CTJ 



OF SELBORNE. 



277 



LETTER CV. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SINCE the weather of a district is undoubtedly part of its 

 natural history, I shall make no further apology for the four 

 following letters, which will contain many particulars concern- 

 ing some of the great frosts, and a few respecting some very 

 hot summers, that have distinguished themselves from the rest 

 during the course of my observations. 



As the frost in January 1768 was, for the small time it 

 lasted, the most severe that we had then known for many 

 years, and was remarkably injurious to evergreens, some 

 account of its rigour, and reason of its ravages, may be useful, 

 and not unacceptable to persons that delight in planting and 

 ornamenting ; and may particularly become a work that pro- 

 fesses never to lose sight of utility. 



For the last two or three days of the former year there were 

 considerable falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the 

 ground, without any drifting; wrapping up the more humble 

 vegetation in perfect security. From the first day to the fifth 

 of the new year, more snow succeeded ; but from that day the 

 air became entirely clear ; and the heat of the sun about noon 

 had considerable influence in sheltered situations. 



It was in such an aspect that the snow on the author's ever- 

 greens was melted every day, and frozen intensely every night ; 

 so that the laurustines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked, in 

 three or four days, as if they had been burnt in the fire ; while 

 a neighbour's plantation of the same kind, in a high cold situa- 

 tion, where the snow never melted at all, remained uninjured. 



From hence I would infer that it is the repeated melting and 

 freezing of the snow that is so fatal to vegetation, rather than 

 the severity of the cold. Therefore it highly behoves every 

 planter, who wishes to escape the cruel mortification of losing 

 in a few days the labour and hopes of years, to bestir himself 



