132 ^ THE FLORIST. 



THE WINTER OF 1853-4. 



Having passed through a' winter remarkable for its severity and 

 dryness, its effects on plantsiand vegetation generally are worth noting ; 

 and in addition to our o\nti remarks, we invite our correspondents to 

 send us notes of what plants and vegetables have suffered from the late 

 frosts, and what have escaped under similar conditions. This, when 

 collected, will form a mass of evidence of the greatest importance, in 

 deciding their comparative hardiness. 



Without noticing the extreme point to which the thermometer fell 

 during the latter part of December and the beginning of January (for 

 the registered accounts show a great difference in this respect, within 

 even a very hmited area), we may observe generally, that the frost 

 appears to have been much more severe in the northern and midland 

 counties than in the neighbourhood of London or the West of England ; 

 but in every part its effects would have been more severely felt had 

 they not been somewhat mitigated by the snow which accompanied it, 

 and with us the greatest mischief occurred after a partial thaw, which 

 deprived many plants of their natural protection. 



But our readers must bear in mind that the power which plants 

 possess of resisting the effects of cold depends very much on the wet- 

 ness or dryness of the preceding season. Hot and dry summers pro- 

 duce a favourable effect in preparing plants for severe cold, by inducing 

 an early cessation of gi'owth and consequent maturity of wood ; and by 

 enabling plants to get rid of a portion of the watery fluid contained in 

 their system ; while at the end of wet seasons (such, for instance, as the 

 years 1852 and 1853) trees and shrubs are found growing long after 

 they should have ripened their wood, and as a natural consequence are 

 surcharged with crude sap till their cells are ready to burst — ^prevented 

 fi-om passing off by the ordinary channel, the leaves — owing to a low 

 temperature and damp atmosphere ; the effects of a low temperature 

 following on such conditions are sure to injure, more or less, plants 

 natives of a warmer climate than Britain, but which would otherwise 

 have passed through an equal amount of cold unscathed ; for it is not 

 the cold of our ordinary winters which injures exotic plants, but the 

 want of heat during summer and autumn, which predisposes them to 

 suffer by a temperature which in some instances is even higher than 

 the Avinters of the country to which they are indigenous. For instance, 

 there are but very few Australian plants which, under ordinary green- 

 house culture, mil bear more than two or three degi'ees of frost ; and 

 yet, during the season corresponding to our winter in New Holland, 

 the nights are intensely cold, the thermometer frequently faUing several 

 degrees below the fi'eezing point, yet nothing is injured ; but then vege- 

 tation there is exposed during the day to a climate many degrees hotter 

 and drier than our o\mi ; and the young wood of plants, even as it is 

 formed, is of a much firmer character in consequence, and is thus 

 enabled to withstand the extraordinary changes in temperature which 

 occur within the 24 hours. 



We must here remind the uninitiated that, during severe frost, 



