572 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



we take into our hands is like a mass of indissoluble ice. 

 The whole business of the day is to keep ourselves from 

 freezing. There is no ceremony in the house ; all the in- 

 mates gather round the fire, and talk of nothing but the 

 weather. 



In the almost deserted streets we see no loitering at cor- 

 ners, and no gathering in the porches of the public houses. 

 Every one is hurrying onward, with face averted from the wind, 

 his garments muffled closely around him, and he hardly deigns 

 to recognize a passing acquaintance ; or, if he be saluted, to 

 make him a reply, in his haste to get to his journey's end. 

 All are rapidly moving ; even the most indolent seem to 

 be suddenly capable of speed. The loaded teams that pass 

 along the streets, are creaking like a band of musical instru- 

 ments. The cattle are whitened with frost, and long beards 

 of isicles are hanging from their chins. 



The earth is white with snow, and the sun casts a bright 

 but ineffectual beam over the wide glittering plain. Not a 

 single crystal of hoar frost melts upon the window glass, so 

 powerless are the sun's rays ; but it accumulates all the day, 

 until the glass has lost its transparency. Long isicles have 

 made their appearance suddenly, dependent from different 

 parts of the roof. All the eaves of the houses are fringed 

 with these isicles, of various lengths, glittering like so many 

 precious jewels, in the light of the sun. Smaller ones are 

 hanging from the branches of the trees, and wide glisten- 

 ing sheets of ice have encrusted the springy sides of the 

 hills. 



There is a long volume of fog rolled in heaps upon the 

 surface of the bay, that seems to bound the horizon. Such a 

 fog always denotes an intense cold. It is formed from the 

 steam that may be seen issuing from the brink of the waters, 

 just beyond the ice that girds the shore. Often during the 

 day, a sleety snow, scarcely visible, on account of the 

 minuteness of the crystals, will pour down from the skies, 

 making the cutting blast still more severe, as it beats against 

 the face and eyes of the traveller. At such times, it may be 

 observed that the sky is not perfectly transparent, being dim- 



