For covering half-hardy plants, or screening from dry winds, various means are employed. In France, a basket is constructed, of two semicylinders, constructed in the mode of straw hives. To these are fixed solid feet of wood to drive into the ground. If it is necessary to shelter one plant from east or northeast winds, one cylinder is sufficient; but if it is a plant which you are forced to protect, is delicate, and requires a more complete protection, you inclose it between the two semi-cylinders, fixed one to the other by means of hooks represented in the drawing. A lid of the same construction, furnished at its edge with a circle of woodwork, is fitted, when necessary, on the cylinder, and thus, perhaps, offers a more effectual shelter against the severity of cold winds and excessive heat than any other. These sorts of shades are light to move, very solid, and very warm; for, letting but little of the exterior air penetrate, they preserve at night the heat which accumulates in the interior. They would also guard plants well from the sun, and thus offer a means of checking the natural perspiration of green parts.

Probably nothing could be invented more suitable for the protection of young plants, like the magnolia grandiflora, in this latitude, where the frozen sap is attacked by the sun, and the leaves in young specimens annually killed. For protecting the stems of grafted roses from the summer sun, they might be made of basket willows.