122 PROTECTING FROM FROSTS. [chap. v. 
but those of the tree pmony, and other beau¬ 
tiful shrubs, are frequently destroyed by 
them; and, unfortunately, many of the 
modes of protection, by knocking off and 
bruising the blossoms, are almost as injurious 
as the frosts that they are intended to guard 
against. Twisting a straw-rope round the 
trunk of the tree, and putting its ends into a 
bucket of water, is certainly a simple method, 
and it has been recommended as a very effi¬ 
cacious one. When a mat is used to protect 
wall trees, it does perhaps least injury to the 
blossoms, when curtain rings are sewed to its 
upper end, and it is hung by these on hold¬ 
fasts, or large hooks, driven into the upper 
part of the wall. To make it more secure, par¬ 
ticularly in windy we’ather, it may be tied on 
the sides with bast to nails driven into the wall; 
and a broad moveable wooden coping should 
rest on the hold-fasts, and cover the space 
between the mat and the wall, to prevent 
injury from what are called perpendicular 
frosts. Camellias and many half-hardy 
shrubs may be protected by laying straw or 
litter round the roots; as the severest frosts 
seldom penetrate more than a few inches into 
