174 
the end of the month there was more than a foot of snow on the 
ground. 
As regards the direction and velocity of the winds, these as a 
rule are not noteworthy, but a northwest wind with a velocity of 
hity miles per hour on the 13th (mininium temperature 8°) anda 
velocity of fifty-one miles per hour on the 23d (minimum tem- 
perature 10°) must have made matters much worse. 
Other Disastrous Winters in the Histor y of the Garden 
In connection with the present report it is interesting to com- 
pare the reports of Tavlor on the effects of the winters of 1917— 
IS and 1919-20 on the woody plants in the Garden. Regarding 
the first period he says “ Since weather records have been kept, 
there has been no such severe winter as the one just past. Dur- 
ing the Christmas holidays, 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 Brooklyn Botanic Garden where the ther- 
mometer is in a somewhat sheltered place. The first four days 
of the vear showed minimum temperatures of — 5°, + 2°, 0°, and 
— 3° respectively, and on January 12 the temperature was 50. 
Worst of all, on the latter day, the velocity of the wind was 
greater here than in any other place in’ the country, the record 
showing maximum velocity of 84 miles an hour, from the south- 
east. 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 be- 
le as there was practically no snow covering during the coldest 
days, the root activity of 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 temperatures followed by warm wind, it 
1s perhaps impossible to ascribe all our losses to cold alone. Cer- 
tainly one or the other, or zat probably their combination, has 
had disastrous results, 
‘Taylor, Norman. Effects of the severe winter on the woody plants in 
the Garden. Brookiyn Bor. Garp. Recorn 7: 83-84. 1918, 
