134 PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVEABLE STRUCTURES. 



these brackets the coping-boards are secured by broad-headed iron 

 pins, passing through corresponding holes, , in the board and bracket, 

 Fig. 108. a s lip f i ron > or " spare-nail," being then 



introduced through an eye in the lower end 

 of the pin. The upper edge of the board is 

 slightly bevelled, so as to fit as closely as 

 possible to the under side of the coping of 

 the wall, in order effectually to obstruct the 

 radiation of heat, and the ascent of warm air. 

 Iron bracket for supporting a From this coping, woollen netting of vari- 

 temporary wooden coding. ^ ^^ common netting> such as fisher _ 



men use, bunting, and thin canvas, have been let down, and tried 

 experimentally, in the course of the last fifteen years ; and we 

 are informed by Mr. Thompson, that after repeated trials, the thin 

 canvas was found the preferable article for utility, appearance, and 

 duration. This description of fabric costs about 4J. per yard, pro- 

 cured direct from the makers. It requires to be joined into convenient 

 lengths, or into the whole length of the wall to be covered, and bound 

 with tape at top and bottom, and to have loops or rings sewed to it at 

 top, by which it is secured to small hooks screwed to the upper side of 

 the coping-boards. These hooks serve also for attaching the ends of 

 pieces of twine, which are stretched down to pegs driven in a line four 

 feet from the bottom of the wall. These twine -rafters are stretched 

 at intervals of twelve feet, and support the canvas at a uniform slope, 

 the appearance being that of an elegant light roof, reaching to within 

 three feet of the ground. The coping-boards are put up before the 

 blossom-buds of the peach-trees have swelled so much as to exhibit the 

 tips of the petals ; and before the most forward buds open, the thin 

 canvas (or netting, if that should be preferred) should be attached to 

 the hooks. The covering is generally put up about the beginning of 

 March, and it remains on without being opened or altered, till all 

 danger from frost is over, which is generally, in the climate of London , 

 about the middle of May. The coping is entirely removed at the same 

 time as the canvas, because the trees are found to thrive much better 

 when exposed to perpendicular rains and dews. The canvas is found 

 to be of great utility in bright sunny weather, when the trees are in 

 full blossom; for the peach and other stone fruit, which in their 

 native country blossom at an early period of the season, whilst the air 

 is yet cool, do not succeed so well in setting when the blossoms are 

 exposed to as much as 100, which they frequently are, against a south 

 wall. The thin canvas admits also plenty of air ; while woollen net- 

 ting, which it might be thought would admit still more air, was found 

 to render the leaves too tender, in which case they suffer from the 

 intensity of the light when the netting is removed. Common thread 

 netting is not liable to produce this effect, being much more airy ; 

 and this netting has the advantage, when not placed farther than a foot 

 from the wall, of admitting of the trees being syringed through it. 

 Very little syringing, however, is required till the trees are out of 

 blossom, and none while they are in blossom ; and when the space 



