JANUARY. 41 



rently injured, while those on the trees themselves 

 were killed. The same was the case with a quantity 

 of rose-trees which were left by accident out of the 

 ground in our own garden all that frost ; they were 

 not killed, but on being planted at spring grew again 

 freely, while their fellows in the ground were utterly 

 destroyed. The reason was, that in one case the 

 flow of the sap had been gradually checked by their 

 being taken up, while in the other it was in full 

 activity at the moment of seizure by the frost. The 

 fact of the branches of evergreens cut off and lying 

 under the snow not being injured, while the trees 

 themselves in the ground perished, would seem to 

 contradict a statement in the succeeding page ; but 

 their preservation was owing to the covering of 

 snow. 



Our Saxon ancestors termed this month Aefter- 

 yula, or After-Christmas. The Greeks called it 

 Anthesterion, or, the Flowery, from the quantity of 

 flowers used at the feast of Bacchus ; but our pre- 

 sent name is derived from the Latin, Janus, door- 

 keeper of heaven, and god of peace ; the name, 

 therefore, indicates that it is the gate of the year, 

 and probably has reference to the earth in this 

 month being in a state of quiet and inactivity. 



One of the things which is most deserving of our 

 observation at this season is, the wisdom of Provi- 

 dence displayed in the provision made for the preser- 

 vation of all vegetable productions. Seeds are 

 4* 



