XI EXHIBITING 217 



been injury and can be no perfect bloom. Such buds, 

 if left, will often in June look as if they had been 

 clean cut in two horizontally with a knife, and though 

 they will harden and may swell a little, they will not 

 open at all. This injury is due to frost, or perhaps a 

 very cold night without actual frost, when the bud is 

 just formed and the extreme tip, at that time most 

 tender, exposed to the air. 



Before the buds begin to open, measures must be 

 taken to shelter the delicate blooms from rain and 

 sometimes from sun. Almost all the Teas and 

 certain of the H.P.s are liable to a good deal of injury 

 from rain and sometimes even from heavy dews. 

 Of the many kinds of protectors which have been 

 tried, from old umbrellas to Willesden waterproof 

 paper shades, there are probably none better now 

 than the protectors of white calico brought out by Mr. 

 E. 'E. "West, of Eeigate. They seem a little small, 

 but the square stick and square socket form an 

 excellent contrivance to prevent horizontal movement 

 by the wind, and the simple spring to hold the cone 

 higher or lower is a decided improvement. In 

 placing the protector over a bud great pains should 

 be taken to see that both are firm and not likely to 

 be moved by the wind. Severe gusts often accom- 

 pany thunderstorms, the protectors offer a good deal 

 of resisting surface, and the bud, if chafed while it be 

 wet, is sure to be spoiled. 



The protectors should be raised or removed when 

 the rain is over, particularly if the bud is close to 

 the ground, as they check the evaporation from the 

 wet soil and keep the bud in a damp state. It often 

 does good rather than harm to bend down the shoot 

 of a Tea Eose bud to get it under the protector, in 



