NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 173 



bardy, and even the Laurel-leaved Poplar, stood the ordeal well. 

 Only one species of the genus, Pojmlus halsamifera, the Tacamahac 

 ■of the North American Indians, one of the earliest of all trees, had 

 its young delicate leaves thoroughly blackened, but recovered its 

 verdure astonishingly during the season. The three lilacs usually 

 cultivated in shrubberies {Syringa vulgaris, S. ijersica, and S. chin- 

 ■ensis), ordinarily known as the Common, the Persian, and the 

 Chinese Lilacs, natives, as their specific names imply, of much 

 warmer latitudes than ours, passed through the trying ordeal all 

 but scatheless, the flowers of all three being slightly injured when 

 growing in exposed situations. The Scotch Laburnum {Cytisus 

 aljnnus), although a hardier and far more self-reliant looking tree 

 than its English sister (the Cytisus laburnum), suff'ered more in 

 foliage than its more delicate relative, while both had their 

 inflorescence so much injured that the shrubberies of the Queen's 

 Park in June last were almost wholly devoid of the golden 

 tassels that form so conspicuous a feature at that time of year 

 in ordinary seasons. 



The Siberian Crah (Pyrus primifolius) hadits blossoms so destroyed 

 that there was no need for the Park-keeper to go round and pluck 

 all the crabs to prevent the boys from injuring the trees, but the 

 Rowan (P. aucuparia), and the Beam-tree (P. aria), seemed none 

 the worse, neither in flower nor foliage. The Snow-berry 

 (Symphoricarjios racemosus), a native of Canada, was blasted even 

 where well protected, as if a scathing fire had passed over it, yet 

 it recovered its normal healthy appearance most wonderfully 

 under the influence of more genial weather. The various species 

 and varieties of elms and willows all passed through the chilling 

 process most satisfactorily. 



I might go on multiplying instances and examples, if not ad 

 infinitum, at least ad nauseam, as I fear I may have done already, 

 but what I have brought forward is, I think, sufficient to show, 

 what perhaps nobody will be prepared to deny, that certain genera 

 and species of trees and shrubs are better adapted than others for 

 resisting the baneful influences of our uncertain climate, the worst 

 feature of which, undoubtedly, is the generally cold backward 

 character of our springs. This is, no doubt, the grand meteoro- 

 logical defect of Scotland. We frequently pass through winter 

 with but little frost or snow, and we as frequently see summer 

 glide away without enjoying any great amount of heat or sunshine, 



