PROPS. 



234 



PROTECTING. 



to the eye, yet its use on stakes to be 

 used among living plants cannot be 

 defended as artistical. A brown co- 

 lour, or some tint nearer that of the 

 bark of rods, say tbose of tbe ash or 

 hazel, would undoubtedly be in better 

 taste. Twining plants, such as the 

 Convolvulus, are frequently encou- 

 raged to twine round cords made fast 

 at the root of the plant at one end, 

 and to a wall, horizontal rail, or some 

 other fixed point or line, at the other. 

 Very handsome screens may be 

 formed in this manner, and also very 

 agreeable figures, provided care is 

 taken that the figure shall not be 

 much broader at the summit than it 

 is at the base. An obelisk, a column, 

 a cone, a pyramid, or a cross, in an 

 open airy situation, may be covered 

 so as to produce a very striking effect. 

 Arcades and covered ways, formed of 

 framework of wood or wire, may be 

 covered with creepers of every de- 

 scription ligneous or herbaceous ; but 

 the beauty of the flowers is only seen 

 externally, and the advantage to the 

 spectator walking beneath is shade 

 alone. When shade and the beauty 

 of the flowers are to be both enjoyed 

 by the spectator in a covered walk, 

 the covering ought to be produced by 

 arches placed at regular distances, so 

 as to admit of the air and light be- 

 tween, by which means the plants will 

 be covered with flowers from the 

 ground to the crown of the arch. The 

 arches may either cross the walk at 

 right angles, or they may cross each 

 other so that the vertical profile of 

 every two arches would form a cross. 



Trees, after they have grown for 

 some years, frequently lean to one 

 6ide, especially such trees as the Judas 

 tree, the Mulberry, the Pinaster, and 

 even the Laburnum. These require 

 props to set them upright, and the 

 kind requisite for this purpose is a 

 wooden prop forked at the extremity. 

 In like manner, the branches of trees 



sometimes split, or for other reasons 

 hang down, so as to incommode the 

 path or the surface beneath ; and in 

 this case the branches require to be 

 tied together by iron rods. 



Pro'tea. — Proteacece . — Singular- 

 looking plants, natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, which are very difficult 

 to cultivate, as their roots are fleshy 

 and very apt to be injured either by 

 a want of water or an excess. They 

 must also have abundance of light and 

 air, and not be crowded with other 

 plants. They should be grown in 

 pots nearly half-filled with potsherds, 

 in light turfy loam mixed with equal 

 parts of fine silver sand, and placed in 

 a greenhouse. Great care must be 

 taken in shifting them when they re- 

 quire larger pots, as their roots are 

 very brittle, and will be found to have 

 entwined themselves among the pot- 

 sherds, from which it is very difficult 

 to disengage them, and for this reason 

 the drainage should not be disturbed, 

 but transferred entire with the ball of 

 earth to the new pot. These plants 

 are propagated by cuttings taken off 

 at a joint, and planted in separate 

 pots in sand under a glass, but not 

 plunged in a hotbed ; and the glass 

 should be frequently taken off and 

 wiped, as the cuttings are very apt to 

 damp off. 



Protecting.— As half-hardy plants, 

 trained against a wall, are frequently 

 much injured by what are called per- 

 pendicular frosts, a thatched orwooden 

 coping, projecting about two feet from 

 the wall, will be found of the most 

 essential service in protecting them. 

 Such a coping, with a sprinkling of 

 straw or dead leaves over the roots, 

 and a hay-band twisted round the 

 trunk of the tree, about a foot from 

 the ground, to protect the collar of 

 the plant, will be sufficient to pro- 

 tect even tender plants from all or- 

 dinary frosts. Standard plants may 

 be protected by laying straw or dead 



