DESTRC YING INSECTS, "5 
_alled perpendicular frosts. Camellias and many half-hardy shrubs 
may y be protected by laying straw or litter round the roots; as the 
severest frosts seldom penetrate more than a few inches into the 
ground. Even in the severe winter of 1837-8, the ground was not 
frozen at the depth of ten inches. Tree pzonies, and other tender 
shrubs, that are in a growing state very early in the spring, may 
be protected by coverings of basket-work, which are sufficiently 
large and light to be lifted off in fine days. Hand and bell glasses, 
sea-kale pots, and wooden frames covered with oiled paper, are all 
useful for protecting small plants. It is astonishing how very slight 
a covering will often suffice to protect a plant from frost, if the cover- 
ing be over the top of the plant, even though the sides be exposed ; 
while, on the contrary, a warm covering in front of the plant will fail 
to save it, if the top be exposed to the perpendicular frosts. Protect- 
ing the roots and collar, is a most important point, and few half 
hardy trees and shrubs will be seriously injured, if the ground over 
their roots is covered a few inches deep with straw or dead leaves. 
Every lady should have two or three hand-glasses, of different sizes, 
always at her disposal, even during summer, for the convenience of 
sheltering newly transplanted plants, &c.; and for winter use she 
~ should have several beehive-like covers, each with a handle for lifting 
it, formed of plaited rushes or some similar materials, which may 
easily be made by poor women and children in country places, under 
the direction of a lady; and which will be a charitable mode of em- 
ploying them. 
Insects, and Snails, and Slugs, are the terror of all gardeners ; and 
the destruction they effect in some seasons in small gardens is almost 
beyond the bounds of credibility. Birds do comparatively little inju- 
ry, and indeed all the soft-billed kinds (which fortunately include must 
of the sweetest songsters) do good. ‘The willow and common wrens, 
the black-cap, the nightingale, the redstart, all the warblers and fly- 
catchers, the swallows:and martins, the wagtails, the wryneck, the 
tom-tit, the fern owl or night jar, and many others, live almost en- 
tirely on insects, and destroy great numbers every year: while the 
blackbird and the thrush, the robin and the sparrows, though they 
devour a portion of the fruit, destroy insects also. AJ] birds may in- 
deed be safely encouraged in small gardens near towns, as they will 
~ do much more good than ek and a few cherries and currants are 
a cheap price to pay for their delightful songs. 
