COUNTRY LIFE
TtiE superiority of the hill over the valley for the growing of fruit is often demonstrated in May ; less often, as today, in March and April. In one dry valley, susceptible like most dry valleys to frost, plums have been very severely cut for the third year in succession ; and there is not likely to be half a crop. A very little farther up the slope not a blossom has suffered. What will happen to the apple-blossom, which promises to be abundant, no one can tell till the festival of the Tree Icemen is over three weeks hence ; but we have been given abundant proof in the last few years—by Mr. flush and other specialists—that the prime necessity for the preservation of fruit-blossom from frost is air drainage. Even walled garden may be a trap. Just as in a factory snuffy air is harmless if it is moving, so with cold air in the orchard. There are those who believe that the artificial creation of a draught might take more effect than the smudge and the warming of the air.
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