NEW METHOD OF IlEARINa OAK. 223 



ing of bright sunshine. And it always holds good, 

 that corn which is shaded from the first rays by 

 wood or otherwise, is never so much injured as that 

 in other parts of the same field. The late Reverend 

 I)r Skene Keith, in his Agricultural Survey of 

 Aberdeenshire, recommends that, in situations much 

 exposed to autumnal frosts, belts of trees should be 

 planted along the east side of the field, to ward off 

 the early rays of the sun. " In many cases," says 

 that writer, " the rays of the morning sun may be 

 with propriety excluded, by a belt of plantation in 

 the east. For though these are friendly to an early 

 harvest, yet in an unfavourable or late season, if a 

 mildew or rain in the evening be succeeded by frost 

 at night, and if the sun dart his rays in the morn- 

 ing on the wet corn, when in flower, or on the 

 peas, beans or potatoes, before they are fully ripe, 

 the effects are generally fatal. The only remedy, 

 namely, that of two persons going very early with a 

 rope, between the furrows of a ridge, and shaking off 

 the rain or dews, cannot be practised on a large 

 scale ; though it may save the potato crop of the 

 industrious cottager to know this, and put it in 

 practice, when he sees the hoar-frost in the morning. 

 A more permanent remedy is to have a small belt of 

 planting on the east, to prevent the sun's rays from 



