816 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
perience of the serious damage done by west winds when the 
fruit has attained a good size, unless there is some protection. 
A violent gale will often strip the trees of all their best fruit, 
and cause what promised to be a most profitable crop to become, 
comparatively speaking, a failure. This is particularly the case 
if the fruit trees are grown in standard form. If, then, there 
is no natural protection, a belt of Spruce or Scotch Firs should 
be planted at least 100 yards away from the plantation, putting 
in the fruit trees and those for shelter at the same time, so that 
by the time the former required protection the latter would be 
large enough to supply it. Provided the soil is good and fertile, 
it does not, in my opinion, signify so materially as some people 
think what the subsoil is, very fine fruit being produced on soil 
resting on limestone, various forms of sandstone, gravel, or clay. 
On all these subsoils I have been able to produce good crops of 
fruit every year, except in seasons when the climatic conditions 
have been very unfavourable. 
Land that is liable to be flooded, and very " thin " land with 
a chalky subsoil, must be planted with caution ; in fact there is 
a great risk in attempting to grow fruit in such situations. I 
have found one of the best tests of the suitability of land for 
fruit to be to take note of the Elm trees ; if these are very large, 
healthy, and well grown, fruit trees will succeed ; but if the Elms 
are small and badly developed, it is courting failure to plant 
fruit trees, though the smaller kinds of fruit will often grow 
upon such lands. Good drainage, either natural or artificial, is 
most essential, and without it success is very doubtful. 
The distance of the fruit plantation from a railway station, 
and the cost of carting, ought to l)e taken into consideration, as 
any item that will cause unavoidable expenditure should be care- 
fully thought over before commencing to plant. It is a great 
;idvantii,g(i to have the choice of more than one station on 
different lines, for when there are two or more companies 
rurniing in opposition to each other, the producer not only reaps 
a benefit in the lower freight charges, but also in the prompt- 
ness with which his fruit is put upon the market. My experience 
is that when the grower is practically confined to one lino or 
coinpany, he lias frequent cause to complain of delays in 
delivery, in addition to hciivy cliai'ges for conveyance. It is 
most important, therefore, that the site fixed upon for the fruit 
