186 ON THE EFFECTS OF THE SEVERE FROST AND 



coast of Scotland, fuschias accustomed to withstand with impunity 

 the winter in tlieir various soils, were last year cut down to the 

 ground, and in wet and heavy soils were killed outright. Ivies 

 were very much browned, and, where exposed to the sun, had 

 their young shoots killed. In this respect, the Algerian variety 

 seems to have suffered most, and several plants of it are reported 

 to have been completely killed. Conflicting accounts of the 

 hardiliood of one s])ecies and its unscathed condition in one 

 locality, as compared with the partial or total destruction of the 

 same species in another, are frequently to be fomid. These, 

 however, can easily be explained on an examination of the 

 nature and altitude of the sites where the plants are growing, 

 and it maybe safely asserted that generally, and indeed universally, 

 in low lying situations, at the foot of hills, or in valleys, and in 

 places near rivers, or hemmed in by trees, and where the spring 

 sun's rays had full scope to act on the frost-bound trees, the 

 greatest injur}" has been sustained in all parts of Scotland, 

 while at higher altitudes, and on sites ha\'ing less exposure to 

 the sun, and on lighter soils, the injury has been frequently in- 

 significant. That the intensity of the cold has caused less harm 

 than the frosty winds and hoar-mists, followed by bright sun- 

 shine, has been clearly demonstrated, and further corroboration 

 is atibrded bv the fact tliat in such localities indigenous and 

 introduced trees and shrubs and other plants have suffered in 

 . like degree. Another remarkable feature of this severe storm and 

 season, was the rending of the Ijark and stems of many varieties 

 of trees in several places. One very notable instance is mentioned 

 by Dr Landsborough of Kilmarnock. "In December 1878," he 

 says, "when at Annanhill, Ayrshire, the thermometer had fallen 

 to 11° on the grass, a line young elm tree, 5 feet 2 inches in girth, 

 in a site where it appears to feast upon the liqiud ofial discharged 

 from a butcher's shambles, burst its bark, going off like a gun. 

 The report startled the persons dwelling in the houses on both 

 sides of the tree, bringing them to their doors. The bark was 

 split upward to the length of over 8 feet, on the south side of the 

 tree. "With the return of spring the rent has closed, although it 

 had been as wide in some places as half an inch!" Similar 

 instances of tree-rending are reported from various districts, and 

 liaA'e been observed on elm, ash, beech, oak, and Spanish chest- 

 nut of various sizes and ages. They occur chiefly on the side of 

 the tree exposed to the south, and may be j^robably accounted 

 for by the reserve sap and watery fluids in the tree getting qiiite 

 frozen, the timber being caused thereby to swell from the action 

 of the frost on tliese fluids, until the lateral fibres of the stem are 

 parted asunder from the inward expansion and consequent pres- 

 sure on the bark of the tree. 



There is a considerable di\'ersity in the reports of the effects 



