of perfection, that those in more exposed and less 

 congenial situations rarely exhibit; to this, the mild and 

 moist temperature diffused through the atmosphere by the 

 neighbourhood of the water in no slight degree contributes, 

 counteracting the late spring frosts and blighting winds that 

 are so destructive to our fruit crops in the earlier part of the 

 season. 



As an instance how valuable such a situation may be ren- 

 dered under Fruit-trees, there is a small piece of ground of 

 this description, not exceeding three quarters of an acre, in 

 this vicinity, which is leased at a rent of fifty guineas per 

 annum, solely on account of its fruit. It is planted with Pear 



