328 NATURAL HISTORY 
barn, that mortification followed, from which they 
did not recover for many weeks. 
This frost killed all the furze and most of the ivy, 
and in many places stripped the hollies of all their 
leaves. It came at a very early time of the year, 
before old November ended, and may yet be al- 
lowed, from its effects, to have exceeded any since 
1739-40. 
LETTER LX. 
As the effects of heat are seldom very remarka- 
ble in the northerly climate of England, where the 
summers are often so very defective in warmth and 
sunshine as not to ripen the fruits of the earth so 
well as might be wished, I shall be more concise in 
my account of the severity of a summer season, 
and so make a little amends for the prolix account 
of the degrees of cold, and the inconveniences that 
we suffered from some late rigorous winters. 
The summers of 1781 and 1783 were unusually 
hot and dry ; to them, therefore, I shall turn back 
in my journals, without recurring to any more dis- 
tant period. In the former of these years my 
peach and nectarine trees suffered so much from 
the heat that the rind on the bodies was scalded 
and came off, since which the trees have been ina 
decaying state. This may prove a hint to assidu- 
ous gardeners, to fence and shelter their wall-trees 
with mats or boards, as they may easily do, be- 
cause such annoyance is seldom of long contin- 
uance. During that summer, also, I observed that 
