On inuring Tender Plants to our Climate. 133 



advanced. And although the performance of Ihe instru- 

 nient I have described is absolutely harmless, when ap- 

 plied for the purpose it is intended, the experiment of Biot 

 requires nevertheless precaution, to prevent dangers to w\\\^h. 

 those who make it are exposed. 



XXVr. Some Hints respecting the proper Mode of inuring 

 Tender Plants to our Climate. By the Right Hon. Sir 

 Joseph Banks, Bart. K.B.P.R.S. &"€.* 



IAespectaele and us?ful as every branch of the horticul- 

 tural art certainly is, no one is more interesiincr to the pub- 

 lic, or more likely to prove advantageous to those who may 

 be so fcr;u!iate as to succeed in it, than that of inurino^ 



o 



plants, natives of warmer climates, to hear, without cover- 

 ing, the ungenid springs, the chilly sununers, and the ri- 

 gorous winters, by which, especially for some years past, we 

 have been perpetua ly visited. 



Many attempts have been tnade in this line, and several 

 valuable shrubs, that used to be kept in our stoves, are now 

 to be seen in the open garden : there is, however, some rea- 

 son to believe, that every one of tlicse was originallv the na- 

 tive of a cold cli.nate, though introduced to us through the 

 medium of a warm one; as the gold tree, auci.ba japonica, 

 the moutan, pseonia frutescens, and several olliers have been 

 in our times. 



In the case of annuals, however, it is piobable that much 

 has been done by our ancestors, and somcihuig bv the pre- 

 sent generation ; but It n;usl be remembered, that all that 

 is required in the case of an annual, is to enable it to ripen 

 its fruit in a comparatively cold summer, after v\hich, we 

 know that the hardest I'rosl has no power to injure the seed, 

 though exposed in the open air to its severest infh.ience; but 

 a perennial has to encounter frosts with its buds and annual 

 shoots, that have sometimes been so severe with U'^ as ta 

 rend asunder the trunks of our indigeiujus forest trccsf. 



♦ From Traiisacrions of the Horticultural Society of I-ondon, vol. i. part i. 

 f See Miller's Dictionary, article Froit, 



I 3 It 



