xI EXHIBITING 217 
been injury and can be no perfect bloom. Such buds, 
if left, will often in June look as if they had been 
clean cut in two horizontally with a knife, and though 
they will harden and may swell a little, they will not 
open at all. This injury is due to frost, or perhaps a 
very cold night without actual frost, when the bud is 
just formed and the extreme tip, at that time most 
tender, exposed to the air. 
Before the buds begin to open, measures must be 
taken to shelter the delicate blooms from rain and 
sometimes from sun. Almost all the Teas and 
certain of the H.P.s are liable to a good deal of injury 
from rain and sometimes even from heavy dews. 
Of the many kinds of protectors which have been 
tried, from old umbrellas to Willesden waterproof 
paper shades, there are probably none better now 
than the protectors of white calico brought out by Mr. 
R. E. West, of Reigate. They seem a little small, 
but the square stick and square socket form an 
excellent contrivance to prevent horizontal movement 
by the wind, and the simple spring to hold the cone 
higher or lower is a decided improvement. In 
placing the protector over a bud great pains should 
be taken to see that both are firm and not likely to 
be moved by the wind. Severe gusts often accom- 
pany thunderstorms, the protectors offer a good deal 
of resisting surface, and the bud, if chafed while it be 
wet, is sure to be spoiled. 
The protectors should be raised or removed when 
the rain is over, particularly if the bud is close to 
the ground, as they check the evaporation from the 
wet soil and keep the bud in a damp state. It often 
does good rather than harm to bend down the shoot 
of a Tea Rose bud to get it under the protector, in 
