216 GENERAL DIRECTIONS 



of two or three inches. May is the proper month for 

 this. It is most employed for light soils. 



PROTECTION FROM THE LATE FROSTS OF SPRING. 



The late frosts, snow, hail, and cold wet weather 

 of spring are extremely injurious to fruit trees, and 

 notably so to stone fruits. We shall point out what 

 may be done to counteract this, considering espaliers 

 and standards separately. 



Espaliers. The coping of walls against which fruit 

 trees are planted often projects ten or twelve inches ; 

 insufficient to protect from cold, it becomes positively 

 injurious towards the end of May, by depriving the trees 

 of the full action of the warm and genial summer rains. 

 It is, therefore, better to let the copings project only 

 about four inches, and to protect the trees thus : 



For walls without trellis we fasten a number of 

 wooden rods or supports (fig. 180), projecting about 



iiil 



Fig. 180. Protection for Espaliers. 



two feet, and inclined to an angle of about 30 degrees. 

 In February, when the trees begin to vegetate, we 

 fasten to these supports the straw matting made into 



