144 ON SPRING-TENDERNESS IN PLANTS. 



ment it is perfectly hardy in England, and does not begin to 

 grow, except ia a few rare instances, till after all danger from 

 spring frosts is over. Sometimes it gets " cut " certainly. So 

 does the oak, and much oftener too, an indigenous tree be it re- 

 membered ; and the ash and the elm, and the most coy of our 

 cultivated trees, the mulberry, often gets " nipped in the bud," 

 though late in putting on its spring attire. But to return to the 

 vine. Take one from the open ground, and by artificial means 

 induce it to " break " for a few consecutive seasons at Christmas, 

 and allow it to rest when others are in full leaf and fruit. The 

 summer sun will scarcely prolong its vegetative season beyond 

 what is required for its healthy economy ; and, if you now remove 

 it to the open air, its instincts will not teach it to hold aloof from 

 the influence of excitable causes at a period when such would be 

 fatal to it in its then unprotected condition. It will certainly 

 for a few seasons exhibit a much greater tendency to vegetate at 

 an unnatural season than one Avhich liad not been induced to do 

 so artificially. But no one will believe that if seeds were ob- 

 tained from a vine while under an unnatural period of growth, 

 and plants obtained from them, that they too would naturally 

 attempt to put forth their leaves at Christmas. I believe that in 

 a great measure the periods of vegetation and its attendant phe- 

 nomena may be changed in relation to the seasons, and tliat such 

 phenomena do not result periodically and under apparent adverse 

 circumstances from any inherent and unchangeable quality in the 

 individual itself, but that it in a great measure depends on the 

 circumstances by which the plant is surrounded, and that in pro- 

 portion as those circumstances are under control or direction, so 

 are the results which must arise from those causes. It may, 

 however, be urged in opposition, that out-of-door culture is a 

 veiy different affair as regards the management and modification 

 of climate, from having to do with glass-houses and all the 

 attendant aids for creating an artificial and spoiling a natural 

 climate. I grant it ; yet the action of natural climate may be 

 much modified, and of course the results in a corresponding ratio, 

 with reference to plants in the open air, and their tendency to 

 subject their young growths to the nipping frosts of spring much 

 obviated. It is not fair to condemn a plant as not being hardy 

 purely because it gets its young growths cut off by spring frosts, 

 and to discontinue its cultivation accordingly. The hardiest of 

 our indigenous trees are often severely cut by their agency, yet 

 we do not consider them the less able to withstand the climate, 

 and merely view such as natural and imavoidable contingencies. 

 And in a small number of trees this influence of frost could be 

 wholly avoided if it were thought necessary. 



A short time since I was conversing with a gentleman who 



