FRUIT-GROWERS’ REPORT. 
407 
bluffs , or mountains , where there is a natural drainage by porous 
limestone, slate, or gravel subsoil ? 
Our state is full of such locations, but they have been sadly 
neglected. The cultivator, thinking he should set his fruit trees 
under the shelter of the hill or grove, has had a harvest of 
disappointment, and given up in vexation, when almost every 
farm in the State has some natural elevation just suited to 
successful fruit growing. Again , on Aspect. How ardently 
and persistentlyjnost fruit-growers have advocated protection 
from cold winds as the great demand of the orchard, and car¬ 
rying out this theory, chosen the south and east side of the 
hill as the only suitable place for the fruit tree. In fact, this 
idea has prevailed almost universally until, in the fertile valley 
of the West, annihilation seemed the destiny of our trees. But 
we are inclined to think the shock of 1856 will yet upset this 
theory, and we are happy to see fruit-growers awaking to this 
subject. Bearing on this point we offer the following proposi¬ 
tions : 1st. That in all countries the greatest enemy of vege¬ 
table life is extremes of temperature and sudden transitions. 
2d. That all valleys and sheltered sunny locations are subject 
to the greatest extremes, and in such places the transition is 
most rapid. 3d. The inside measure of these extremes will 
be ten degrees less in favor of the highlands, beside the transi¬ 
tions are far less rapid. 4th. That all our ordinary fruit trees 
will bear these extremes if the change is not too rapid. 
Suppose we abate one-half of this estimate in the third 
proposition, to meet the ordinary elevations and ridges almost 
everywhere found convenient to the farm house; even this, 
taken in connection with the general circulation at the time of 
these extremes, would produce a very marked contrast in 
the condition of the fruit tree in the different localities. Let 
the fruit-grower ponder these facts and see the bearing they 
have on the “ where to set an orchard.” 
The most objectionable situation for the orchard is the allu¬ 
vial valley on the south or east side and near to the hills, 
because the soil is usually too rich in vegetable matter, and fill¬ 
ed with stagnant water, producing a late, sappy growth. Such 
