GENERAL PRACTICE. PROTECTION. lg? 



upright pipe for slipping into it. This will keep the whole firm, and with the 

 material galvanised, the cage will last for a number of years. Where walls or close 

 fences exist they can be utilised for fastening the netting along the top in enclosing 

 fruits that may be grown in the borders. At each end provide a door. Close the 

 doors as soon as the buds commence swelling, open them when the fruit is set ; once 

 more close as the fruit shows indications of ripening, and exclude birds till all is 

 gathered. They then have access when they can do good only, and the netting 

 saves the fruit considerably from the " pitting " effects of hailstorms. Any desired 

 extent of ground may be enclosed in the manner indicated, and the " cages," which are 

 not expensive, are most valuable in insuring a long supply of fruit in gardens. 



Protecting Blossom. All blossoms are liable to damage by frost ; even the latest 

 apple blossom, which does not expand until past the middle of May, is sometimes 

 destroyed. Owing to variation in the date of the blossoms unfolding in different 

 varieties, the opinion has long obtained that the early flowers were, as a rule, destroyed, 

 the late escaping. That is not in close accord with facts. Duchess of Oldenburg and 

 Keswick Codlin apples are amongst the earliest to flower, yet few are more certain 

 in bearing good crops of fruit. Immunity from injury by frost depends largely on 

 constitutional hardiness and, to a material extent, on floral construction. Cup-shaped 

 flowers, especially when the petals overlap, afford better protection to the tender 

 fructifying organs than these can receive when the petals are flat. 



Hardy constitution in the trees and perfect floral construction are the most 

 important factors in securing fruit. Blossom suffers most in low damp situations. 

 Trees growing in loose, rich soil have softer flowers than those produced by sturdy 

 examples of the same variety on higher ground, the former failing, the latter enduring 

 and setting good crops of fruit. Selecting hardy varieties, and cultivating them in 

 a way by which they will be least prejudicially affected by climatic influences, is the 

 most certain method, short of protection, to adopt for insuring satisfactory crops of 

 fruit. 



Sometimes blossoms are crippled, when not destroyed, by frost, and unable to 

 perform their functions. This is seen in contorted staminate and pistillate organs, 

 resulting in imperfect fertilisation and deformed fruit. Frosts of 6 may damage the 

 blossom when damp, whilst 12 may do no harm when it is dry. It is not wise to 

 entrust trees on walls, or wherever protection can be afforded, to the weather after 

 the blossom buds unfold. A single breadth of tiffany or other light material stretched 



VOL. i. c c 



