By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 507 



have become full grown in the end of June. These are pre- 

 served under cover till the following spring ; when they have 

 become (what I consider a very important circumstance) per- 

 fectly dry. They are then secured to the walls by a few 

 nails and shreds, with their points hanging perpendicularly 

 downwards, their upper and thick ends being in contact with 

 the wall, and the opposite slender extremities projecting 

 eight or ten inches from it. This position of the covering 

 material appears to me to be an extremely advantageous one, 

 and whether it be or whether it be not so, I have constantly 

 employed it in this manner during more than ten years ; and 

 in every year a very large portion of my blossoms have 

 escaped injury under its protection. Even in the present 

 season, one of the most unfavorable I have ever known, my 

 Apricot trees bear a good crop, and the blossom of my Peach 

 and Nectarine trees, though it was feeble, owing to the wet- 

 ness of the last summer, and existed generally in small quan- 

 tities only, has set well, in some cases in useless abundance. 



The discretion of the gardener must direct him relatively 

 to the quantity of the material to be used with advantage. 

 If the situation of his garden be low, he may cover his trees 

 more closely than if it be high, but the covering should never 

 be so thick, or close, as to prevent a large portion of the 

 blossom being visible to a person passing within a few feet of 

 the wall : and under such circumstances almost every blos- 

 som will in some parts of the day receive a portion of the 

 solar rays. As the danger to be apprehended from frost 

 diminishes, and the quantity of young shoots and foliage in- 

 creases, the covering material should, at successive periods, 

 and in small quantities at a time, be taken away. My ex- 



