226 WHITE 



Selborne to South Lambeth ; the distance between which, all 

 the windings and indentings of the stream considered, cannot 

 be less than a hundred miles. 



I am, etc. 



LETTER LXI 



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 

 rigor, and reason of its ravages, may be useful, and not unac- 

 ceptable to persons that delight in planting and ornamenting ; 

 and may particularly become a work that professes 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 a 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 laurestines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked, in 

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

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

 tion, where the snow was never melted at all, remained unin- 

 jured. 



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 behooves 

 every planter who wishes to escape the cruel mortification of 



