44 



and not of a quality so nourishing. The growth of the 

 tree in such soils and expositions, besides being more 

 rapid, is prolonged to a later period in autumn, or un- 

 til suddenly arrested by frost ; and the immature wood 

 of a forced growth, being more tender, is consequently 

 more liable to be killed by early frosts and by winter. 

 Such appears to have been the case in the winter of 

 1831-2, which destroyed so many full-grown trees of the 

 hardiest description, even to the root. The ravages of 

 that destructive winter seem to have been confined to 

 particular situations and soils ; to the productions of the 

 forced growth of a summer not less uncommon and ex- 

 traordinary. 



In northern climates, the young and tender plants of 

 the plum and the cherry, the pear and the quince, and 

 numerous others of the most hardy species, require pro- 

 tection during the first winter in a state of cultivation. 

 Their growth being prolonged, and by art forced on, 

 nature demands their protection on a soil rendered de- 

 fenceless by cultivation. Death assails at the surface, 

 by the combined and alternate action of the frost and of 

 sunshine ; the frost by its expansive power operating on 

 the earth as a girdle, destruction assails at the surface, 

 the point the most vulnerable, and the top dies as a con- 

 sequence ; or, their roots taking hold feebly in earth, are 

 cast out by death. 



In a state of nature, and in the shades and protection 

 of the forest, or of herbage, the growth of the young 

 tree being slow, and the wood completely matured in 

 due season, the case is far otherwise; the bountiful cov- 

 ering of moss, of herbage, or of leaves, with which pro- 

 vident nature clothes the ground, being amply suffi- 

 cient to modify the growth of the plant, and defend at 

 the root. This protection, like the fleecy snow, being 

 two-fold, it defends alike from the blasts of sudden and 

 excessive cold, also from the still more destructive and 

 pernicious rays of the sun. These remarks are equally 

 applicable to the very young trees of the different vari- 



