36 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 1873.] 



that the sap of trees does not freeze hi Winter. And this view of the 

 Editor appears to have been the topic of frequent discussion witli his own 

 correspondents and other horticultural editors. On the one side it is said 

 that the sap of trees, containing as it does a large percentage of water, 

 might be expected to freeze at SS'^F. And that it does in fact freeze, ap- 

 p eal is made to experience. When, some morning in Januar}', with the 

 thermometer below O'^r.,you pick up a sapwood chip as it flies away from 

 the woodman's axe, and Avith your own eyes see that it is frozen solid, 

 why should you doubt their evidence? Of course, this appeal to experi- 

 ence is legitimate, and the Editor, unable to explain the facts, admits that 

 l)lants " may appear frozen, as a drowned man sometimes appears dead; 

 but \Adien the drowned man afterwards recovers we are bound to believe 

 that the man was not really dead, in spite of aU appearances." He seems 

 to assume that freezing must be fatal to all kinds of life, as if there was an a 

 priori necessity supporting his theory. He says: " if we saw any living 

 thing frozen through and yet live, we should doubt the evidence of our 

 own eyes." But a priori assumption on a question of natural science is 

 entirely'out of place in this age of experimental philosophy, and begging 

 the question is out of place in any age. Nor is a shallow argument from 

 analogy entitled to any weight ujion a question capable of submission to 

 crucial test. 



Some " living things " cannot endure freezing. 



A tree is a '• living thing." 



Therefore a tree cannot endure freezing. 



— is an induction of the illegitimate order. Neither is the Editor's 

 frequent appeal to common sense admissable upon this question. Com- 

 mon sense is a very shallow philosopher, and knows nothing about it. 

 It is not 400 years yet since common sense views of astronomy and geog- 

 raphy were thought to 'be sulficient refutation of scientific demonstration. 

 I tell thee, O, Copernicus, cried Common Sense, that the whole universe 

 revolves around the earth once ever}' twenty-four hours; and I tell thee, 

 O, Columbus, it is impossible for men to hang by their toes, with their 

 heads downwards from the underside of the earth, like flies from the 

 ceiling. The Editor of the Monthly also refers to certain facts which have 

 come under his personal observation: " Grape vines in the house, with 

 their roots out in solid frost, have been foiteed to put out foliage and 

 bloom; and Hyacinth bulbs, buried six inches deep in November, ))ush 

 their crowns to the surface at the first Spring thaw, though the whole mass 

 was frozen solid all winter." 



This is argument from a legitimate source. But the facts stated, so far 

 from proving that freezing is fatal to all plant life, would rather seem to 

 favor the belief that some plants or parts of the same are capable of ac- 

 tual growth while other parts are frozen. 



