Where people suffer much from the birds eating out buds, as I do, I strongly recommend picking some of the branches of Prunus pissardi when in bud, and sticking them into Japanese wedges or into ordinary glass vases. This, in so far as house decoration is concerned, defeats the bullfinches, and the buds come out very well in the room. This is the same with all the early-flowering blossoms. The pink Almond and Pyrus japonica are far more lovely flowered in water in a warm room than left on the trees exposed to the cold nights and the nipping east wind.