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FRUIT

CULTURE.

CHAPTER I.

METEOROLOGICAL AGENTS.

ALTITUDE -ASPECT OR EXPOSURE - CONTIGUOUS BODIES OF WATERNATURE OF STORMS CLIMATE OF EASTERN AND WESTERN DISTRICTS COMPARED-SNOW STORMS― SEVERE WINDSTAGNANT AIR AQUEOUS VAPOR - HEAT-LIGHT THE LIMITS OF THE VINE-TABLES AS THE SUMMIT OF

COLD-ELECTRICITY DIFFERENT EXPOSURES:

HILLS, NORTHERN, SOUTHERN.

THE meteorological agents which affect the pro

duction of fruit have never received from horticultural writers the notice which they deserve. They are necessarily more recondite than the qualities or condition of the soil; and because less evident, they have been passed over in silence; yet the importance of understanding atmospheric phenomena is, in some respects, even greater than a knowledge of the soil.

In one part of a country a certain fruit is utterly worthless; its wood is killed by the winter, and its skin becomes spotted and cracked in summer. This same variety may, in another district, be universally fair and delicious, while its wood remains as free from damage in the winter as the native trees of

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the forest. This phenomenon is often noticed upon different sides of the same hill. In the latter case, it cannot certainly be the soil which causes such varied results; but we must refer them to atmospheric agencies.

Among the most important facts to be determined is the effect of different altitudes upon vegetation. It does not require more than a child's discrimination to discover that the temperature upon the summit of a mountain is much lower than at its base, and therefore that a fruit which flourishes at its foot would not do so if planted in the most propitious place upon its top. Naturalists tell us that if we start where the first glimpses of vegetation appear at the frigid zone, and approach the tropics, we shall perceive all the different stages of the vegetable creation, in the same order in which they were placed upon the earth. As we ascend a mountain the effect is reversely the same. Hence it becomes evident that to determine properly the limit for the cultivation of a plant, it would be useless to draw parallel lines, like those which we use for latitude, because the same line would pass over valley and mountain in which the temperature would vary several degrees.

In assigning a position to the isothermal lines, now quite common in geographical maps, there are several other facts to be considered.

Aspect, or exposure, exerts a powerful influence

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upon fruit cultivation. For instance, while some varieties of grapes will not ripen if exposed to the north or west, they mature quite early on a southern or eastern slope. Therefore, if an isothermal line is to be an infallible guide, it should run down on the latter, and up on the former. Some slopes are open to furious and chilling winds from the cold regions, which tend to depress the line.

These are among the more general facts to be. considered. It can readily be seen that perfect accuracy must be practically impossible. The cultivator must exercise a wise judgment with regard to these principles, or his efforts will not be crowned. with complete success.

Among the more general facts which should guide us in determining the limits of the successful cultivation of different fruits, and the proper selection of exposure for each variety, let us notice the effects of large, contiguous bodies of water; or the difference between island or coast, and inland or continental climate, a difference which is very striking in respect to the limits of cultivating a particular plant. This is owing to the greater ease with which land rather than water absorbs and radiates heat. Land becomes warm much sooner, but falls in temperature with equal rapidity. On the contrary, the sea is not so soon heated, on account of its brilliant surface, which reflects the rays of the sun; neither is it so soon cooled, owing to the great

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