690 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1895. 
that the young trees fared very little better upon 
them than in the orchard. They next tried the 
wall, not as in some countries, where mural en- 
closures are built at great expense for the special 
protection of delicate fruit, but the sunny sides of 
their houses, and this met with such astonishing 
.success that there are few houses today in Belgium 
upon whose southern exposed sides trees are not 
trained. No chateau is too grand, and no collate 
too humble, to furnish them protection and sup- 
port. Consul Smith says that last summer he saw 
ripening upon the gable end of a town house, a sur- 
face of about 30 feet square, over 2,300 peaches, 
and every one of them larger than a hen's egg. 
There were four trees, two of them with dwarf 
stems, not more than 12 inches high, and branches 6 
feet long, radiating like the ribs of a fan, and two 
" riders," or bushes grafted upon tall stocks, w hose 
boughs began to spread where the others terminated. 
At the time of flowering, it is always necessary to 
shield the buds from the action of frost, and this is 
done by various methods, the best of which experi- 
ence has shown to be the placing, among the upper 
boughs of the trees, of branches cut from other green 
trees. This plan has been attended by good re- 
sults, though it should be employed with great 
caution, as too much shade is apt to stifle the 
germs, by excluding the rays of the sun. Another 
method, until recently very much in vogue, and 
always effective, is the employment of mosquito 
netting, or other cheap material with meshes large 
enough to admit the free passage of light and air 
the old custom tof using closely- woven cloth, like 
able or bed linen, at night, and removing it in the. 
morning, is said to be more dangerous than the 
frost itself, as the trees cit this season cannot be de- 
prived of air without serious injury. In addition, 
this artificial heat at night, succeeded by the 
warmth of the sun, hastens their blowing, when 
the object is to delay it as long as possible. Shad- 
ing at noon is sometimes as essential as covering 
at night. The poor succeed very well in protect- 
ing their fruit, by placing a number of horizontal 
poles about 18 inches apart, and from 4 to 0 inches 
from the trees, and covering them with light w ispS 
of straw. In good situations, pent houses will some- 
times suffice to protect the fruit ; in any case, they 
are extremely useful in checking the flow of sap. 
Since 1876, the following addition to this method 
has made assurance doubly sure : — A fringe, made 
of unthreshed rye straw, by tying the cut ends of 
the stalk together with twine or cord, 6 or 8 in a 
loop, with spaces of about 3 inches between the 
wisps, is attached to a pole and suspended under 
the eaves of the penthouse and in front of the trees. 
The texture being open, it does not prevent the 
light and air from reaching the buds. These 
shields are usually placed in position about the 
1st March, and are not removed, except in cloudy 
weather, until all danger from frost has passed. — 
.Journal of tltc Society of Arts. 
TEA AND SCANDAL. 
The following extracts are from " The School of 
Politics, or Humours of a Coffee House. A Poem, 
1690," and I daresay many of your readers will agree 
with me in heartily sympathising with the sentiment 
expressed in the last stanza more than 200 years 
ago ! : — 
I. — 'Twas Claret that we drank, and 'twas as fine, 
As ever yet deserv'd the name of Wine: 
Each Man his Flash we thought a moderate Dose, 
"When just as we were giving o'er, 
Comes in our honest Landlord in the Close, Pro- 
testing we should drunk his Bottle more: 
■Which done and all our lleclconing paid, Each did' 
a. several way repair j 
Some went to walk and some to bed : But I, who 
had an hour to spare. 
Went to a neighbouring Coff'ri -//oust, and there 
Witts sober Liquor to refine my Head. 
II. — Whate'er th' occasion was I cannot tell, Whether 
the Wine had discompoh'd my ffinWj 
Or some false Medium did my Keason blind, But 
so it was, I took the Place for Hett; 
The Master of the House with Kerf / . , Did 
like insulting I'luto seem. 
"Whilst all his Guest* he d'd condemn, To drink a 
Liquor of infernal Kace, 
Black, scalding, and of most offensive Smell : Tremb- 
ling and pale, I cross'd myself all o'er. 
And mumbl'd Art- Mants by the Sjore, At length, 
by strange insensible degrees, 
My Fears all vanish'd, and my Mind fouud ease, 
My scatter'd Reason reassuiu'd its place. 
And I perceived with whom, and inhere I was. 
IX. — By this time our admir'd nit Had drank his 
Dish of Tea, and then 
Begins with — Look ye, Gentlemen, &c. * * * Hoy 
here's for my Tea, 
Then leaves the Hoom. 
XIII. — Pox, this Coffee scalds my Throat (Another 
cries) 'tis in all Sense too hot ; 
Prithee go fetch a Pair of Bellows hither, And 
make my dish know cooler Weather. 
XVIII. — You wear no Sword, I see, and 'twould be 
base To draw upon a naked Man, 
But here's my Dish of Coffee in your Face. T' 
other, though scalded, would not be 
Behind-hand with him in Civility, But flung a glass 
of Mum so pat, 
It spoil'd both Pemkoig and Point Crarat. 
XXrV. — More various Scenes of Humour I might 
tell, Which in my little stay befel; 
Such as grave Citts, who spending Farthings four, 
Sit, smoke, and warm themselves an hour, 
Of modish Town-Sparks, drinking Chocolate, With 
Berir cockt, and laughing loud, 
To be thought Wits among the Crow d, Or sipping 
Tea, while they relate 
Their Evening's Frolick at the Hose. But now I 
think 'tis time to close, 
Lest to my Header I should give offence, And he 
be tir'd with mine, 
As I was with their dull Impertinence, My Reck'ning 
paid, I left the Room, 
And in my passage Home reflected thus. . . « 
Is this the much-desir'd 
Blessing of Life, which most unjustly we call 
/tegidar Society t 
Well, to my cioset I'll repair, Past Times with 
present to compare, 
Myself to strictest study I'll condemn, And 'mongst 
some Authours wise and good, 
Who Mankind best have understood, My Weeks, 
Months, Years, endeavour to x-edeem : 
Which vainly foolish and unthinking I Have spent 
in what we falsely call Good Company. 
In "A character of Loudon- Village, by a Country 
Poet," it says that :— 
" The Coffee-House, the Rendez-vouz of Wits, Is a 
Compound of Gentlemen and Cits.'' 
In the Catalogue of the British Museum Reading 
Room I found the following title: "Songs. To the 
Tune of "The Tea Tax,' or nearly so. Published by Tar. 
Feathers & Co. Price Two cents. New York, 1845 ?" 
To all and singular in this full meeting. 
Ladies and gallants, Phoebus sends you greeting. 
To all his sons, by whate'er title known, 
Whether of court, or coffee-house, or town. 
* .* * * jlf : ;.\.t y» J 
As for the coffee-wits he says not much, 
Their proper business is to damn the Dutch. 
Epilogue. The Indian Eiiiperor. John Dryden, 1665. 
7, on; Life. 1764. p. 1. The Salop-man hi Fleet-Street 
shirts up his gossiping Coffee-House, p. 58. Poli- 
ticians, who have been some Time poring over tb% 
