148 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the fact that the great destruction was among trees and phxnts, 

 with evergreen foliage, while fruit trees and deciduous oniauiental 

 trees were generally uninjured ; the fruit crop being in New Eng- 

 land especially good, even the ]>each trees yielding a fair crop of 

 fruit. 



The destruction of herbaceous plants, which was very great, is 

 a point we may dismiss with but a few words. 



It is not unusual for -all herbaceous plants to suffer in an open 

 winter like that of 1871-2. The preceding dr}- summer had Aveak- 

 ened the plants, and the continual freezing and thawing was fatal 

 to a large proportion. 



The special destruction of trees and shrubs was, as we have seen, 

 among those with evergreen foliage, the deciduous species gener- 

 ally escaping uninjured, in this latter class the loss being among 

 the more tender kinds and those which did not root deep in the 

 ground. For the destruction of the more tender the severity of 

 the spring following two years of excessive drought is a sufficient 

 reason, and for the loss among kinds which root along the sur- 

 face the feeble condition produced by the same drought serves as 

 an explanation. 



There are, however, some remarkable exceptions in both of 

 these classes which we propose to note, for which it seems impos- 

 sible to account satisfactorily. 



The nature of an evergreen is far different from that of a decidu- 

 ous tree. As a general rule the former are rather surface than 

 deep-rooted plants (of course with exceptions), the latter are 

 usually deep-rooted. 



Thus in seasons of drought the evergreens are the Orst to suffer, 

 and to the unparalleled drought of the seasons of 1870 and 1871, 

 we could, were there no further reason, lay much of the loss 

 among evergreens, especially those transplanted within the few 

 previous years and thus not fully established. 



The deciduous trees being deep-rooted were in better condition 

 to meet a severe winter, not being as much enfeebled by ilrought, 

 and generally having ripened their wood, lint little winter action 

 of the sap, so to speak, is called for in them, and before the cold 

 weather of March, 1872, the sap had scarcely begun to ascend ; 

 thus they escaped with comparatively little injury, and the loss 

 among them was generally in direct ratio to the depth to which the 

 various species send their roots ; thus the oaks, which are well 



