ON PROTECTING THE STEMS OF FRUIT-TREES FROM FROST. 287 



fails. The apple and pear tree appear to be affected to the same extent 

 by similar degrees of cold. Their blossoms, like those of the oak, often 

 unfold perfectly well, and present the most healthy and vigorous cha- 

 racter ; and their pollen sheds freely. Their fruit also appears to set 

 well ; but the whole, or nearly the whole, falls off just at the period when 

 its growth ought to commence. Some varieties of the apple and pear are 

 much more capable of bearing unfavourable weather than others ; and 

 even the oak trees present in this respect some dissimilarity of consti- 

 tution. 



It is near the surface of the earth that frost in the spring operates 

 most powerfully ; and the unfolding buds of oak and ash trees, which are 

 situated near the ground, are not unfrequently destroyed, whilst those of 

 the more elevated branches escape injury ; and hence arises, I think, a 

 probability that some advantages may be derived from protecting the 

 stems or larger branches of fruit trees, as far as practicable, from frost 

 in the spring ; and the following facts appear strongly to support this 

 conclusion. 



Mr. Williams of Pitmaston pointed out to me, two or three years 

 ago, an apple tree which, having had its stem and part of its larger 

 branches covered by evergreen trees, had borne a succession of crops of 

 fruit ; whilst other trees of the same variety, and growing contiguously in 

 the same soil, but without having had their stems protected, had been 

 wholly unproductive. I subsequently saw, in the garden of another 

 of my friends, Mr. Arkwright of Hampton Court, in Herefordshire, a 

 nectarine tree, which having sprung up from a seed accidentally in a 

 plantation of laurels, had borne as a standard tree three successive crops 

 of fruit. The possessor of it, with the intention of promoting its growth 

 and health, cut away the laurel branches which surrounded its stems, in 

 the winter of 1823-4, and in the succeeding season not a single fruit was 

 produced. Never having known an instance of a standard nectarine tree 

 bearing fruit in a climate so unfavourable, or nearly so unfavourable, I 

 was led to expect that the variety possessed an extraordinary degree of 

 hardiness : but having inserted some buds of it into bearing branches 

 upon the walls of my garden at Downton in the autumn of 1822, I have 

 not had any reason to believe that its blossoms are at all more patient 

 of cold than those of other seedling varieties of the nectarine. 



I planted some years ago in my garden, under a wall, in a north-east 

 aspect, and shaded by a contiguous building, a common Chinese rose tree 

 (Rosa indica) and a plant of Irish ivy. Both have risen considerably 

 above the top of the wall, which is thirteen feet high ; and the rose tree, 



