UNCLE IN ENaiA. .' 101 



delay the freezing of tb'e moisture m-'thetgrqnnd. 

 I recollect that the winter "before last* \\TncK v;c : 

 very severe, Mamma had fir branches hung on 

 the wall to cover her tender climbing plants, 

 and long stiff straw or fern was lightly strewed 

 round their roots, and they all lived through 

 the winter, and looked healthy and beautiful in 

 summer. 3 * 



My uncle told me for my satisfaction, that a 

 long frost, if not very intense, is less injurious 

 to tender plants, than a milder season in which 

 soft weather and frost alternate : in open wea- 

 ther there is a tendency in the sap to rise ; and 

 if it is checked by succeeding cold, the sap 

 vessels are injured, and the plant becomes 

 sickly or decays. 



<c Is that/' said Frederick, " the reason why 

 spring frosts are more hurtful than those of 

 winter?" 



" That is the principal reason ; but you must 

 also consider that the ground during the pre- 

 vious summer had absorbed a great quantity of 

 heat, which helps to mitigate the winter's cold : 

 this has been all expended before spring, and 

 therefore the whole force of the cold is then 

 felt." 



Frederick said he remembered hearing Mr. 

 Grant mention last autumn that all the po- 

 tatoes had been injured by frost in Alney valley 

 near Gloucester, while those on the side of the 



K 3 



