58 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



But the tender and delicate Teas are to be protected 

 from frost, and how is this best to be done ? 



Long manure is unsightly and unclean, and difficult 

 to get away properly, while clean straw looks untidy 

 and messy and is not a good protection. For a long 

 time bracken (the common brake-fern) has been 

 recommended by nurserymen, and good and useful it is 

 where it can be had. If it can be procured at a 

 reasonable price per load, a stipulation should be made 

 that it be cut before it has got quite sere, in fact just 

 when it begins to turn. In this case the leafy parts will 

 adhere much longer to the skeleton stalks ; but care must 

 be taken that it be not laid before use even in small 

 heaps, or it will be sure to heat to a certain extent and 

 speedily rot. It should be put lightly yet thickly 

 around and amongst the dwarf Teas and into their 

 heads : there is no fear of its blowing away, but after a 

 heavy snow it may get beaten down a little too much, 

 and a further supply, which should be kept in sheaves, 

 standing in stooks, may be added. For standards it is 

 a capital protection, tied tightly together at the top, 

 and allowed to hang down all round, with a looser 

 fastening at the bottom, as a sort of rough thatch : 

 wheat straw may also be used in this manner, but if fir 

 or laurel boughs be the protecting material chosen, the 

 plant may be too top-heavy to stand a violent wind 

 without some additional support. 



For a few dwarf Teas a rude platform of crotched 

 sticks with poles laid on them to support fir or ever- 

 green boughs answers generally very well : in this 

 case it would be good for the plants to remove the 

 protection when there is no severe frost; and it may 

 be taken as a general rule that frost to the extent 

 of ten to twelve or even more degrees will do no harm 



