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LVIII. On the Preservation of Fig Trees in the Winter, 

 By Mr. James Mean, Gardener to Sir Abraham Hume, 

 Bart, at Wormleybury, in Hertfordshire. 



Read July 2, 1816. 



JVIost of our Fig trees against the walls having been killed 

 by a long and severe frost in the winter preceding, I attempt- 

 ed in 1789 a plan for protecting them from a similar injury, 

 which I can now detail with some confidence in its merit, 

 having continued to practise it since that time with un- 

 interrupted success. 



In the autumn, as soon as the leaves are off, the branches 

 are unnailed and brought down to the ground, which is 

 opened to the depth of nine or ten inches close to the wall ; 

 in the trench thus made the branches are laid, and covered 

 with a light red sand to the thickness of two feet, which is 

 sufficient to exclude all frost. About the middle of April 

 the sand is removed; the branches being then well washed, 

 are again nailed to the wall and never fail to produce a crop. 



I always introduce a proportion of young wood every year, 

 and do not suffer any to remain on the trees older than six 

 or seven years. 



