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PHYTOLOGY. 



ErrEOTs or the past wintee and present summer 



ON HARD-WOODED PLANTS. 

 By Colonel H. M. DRUMMOND HAY, C.M.Z.S. 



HAVING been asked to give my experience of the effects 

 on hard -wooded plants of the last severe winter of 

 1878-79, which has been followed by one of the coldest and 

 wettest summers on record, and as the subject is in many 

 points an interesting one, I have ventured to draw up a list 

 of a few evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs which have 

 come more immediately under my notice in this locality, four 

 miles east of Perth, on the banks of the Tay ; and in doing 

 so I have endeavoured, by grouping the plants according to 

 the several countries in which they are found, to give, as it 

 were, a comparative view of the respective climates from which 

 they have been introduced. To carry this out effectually, how- 

 ever, it would require a thorough knowledge of locality, altitude, 

 &c., which, unfortunately, I have not at present the means of 

 obtaining. So much depends on circumstances, the nature of 

 the soil into which plants have been introduced, the aspect, 

 moisture, or otherwise, exposure to winds, as also whether the 

 preceding summer has been dry and hot, or wet and cold, — to 

 define what is really hardy and what is not. Thus, plants having 

 last year experienced a very hot and dry summer, naturally 

 had their buds matured and wood well ripened, and were con- 

 sequently placed under the most favourable circumstances for 

 contending against a severe and long-protracted winter such as 

 we have lately passed through. On the other hand, many plants 

 usually considered perfectly hardy, may, after passing through a 

 severe winter, have to endure a cold, sunless, wet summer, like 

 the present, in which case they will probably succumb, though 

 surviving uninjured the previous winter's frost. This has been 

 pre-eminently the case in the present season — and should next 

 winter be as severe as the last, we may expect, from the immature 



