86 September 1748. 



/ Daphne Mezereum Linn.) and other plants, ihew 

 their flowers fo early in fpring ? It has pleafed 

 the Almighty Creator to give to them this dif- 

 pofition. The weather at Philadelphia during thefe 

 months, is fhewn by my meteorological tables. 

 I have taken the greatefl care in my obfervations, 

 and have always avoided putting the thermome- 

 ter into a-ny place where the fun could fhine upon, 

 it > or where he had before heated the wall by his 

 beams -, for in thofe cafes my obfervations would 

 certainly not have been exadl. The weather, 

 during our September and OElober, is too well 

 known to want an explanation.* 



5. HOWEVER there arefome fpontaneous plants 

 in Penfyhania, which do not every year bring 

 their feeds to maturity before the cold begins. 

 To thefe belong fome fpecies ^iGentlana^Afters^ 

 and others. But in thefe too the wifdom of the 

 Creator has wifely ordered every thing in its turn. 

 For almoft all the plants which have the quality 

 of flowering fo late in autumn, are perennial, or 

 fuch as, though they have no feed to propagate 

 themfelves, can revive by fhooting new branches 

 and ftalks from the fame root every year. But 

 perhaps a natural caufe may be given to account 

 for the late growth of thefe plants. Before the 

 Europeans came into this country, it was inhabited 

 by favage nations, who praftifed agriculture but 



* THE Englijh reader, who is perhaps not fo well acquainted 

 with the weather of the Sivedijb autumn, may form an idea of it, 

 fey having recourfe to the Calendar turn Flor*?, or the botanical and 

 oeconomical almanack of SweSen, in Dr. Li*nseus*s Amcen Aca- 

 dem. and in Mr. Stillingjleefs S>ivedijb trails, tranflated from the 

 . Acad. 2d edition. F. 



