January 20,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
39 
COMING EVENTS 
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Linnean Soeiety at 8 P M. 
Royal Botanio Society at 3.45 P.M. 
3rd Sunday after EnrHANY. 
Society of Arts at 8 P.M. Lecture on the Diseases of Plan's. 
SITES FOR ORCHARDS. 
XCELLENT articles on the cultivation of 
hardy fruits have often appeared in the 
Journal, but as every year produces fresh 
readers and many fresh planters of fruit 
trees, there can be no harm done in again 
turning to a subject upon which so much de¬ 
pends. One can hardly help wondering 
what will result from such an enormous 
number of fruit trees that are annually sent from the 
large nurseries. Owing to the depression in agriculture 
the last few years, many have turned their thoughts to 
fruit growing, and farmers have planted by the hundred 
trees supplied them by the landowner with a view of 
making their farms more remunerative. No doubt this 
is a step in the right direction, and ought in the 
future to be the means of limiting the importations of 
foreign fruit into the English markets. But sometimes 
our best endeavours are followed by disappointments. 
There are many evils which beset the British fruit 
grower. Among the worst which we can mention are the 
late spiring frosts, which sometimes in one night do 
damage to an enormous extent, and it should be the 
object of planters to guard against this as much as 
possible by selecting a site where the trees will, to a cer¬ 
tain extent, be proof against its influence. 
In this neighbourhood, where fruit is grown very ex¬ 
tensively, a good opportunity is afforded of noting the 
results from orchards under various circumstances and 
conditions, and it is clearly seen that those whose 
orchards are on high ground are much more fortunate 
than their neighbours whose are situated in lower and 
more damp positions. A convincing proof of this is often 
witnessed in an orchard about 400 yards from where 
these notes are written. Some fifteen years ago several 
thousand trees of different kinds of fruit were well 
planted at considerable expense, and ever since this have 
received the greatest care from the same owner, but the 
results have never been satisfactory; in fact, sometimes 
two and three years in succession there has been next to 
no return. I remember in May, 1885, looking down 
upon the orchard in question from this higher ground ; 
it had the appearance of being enveloped in a canopy of 
snow, every tree was so laden with blossom, but, alas! 
the next morning the appearance was very different. 
What looked so bright and promising only a few hours 
before was now black and distressing to witness. The 
frost had done its work thoroughly, and the owner was 
the loser of what ought to have turned into several thou¬ 
sand bushels of fruit, while here on the higher ground 
fruit trees received no material injury; not that there 
was any difference in the temperature, but the atmosphere 
No. 343. —Vol. XIV., Third Series. 
was very different in the two situations. Here we were 
high and dry, but below the air was charged with moisture, 
which is natural to most valleys, but more so in the case 
under notice, as a small river ran round two sides of the 
orchard, the dampness arising from which would greatly 
help in the work of destruction. 
This is only one case, but anyone travelling ihrough 
a fruit district in the summer months can easily discover 
where the frost has been most keenly felt, and it is nearly 
always in low damp situations. Seeing, then, that the 
frost has least destructive power on higher ground, it is 
much the safer plan to choose such for growing fruit, 
even if the soil is very poor in comparison to that ot a 
valley, as the former may be enriched, but there is no 
control over a bad situation. 
As all fruit trees are benefited by protection of some 
kind, especially from the north and east, care should be 
taken in not going to the extreme by selecting an exposed 
and bleak position; but if possible choose a site where 
the ground rises behind it, or is protected by a wood or 
row of large trees. Failing either of these, money is well 
spent in planting a row of Austrian Pines on the exposed 
sides, these in a short time will form a capital break. 
It is true that trees planted in a valley often make 
more headway than those on the higher ground, but this 
is no recommendation, as the many evils arising there¬ 
from often prove. Wha,t is the advantage of abundance 
of wood that, unless the autumn is exceptionally fine, 
which is rare, never ripens, and only produces wood buds 
instead of smaller wood well ripened and set with blossom 
buds ? 
Other evils l think can fairly be traced to a low and 
damp situation. Take a gross young Apple tree, which 
in the autumn is almost as soft and green as a Leek, com¬ 
paratively speaking. What condition is it in to with¬ 
stand severe frosts such as we have experienced the last 
month ? At times the sap under such a soft bark must 
be a frozen mass, and if this can pass away without 
leaving some evil trace, it seems against the natural rule 
of things. Does it not induce canker, which is the dread 
of all planters ? There is a diversity of opinions as to 
the cause of this evil, but who can prove that the above 
state of things may not largely account for its appear¬ 
ance ? Some writers hold that canker is found in very 
high arid dry places ; true, but that is mostly on aged or 
debilitated trees approaching natural decay; but I have 
always found it more prevalent in damp places. 
Trees on high and warm land produce fruit of the 
best flavour, a point that is not taken into consideration 
nearly so much as it should be, and it is impossible to 
obtain this great advantage unless both root and branch 
are in a thoroughly healthy state. 
Climate varies much, not only in different districts of 
England, but often in localities in one county, that it is 
of great importance that k the planter take this into con¬ 
sideration, and also find out which varieties have proved 
to yield good crops within his field of action. By so 
doing much needless expense must be saved, and several 
years' anxious waiting, followed by disappointment, 
averted. I will not venture to give a list of varieties, but 
while writing on spring frosts I am reminded of the 
Court Pendu Plat Apple. This is truly called the Wise 
Apple, as it is seldom seen in flower till after all danger 
of frost is over; but as early Apples are sought after as 
much as late ones, several varieties must be planted; and 
though there always were losses and failures, and we 
must expect some in store, we should try and profit by 
No. 1999.—Vol. LXXVL, Old Series. 
