70 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
as they are more tender and bloom earlier than the apple and the 
pear, tbey are more susceptible to injury. They should, therefore, 
have the first attention, and if, after they have been sufficiently pro- 
tected, suitable materials can be provided for the other fruit trained 
to the walls, there should be no hesitation in sheltering them from 
the destructive effect of spring frosts. After the peaches and nec- 
tarines, protect the apricots, which also flower very early, and then 
follow with the cherries, pears, and plums, in the order in which 
they are placed here. In the protection of the blossom of fruit trees, 
it must be constantly borne in mind that they are very much less 
susceptible to injury when perfectly dry. I cannot at this moment 
say exactly how many more degrees of frost they can bear without 
injury when quite dry, but I know there is a very considerable 
difference. There is some difficulty in maintaining the requisite 
degree of dryness, but much may be done without any great outlay- 
Glass copings are now manufactured for the purpose, but they are 
rather expensive, and in putting them up and taking them down 
again there is a considerable risk of breakage. A coping of wood 
answers quite as well, for it interferes but little with the light, and 
itis very much cheaper, and can be stowed away more readily. 
Copings eighteen inches in width are the most suitable, and these 
can be made by fixing two deals half-an-inch in thickness and nine 
inches in width, side by side. Nine-feet lengths are the most con- 
venient to handle, and to hold the boards together firmly there should 
be three cross-pieces, two near the ends and one in the middle. Strips 
of deal, an inch in thickness and three inches in width, will be of 
sufficient strength to fasten the boards together. To fix the coping 
to the wall, provide each length with two hooks, one to be near each 
end, and to be driven into the edge of the board ; and to correspond 
with these, fix, about two inches below the coping of the wall, 
eyelets of the proper size and distance apart, for receiving the hooks. 
When merely hooked up they will hang down, and to hold them 
out at the proper angle, provide poles of moderate strength ; fix 
them in a rather slanting direction, and let them be of a suflicient 
length, when driven into the ground, to hold the coping out with 
just sufficient slope to throw off the wet. One of these will suffice 
for each length, and should be fixed near the centre. The coping 
should, of course, rest upon the poles, and then, with a small screw 
near the end of each, and a corresponding screw in the coping, and 
a piece of string, the coping can be held so that it cannot move one 
way or the other. The cost of coping for a few of the choicest 
trees will not be great, for it may be made by a village carpenter, or 
even a handy labourer. It is not suggested that where there is a 
considerable wall surface all the trees should be provided with 
copings, although the cost would soon be repaid by the superiority 
of the crops. 
Nets, canvas, tiffany, and other textile fabrics, may be employed 
for the protection of fruit trees, but unless the covering can be 
taken off and put on, as the state of the weather may render neces- 
sary, nets possess an important advantage, inasmuch as they do not 
interfere with the circulation of air about the trees. A stout canvas 
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