30 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



sound will have given us warning of such an event. — It is 

 a pretty sight to take a candle to the window : the feeble 

 light can penetrate but a little way into the deep pitchy 

 darkness, but every foot of that blackness is thickly studded 

 with the white descending flakes^ which the light makes 

 prominent. 



C. — I know that nothing is created in vain, or without 

 an end : but I should like to be informed, what are the uses 

 of the winter's snow. 



F. — From the lightness of snow, it is a poor conductor 

 of caloric : that is, the matter of heat does not readily pass 

 through it, or into it from contiguous substances. 



C. — 1 recollect reading of a woman who was lost in a 

 storm, and lay for several days buried up in an immense 

 snow-drift ; and who declared that she had not suffered from 

 cold, the snow having kept her warm like a blanket. 



F. — Just such a purpose does the snow serve to the 

 earth : the grand scene of Nature's operations during winter 

 is below the surface of the ground, where she is preparing 

 the germs and roots soon to shoot forth ; elaborating juices 

 and consolidating parts, previous to the active vegetation of 

 spring. But if the ground were left bare, in cold climates, 

 it would be hard frozen to a great depth, and the vegetative 

 life would be either destroyed or suspended ; and the spring 

 would be very far advanced before the earth could be thawed. 

 To prevent these ill effects, God has mercifully ordained that 

 a soft and warm covering shall be provided, the offspring of 

 that very cold which is to be guarded against, thus making 

 the evil work its own remedy. Among the subordinate uses, 

 may be reckoned the advantage of having good roads made 

 by it, for the conveying of produce to markets, drawing wood, 

 manure, &c. : a benefit by no means small, and one which 

 the farmer well knows how to appreciate. This was mani- 

 fest in the winter of 1837-38, a winter remarkable for the 



