1868. ] 
FRUIT-TREE AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 
161 
protectors are fixed, tier above tier, to the face of a wall or other fence, 
and the branches, treated on the close-pinching system, are carried along 
horizontally within them, as shown in the annexed figure. A wall, how¬ 
ever, is not essential; a boarded fence would serve the purpose equally 
well, or even a steep bank with a south aspect. 
For Pears a somewhat different arrangement is proposed. Both Pears 
and Apples may be grown in single file, as cordons by the edges of walks ; 
but they may also be grown on a kind of trellis, which may be compared 
to a sloping espalier, when it is desired to extend the development of the 
trees beyond the limits of a single cordon. A more simple plan, and one 
perhaps, still more likely to be successful, would be to train the trees against 
trellised ridges of earth, which would give at once both a southern and a 
northern aspect, and would be less costly than an elevated trellis. 
The author very prudently observes, that much care will be needed to 
ensure success. “ We are working with powerful forces in limited areas. 
Our motive power, that of the sun, is concentrated into a small compass; 
it will, therefore, need the more attention to watch and control its opera¬ 
tions.” This is undoubtedly true. In all confined areas for growing 
plants, and most so in proportion as they are limited in extent, there is a 
great danger of damage arising from excess of heat. This is, in fact, one 
of the chief drawbacks to the otherwise most useful Wardian case, and 
cannot fail to be felt in the still smaller area of the Patent Protectors ; but 
it is a defect for which experience will soon suggest a remedy. Undoubtedly 
in our latitude we want helps of some kind to improve the climate, in order 
to grow successfully our choicer fruits, whether that help be afforded as a 
protection from spring frost, during or even before the blooming period, or 
for perfecting the development of the fruit at a later period, or for both 
purposes ; and in this view we regard Mr. Ptendle’s protectors, as deserving 
