WINTER OF 1878-79 ON TREES AND SHRUBS. 185 



laurels are killed down to the ifroinid, but are now starliiij,' afresh 

 from the stools. The Jlliododcndrun ponticnrn, stood fairl}' well in 

 this district, but in the neighl)ourliooil of I'erth, near the Ijanks of 

 the Tay, we are informed that this usually xevy hardy everj^^reen 

 suffered in its foliage and tlower-buds rather severely last wintei'. 

 In otlu'i' situations, in the JieiLihbourhood of Perth, facing the 

 south and south-west, the eli'ects of the severity of the season 

 have been equally apparent. At Seggieden, in ])articular, and 

 places similarly situated, over-hanging rivers and at low altitudes, 

 consideral)ki damage to trees and shrubs has beiai experienced. 

 Common whin and broom, in exposed places in that district, 

 sulTered severely, and were, in some cases, com])letely killed. 

 The unripened shoots of dogwood (Jihamnus fr(ingula) were 

 killed. It is curious to note that at Seggieden, Colonel Drum- 

 niond Hay reports that, out of several bushes of Ulrx Idhernicn. 

 growing there, all should have been entirely killed, with the 

 exception of one plant, which, from some un('X])lained cause, 

 remained ]>erfectly uninjured, although growing within a few 

 yards' distance from the others, and under exactly the same con- 

 ditions as to age, soil, mcjisture, and exposure. Here, also, Buxus 

 halcarica has been utterly killed; Cercis siliquastrum had its 

 terminal buds killed; Gistus salvifolms w^as killed to the roots, 

 even although protected liy snow, but has again s])routed; and 

 the same may be said of Erica Meditcrranca, LauriLH v obi lis, and 

 Viburnum Tirius. Many other s])ecies of shrubs which were 

 slightly injured and retarded in this district, such as wdiite 

 lilacs, are reported to have suffered nujre from the ettects of the 

 cold wet summer coming immediately after so long and severe a 

 winter, producing blight; and cons])icuous in this respect is the 

 common Lombardy poplar, which has made little or no growth this 

 season, and in some ])laces, in the districts of the Tay and Earn, 

 has been utterly killed by last winter's severity. The eilects 

 upon ])lant life last winter were ex])erienced severely in Forfar- 

 shire, and there even t\\Q, Rhododendron pc7iticum was included in 

 the list of its ravages! Arbutus Uncdo imdUuonipiiusIafifolia both 

 suffered nuicli in many places over the country, and where exposed 

 to the sun, the latter shed its leaves. In several places around 

 Kilmarnock this was observed, and at Henderson Manse, in 

 Kilmarnock, Passifiora cmrulea on a wall, and 12 feet in height, 

 and ])ro]iortionately wide across its lu'anches, was killed to the 

 ground, behig fully exposed to the south. In several other parts 

 of A}'rshire, Camellia reticidata and G. ja^wnica, which had pi'e- 

 \dously proved quite hardy, were, last winter, quite destroyed in 

 their buds, and a Dcsfontainea spiuosa, which had stood for four- 

 teen years in the open air uninjured in this iisually mild district, 

 was a good deal blighted, although precautions were taken to 

 protect its stem last year. In other situations, along the west 



