384 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



APRIL. 



PROTECTING THE BLOSSOMS OF FRUIT-TREES. 



The pruning and nailing of all fruit-trees being finished last 

 month, many of the earlier kinds will now be coming into 

 blossom, and in this precarious climate will, in many situa- 

 tions, require protection from cutting winds, as well as from 

 the effects of frosts, which of late years have cut off the crops 

 of fruit while in their tender state ; and in many of the finer 

 sorts of fruits, such as peaches, nectarines, &c., done much 

 injury to the expanding shoots. Various have been the opi- 

 nions of the propriety or impropriety of protecting trees, and 

 as many plans have been recommended as there have been 

 opinions advanced on the subject. The majority of practical 

 gardeners, however, agree in the propriety of protecting, by 

 some means or other, the blossoms and young shoots of all 

 their tender trees. In situations, so happily placed as to ren- 

 der shelter unnecessary, much labour and expense will be 

 saved, and the trees upon the whole will be less injured, than 

 by the most ingenious mode of covering that could be adopted. 

 Upon a subject of so much importance, we will give the sub- 

 stance of the different modes pursued with as much brevity as 

 possible. 



The most simple and primitive mode is, that of cover- 

 ing with fronts of ferns, spruce, or other branches, stuck in 

 amongst the branches of the trees, and generally remain until 

 all danger from frost is supposed to be past. This is done on 

 a rational principle in Sweden, Denmark, and other parts of 

 the north of Europe, to retard the blossom by excluding the 

 rays of the sun, which often, at this early season, shine with 

 great warmth throughout the day, by which the sap is set 

 in motion and the flowers are induced to expand, while the 

 nights follow wdth severe frosts, and either destroy the fer- 

 tilizing pollen of the male parts of the fructification, or ren- 

 der them unfit for their important offices, by which the chance 



