4 THE FLORIST. 
TIFFANY AS A FRUIT PROTECTOR. 
Frw of our readers will have forgotten the famous discussion on the 
subject of protection to wall fruit trees, which took place in our pages a 
few years back. Since that time, we imagine the views of some of those 
who then advocated that protection was useless have materially changed. 
The spring of 1859 has taught us a lesson which will not soon be 
forgotten ; for even under canvas screens, unless where the material 
was of extra thickness, crops of wall fruit were destroyed; and we 
have heard of some being killed even in orchard houses. These facts 
go to establish a pretty plain truism, that a crop of wall Peaches, without 
protection, is about as certain, in such seasons as the last, as the premier 
prize in the great Frankfort lottery. 
To redeem our pledge of last month, we shall now say a word or two 
on the subject of tiffany as a fruit protector. 
It is no argument against the use of protection to say that 1t some- 
times does more harm than good. We know such is the case when the 
protecting material is applied some time before the bloom opens ; and 
when kept on the trees constantly, it prevents the bloom opening 
freely, and this exclusion necessarily causes the blooms to expand 
weakly, and to set indifferently ; add to which the young wood comes 
weakly, and the attacks of the green-fly are almost certain to follow. 
This state of things usually occurs where coverings of fir branches or 
other evergreens have been used, as well as canvas netting, &c., where 
the means do not exist for removing it entirely when the days are 
fine; as we consider it indispensable to the setting of the fruit that 
the trees when in bloom should be fully exposed on all favourable 
occasions. 
The most certain mode of protecting wall trees hitherto adopted 
(glass of course excluded) is a somewhat expensive affair, and consists 
of canvas mounted on rollers in the usual way, and made capable of 
letting down and rolling up over lean-to poles, placed at a distance from 
the walls, to clear the trees sufficiently. This is the plan practised at 
the Royal Gardens and elsewhere. The covering is let down each 
night, and rolled up by day when the weather is fine, and indeed at 
all times unless when freezing. Of all the appliances we have seen 
this is the best. The material may either be canvas as stated, woollen 
netting, or frigi domo, which are more expensive, but will last longer 
than canvas. 
What we propose to do with tiffany is to form with it a kind of 
artificial coping, projecting 3 or 4 feet wide from the top of the wall, 
and which we shall consider as a permanent protection while the trees 
are in bloom, and continued until the weather becomes warm enough 
to prevent its injuring the young foliage, which in cold seasons is 
liable to blister and curl, up to the middle of May. We have found 
the use of projecting copings of wood used as a protection objectionable, 
by obstructing the light to the upper part of the wall, in place of which 
we propose substituting tiffany, which would admit light sufficient for 
