880 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



on the Cultivation of the Strawberry ; William C. 

 Strong, on the Construction of Greenhouses, Hothouses, 

 Propagating Houses, etc. ; and Charles Barnard, 2d, on 

 Flowering Plants for Winter Blooming, each essay being 

 followed by a discussion of the subject. 



The winter of 1871-72, following the droughts of 

 1870 and 1871, was remarkable for severe (though not 

 extreme) cold at times, accompanied by high winds, 

 little snow, and sudden changes. Thanksgiving Day, 

 the 28th of November, 1871, was of unprecedented 

 severity, the thermometer falling nearly to zero, and 

 the wind blowing a gale. The temperature of March, 

 1872, was more than nine degrees below the average 

 for about fifty years, the mercury early in the month 

 falling below zero for several days, and the wind 

 blowing heavily. So much injury was done to ever- 

 green trees and shrubs, especially those with broad 

 leaves, many being entirely destroyed, that a commit- 

 tee was appointed to investigate the cause. This 

 committee made an elaborate report (published in 

 full in the Transactions), attributing the injury to the 

 loss by evaporation from the leaves, which the roots 

 were unable to supply from the ground, affected by the 

 drought of the two previous summers, and deeply frozen 

 by reason of the absence of snow, and also to sudden 

 cold following comparatively warm weather, which had 

 brought the leaves into as great action as was possible 

 at the season. To prevent such disastrous results in 

 the future, the committee advised the protection of trees 

 and shrubs from the wind by shelter, and mulching the 

 soil, which they considered almost as necessary in win- 

 ter as in summer. Careful culture would also do much, 

 by rendering plants more healthy and vigorous, toward 

 enabling them to withstand vicissitudes of temperature. 



