EFFECTS OF THE SEVERE WINTER. 



young tree will often die in a severe winter, just as if the pot itself, with the roots in it, 

 had been exposed — when if the roots were disturbed, and stretched out, it would have 

 stood very well. Hence, many persons have lost specimens of that most beautiful ever- 

 green, the Deodar, the past winter, and consider it hopelessly tender— while in fact, the 

 Deodar well rooted, in dry soil, has stood perfectly well in several parts of the country, 

 where the thermometer has fallen as low \2° below zero. To prove this still more conclu- 

 sively, we need only refer to the Cedar of Lebanon. Small trees of this, turned out of 

 pots one or two years ago, are nearly or quite destroj'ed. A specimen in our giounds, five 

 feet high, and five or six years planted, is only slightly browned — not at all injured. A 

 tree 60 feet high, near New-York, (where the thermometer has fallen to 10° below zero,) 

 is not in the least injured. 



We mention these facts to show that M'here a tree has not been killed — only injured 

 badly — by the late severe winter, it should by no means be abandoned in despair by ar- 

 boriculturists. 



At Washington, the Deodar has not been at all injured. At Philadelphia, its foliage and 

 terminal shoots have been browned and injured — but as tViistree makes even a new leader 

 without difficulty, it will soon recover. In Mr. Buist's specimen grounds, below Phila- 

 delphia, we noticed that a plant of the Cryptomeria four or five feet high, entirely expos- 

 ed, was quite uninjured, thus proving itself hardier than most of the tender evergreens. 

 We believe wherever the Cryptomeria seedlings have been planted, this has been found to 

 be the case — where it has been worked on other stocks, it has suffered. 



Perhaps the handsomest of all the new evergreen firs that have proved quite hardy, (it 

 is entirely uninjured in our grounds,) is the Himmalayan Spruce, {^Abies Smithiana.^ Its 

 general habit is that of the Norway Spruce — but much finer — more luxuriant — more 

 graceful — more vigorous. The Florida Yew, (^Torreya,) is another very handsome tree, 

 quite hardy about New-York. The Cephaloniau Fir is very hardy everywhere — and most 

 of the foreign Silver Firs are found great acquisitions — the common European Silver Fir 

 being in every way far superior to our Balsam Fir. 



The mildest climate of the northern states is unquestionably that of Newport, R. I. 

 The thermometer fell to zero but three days last winter — and only for a few hours was 

 one below. (By a reference to our last number, page 243, it will be seen that it fell to 

 2° below in the upper part of Georgia — usually an almost tropical state.) In a visit re- 

 cently to Newport, we observed in the grounds of Dklancy Kane, Esq., which are quite 

 rich in rare species, that Araucaria Iiubricata, (the most striking of all evergreens,) 

 which has usually been killed all over the northern states, had stood very well there. In 

 another garden in Newport, a specimen three feet high was perfectly uninjured, without 

 the least protection. Cedrus Deodara, six feet high, was perfectly green in Mr. Kane's 

 grounds, and Portugal Laurels, and English Laurels — sadly injured at Baltimore, were in 

 sound condition there. Cryptomeria also quite hardy. Ed. 



