18 THE FLOBIST AND POMOLOGIST. [JANUARY, 



brandies should be preceded by tbat of tlie various sciences wMch it calls into 

 operation, and tliat tlie administrators of forests sliould understand sucb matters as 

 natui-al history, mathematics, and jurisprudence. The ordinary working forester, 

 however, does not absolutely need so high a training : for him a knowledge of 

 the life of trees and of their culture are the essentials ; and it is this kind of informa- 

 tion which the little book before us is intended to supply, and does supply in a 

 terse and succinct manner. Turning over its pages, we find it to be divided into 

 three parts : 1. The Elements, containing chapters on earth, air, water, &c. ; 2. 

 Physiology, including the important subjects of nutrition and reproduction ; 3. 

 Sylviculture, with special chapters devoted to underwood, forests, tree nurseries, 

 various works, as draining, clearing woods, etc., felling, and the ravages of animals. 

 The concluding portion comprises a series of excellent whole-page woodcuts of 

 the principal kinds of forest trees, upwards of twenty in number, accompanied by 

 brief descriptions. It is a very useful book. — T. M. 



THE THIRD DAY COMES A FROST, A NIPPING FROST." 



— Shakespeahe. 

 'j\J LTHOUGH there is but little doubt that the climate of this country gene- 

 rally has been ameliorated, to a certain extent, and in certain localities, 

 by the extension of the operations of tillage and drainage, yet the fond 

 hopes of Fruit-growers are still liable to be dashed to the ground by the 

 traditional " nipping frost," just as the prospect of the fruition of their hopes seems 

 highest. An incident occurring so commonly as to have become proverbial, 

 bewailed by gardeners in the time of Shakespeare, and despondently echoed by 

 fruit-growers of the present day, may seem inevitable and irremediable from its 

 duration ; but modern ingenuity, impatient of such restraints and difficulties, has 

 done much to avert the pressure of many physical obstacles, and several inven- 

 tions have been recently put forward to save our crops of wall-fruit from 

 treacherous spring frosts, from cold beating showers of rain and sleet, and from 

 the chilling influence of wintry weather, which in this climate of ours sometimes 

 succeeds a period of spring-tide warmth. Fir boughs, frigi domo, canvas, shutters 

 and elaborate glass copings have each their advocates, as they have their advan- 

 tages. The simple, economical, and efficient plan of protecting wall-trees, of 

 which an illustration is given opposite, seems to combine the advantages of glass 

 and canvas, and to obviate the objections which exist against each of those 

 coverings as they are usually applied. The coping is formed by attaching 

 Mr. Eendle's zinc sashes or slides to a projecting framework of wood, fastened to the 

 wall, and supported in front by upright poles ; the glass is slipped into the zinc 

 sashes, and the glass coping is complete. To give the tree it is desirable to pro- 

 tect every advantage of light, a similar arrangement of glass and zinc slides is 

 easily contrived, and placed perpendicularly in front of the tree. A comparatively 

 narrow strip of glass will admit as much unobscured light as is requisite for the 

 expanding buds, or blossoms, or fruit. 



