PRESERVATION OF PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND. 14<5 



weather through the wiiiter, which, however, was a mild 

 one. 



For larger shrubs and trees than we have yet mentioned, 

 the best kind of protection is wicker basket work, made in 

 two halves, to be brought together by putting half on each 

 side the plant, and fastened together with hooks : although 

 it does not keep in all the heat or repel all the cold winds, it 

 is a great preservation, and if it be anything very tender, 

 matting can be put round the \\4cker work to render it still 

 more close, though we have found it equal to saving the 

 Agave americana, which is very succulent and susceptible of 

 injuiy without any very intense frost. The wicker work can 

 be wove as close and as impervious to weather, or nearly so, 

 as any matting can be found. Cui'tis, of Moorend, Bristol, 

 recommends his patrons to protect the heads of roses with a 

 kind of cap made of oiled calico, stretched on a vdve shape, 

 and to be put on like a man's nightcap, not at going to bed, 

 but for the whole A^dnter season, during which period in fact 

 the tree is at rest. There is no doubt but this is an effectual 

 preservative, but the appearance is against them ; although, 

 as he justly observes, they might be painted of a dark colour, 

 that they may not look so conspicuous ; others merely tie uj) 

 the heads pretty close together, and mat them round. Any 

 way they look ugly, therefore we prefer taking them up alto- 

 gether and putting them in by the heels, where one mat can 

 cover all their heads at once, or tying them up in a mass with 

 bass matting as neatly as possible, and letting them remain in 

 their places. "We have been in a garden where the rose stocks 

 were all boimd up with hay-bands, but the common brier is 

 one of the most hardy things we have, and can take no harm ; 

 it is the budded part only that can be injui-ed by cold. If, 

 however, we are determined to grow the tender roses as 

 standards, they should be in a group that we could accommo- 

 date with some kind of covermg, in form of a tent, or as 

 dwarfs, where we could protect them with moss ; for it does 

 appear ugly to see in a garden a number of standard roses 

 •wdth their heads tied up, and it appears an act of great 

 violence to take them up and replant them every year. It is 

 no uncommon thing to see the front of a house matted up for 

 the sake of something that is under it ; but we seriously re- 

 commend all tender things to be placed in a compartment 

 by themselves (on a wall, for instance, devoted to such 



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