AVINTEU OF 1878-79 ON TKCES AND .S11UUI3S. 181 



wliile, U) mitigate the iiiuount (if cold, tlie winter of ]<S78-79 was 

 favoured witli ;i Iicavier aiul loii^cr-coiitimicd snowfall than was 

 cxpcricneetl in 1860-61 ; — so that, upon tlu; whole, it maybe 

 safoly stated that shrubs, evergreens, trees, and indeed ve<,'etable 

 and aiuiiial life generally, suffered less last year thiin in 1860-61. 

 Traces of the disastrous season, now nineteen years gone by, still 

 remain in the mutilated forms and appearance of many trees 

 and specimen evergreens all over the country; and although 

 neither so general nor so marked in degree, still it is to be feared 

 that in some localities, where the special geographical contour of 

 the situation was favoTirablc to the hostile action of extremes of 

 tem])erature, the injury done by the winter and spring oi. 1 878-79 

 will be long a noticeable feature <ui many trees and shridts, wliiL' 

 in a few peculiarly exposed places some specimens have been 

 killed outright. It may seem strange to say in a season like 

 last winter, which we have admitted to be less severe than 

 that of 1860-61, although in some instances Araucaria, Deo- 

 dara, Taxodinm scmpervirens, Wdlingtonia gifjantea, common 

 hollies, laurels, and even Rhododendron 2^o)itici(m, and other 

 shrubs and trees survi\ed the greater number of degrees of frost 

 in 1860-61, yet these very specimens suffered more severely, and 

 have been in some instances even killed liy tlie winter of 1878-79. 

 This was, no doubt, owing to the more protracted and persistent 

 recurrence of the frost, accompanied by severely cutting easterly 

 winds and bright sunshine during the day, which prevailed far 

 into the spring months, as we shall have occasion again to refer 

 to, and which was a feature not present in 1860-61. The pre- 

 ceding autunni months having been dry and warm, and favour- 

 able to the mature ripening of the annual growth of young 

 wood, rendered trees and shrubs better able to withstand the 

 severe winter of last year, and to this circumstance may be due 

 the record of fewer casualties than in 1860; but, on the other 

 hand, the wet and sunless summer they have just passed through, 

 has militated severely against the recuperative efforts of Nature 

 upon those trees and shrubs which were sufferers from the frost, 

 and should this winter again prove a hard one, with low tem- 

 perature, many plants supposed to ImA'e l)een only temporarily 

 injured may vet have to be addt'il to the catalogue of those 

 tc)tally killed from the effects of 1878-79. 



¥oY five long dreary months, — from November to April, — frost 

 and snow held Nature in their continued grasp over the entire 

 area of the country. The variations in the weather for the 

 period may be thus generally stated : From the middle of 

 November 1878 the season assumed a truly wintry aspect. 

 Frost prevailed and chill winds, with little sunshine. From the 

 fii'st week in December till the 14tli of February, snow lay gene- 

 rally over the country to a depth of about from 4 to 6 inches on 



