295 
in many more by arresting the natural decay or change that 
plants go through in the late autumn. Herbaceous plants pre- 
pare themselves for winter by gradually dying down, and 
preserving their life by underground life only ; if the frost comes 
too soon, much of the nourishment which would have been carried 
down to support the underground life during the winter is lost, 
and the plant is so much the weaker, and so much the less able 
to resist cold. With shrubs the case is of course different, but 
the result is the same. In the normal state the leaves fall 
leaving the buds for next year fairly protected by their own 
well ripened coverings, “the plant has time to become a chrysalis 
slowly, in preparation for the winter” (Kerner), and the sap or 
what botanists call “the water of imbibition,” is gradually with- 
- drawn to the roots to remain there till it is wanted for the new life 
in the Spring, and so the branches are said to be “ripened”; but 
if there comes an early frost while the plant is still growing and 
full of life, the buds are injured, and, if not killed, they fail to 
produce flowers, and the sappy branches are easily frozen, and 
either die altogether, or are rendered quite useless for the next 
year’s growth. I entirely put it down to the early frost of last 
October and November that my Japanese Persimmon (diospyros 
Kaki) which had been quite uninjured by many previous severe 
winters, was cut to the ground last winter. Fatsia Japonica also 
was more injured than I ever knew it before ; my Palm had no 
flowers, the first time for six years past; Halesia hispida, though 
avery healthy tree and always a free flowerer had no flowers 
this year ; and so with other plants. 
Before leaving the subject of the mildness of the winter, I 
should like to call your attention to one thing connected with it. 
You may remember that two years ago I quoted to you an 
observation of Sir Robert Christison, that when frost occurred on 
the last week of October or the first ten days of November, it was 
always followed by a mild open winter; this was certainly the 
case this last winter to a very remarkable degree, and I mention 
