' 
THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
Re COD, 
VoL VII July, 1918 No. 3 



BEPE CTS OF DAE SEVERE WINTER ON THE WOODY 
PLANTS IN THE GARDEN 
Since weather records have been kept, there has been no such 
severe winter as the one just past. During the Christmas holi- 
days, and just after, minimum temperatures were recorded of 
— 13° at the Weather Bureau (414 ft. in the air), —10° at the 
New York Botanical Garden, —7° at the Central Park Weather 
Bureau station, which is nearly at ground level, and —8° at the 
Breoklyn Botanic Garden where the thermometer is in a some- 
what sheltered place. The first four days of the year showed 
minimum temperatures of —5°, + 2°, 0°, and — 3° respectively, 
and on January 12 the fenmmennnnd was 50. Worst of all, on the 
latter day, the velocity of the wind was greater here than in any 
other eee in the country, the record showing maximum velocity 
of 84 miles an hour, from the southeast. The following of such 
extreme cold by a warm wind of this great velocity apparently 
played havoc with many valuable plants in the Garden. With 
the ground frozen to depths unknown before, as there was prac- 
tically no snow covering during the coldest days, the root activity 
cf most plants would be stopped, while the warm wind on the 
12th, when the maximum temperature for January was recorded, 
would dry out many evergreens, even if they had withstood the 
cold of a few days before. Because of this combination of cold 
83 

4 
