SEVERE FROSTS. 7 



purity of the fair owners beautify their gardens ; and as the 

 season advances, the rose, the jasmine, the carnation, the 

 honeysuckle, and the sweet-scented briar, shed their delicious 

 fragrance around. 



The dahlia, which on my first residing at Ronnum, was 

 hardly known in that part of the country, is now become 

 common everywhere. Thanks to the kindness of some of 

 my English friends, I had a splendid collection of these 

 beautiful flowers when residing at Gaddaback, which were 

 the admiration of every one. But after a time, the climate 

 caused me to tire of horticultural pursuits, for one Mid- 

 summer's Eve there came so severe a frost as to destroy the 

 greater part of the dahlias ; and on the 7th of September of 

 the same year, a second frost, that totally cut up the few I had 

 been fortunate enough to save. This, it is true, was an un- 

 usual season. 



But though the Swedish ladies are thus fond of flowers, it 

 is seldom anything in the shape of a greenhouse, in the more 

 northern districts at least, is to be met with. This struck me 

 as somewhat singular; for in a country like Sweden, which 

 for one-half of the year is fast bound in the iron chains 

 of winter, in which time little besides a sea of snow meets the 

 sight in every direction, one would have naturally supposed 

 that few who could afford it would be without a conservatory, 

 to delight the eye and the senses amid the general desolation 

 of the scene. 



It is not a little remarkable that one of the coldest 

 countries in Europe should have been the cradle of the great 

 Linnaeus, the father of systematic botany. 



The Swedish gentry, speaking generally, are not much 

 given to out-door amusements, and seldom engage in more 



