162 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



449. Oiled-paper caps are also constructed for protecting or shading her- 

 baceous plants in the open garden, and more especially for protecting the 

 young shoots of Dahlias when newly planted out in spring, and their flowers, 

 from the frost of autumn. In low situations, near water. Dahlias are gene- 

 rally blackened by frost five or six weeks before tliis takes place in high 

 grounds ; but by the use of such caps as we are about to describe, the plants 

 may be protected from perpendicular frosts until the roots are ripe. A cap 

 or head for this purpose is shown in figs. 90 to 93. Fig. 90 represents the 



/ ^...mmm^ 93 



.91 



I 



Figs, yo to 93. Oiled paper cap for protecting Dahlias and other flowers. 



stake which supports the cap, in which a, represents a hooked wire 

 attached to the stake, and adapted to an eye in the stem of the cap, to make 

 sure of holding the latter fast ; 6, shows the four side branches to which the 

 Dahlia-shoots are tied ; c, a wooden peg for fastening the tenon of the cap 

 into the mortice of the stake ; and e, the surface of the ground. Fig. 91 is 

 a geometrical elevation of one side of the frame of the cap, in which is 

 shown, /, the summit where the two ribs that form the four angles of the 

 cap cross each other, into v/hich the stem, ^, is inserted ; A, shows the edge 

 of the mortise ; i, the lower wire ; A:, the upper wire ; and /, one of the ribs. 

 Fig. 92 is a perspective view of the skeleton of the cap, in which mrt repre- 

 sents the point where the two ribs cross, and the hole in the tenon for the 

 peg, c, in fig. 90 ; and o, the eye for the hook, d. Fig. 93 is a perspective 

 view of the stake and cap represented inserted in the ground, in which p 

 represents the side branches, to which ought to be attached the stems of the 

 dahlias ; and c, the surface of the ground. The size of the caps is about 

 eighteen inches on the side, and the length of the stake is four feet ; but in 

 constructing them the workman will, of course, adjust the length of the 

 stake and the diameter of the cap to the height and breadth of the plant to 

 be protected. These caps are the invention of Mr. John Turn bull (Gard. 

 Mag. xiii. p. 212), who says they will endure for many years with but 

 little repair. A cap of wickerwork, for the same purpose, is described in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle, vol. i. p. 181. It consists of an inverted shallow 

 basket, to which is attached a tube made of the same material, through which 

 the Dahlia stick is passed ; and a peg being inserted between the stick and 



