EEPOET OF THE COMMITTEE. 151 



we have stated, fell with unprecedented rapidity, and the foliage 

 was almost instantaneously congealed. May not the distended 

 sap vessels have been ruptured by this sudden cold, and thus the 

 death of the foliage of all these broad-leaved evergreens be ac- 

 counted for? 



Again, afterwards, on Sunday, March 10th, all vegetation was 

 encased in a mass of glittering ice. The next day the sun was 

 very brilliant, although the weather was still very cold, and all 

 day vegetation was subject to the action of innumerable burning 

 glasses (so to speak). That in some situations these influences 

 caused immense destruction cannot be doubted. 



Such was the effect also upon plateaux of strawberry beds and 

 fields of grass exposed to the sun. 



Climbing plants in general were not unusually killed, but grape- 

 vines suffered badly ; indeed, in a majority of cases, where unpro- 

 tected grapes were much injured. 



The theory that mulching is a great protection against winter- 

 killing, receives a strong confirmation in the experience of Mr. 

 John B. Moore, a well-known grape-grower, who had adjoining 

 vineyards, one of which he mulched with two or three inches of 

 refuse bristles from a brush factory, the others were unmulched. 

 In the vineyards thus mulched the vines were uninjured, while in 

 those adjoining the vines were so badly killed as to be ploughed 

 up the next spring. 



There is but little doubt that the excessive and violent winds of 

 March, by causing great evaporation, contributed much to the 

 destruction of evergreens. Many instances occurred where the 

 side of an evergreen or evergreen hedge exposed to the wind was 

 killed, while the sheltered side escaped serious injury. However, 

 in many cases these trees afterwards died, and in every case 

 were so disfigured as to necessitate their removal. 



The destruction was not confined to cultivated trees. Hemlocks, 

 pines, red cedars, and in some instances the kalmias, growing 

 wild in pastures or in the outskirts of woods, were badly injured 

 all through New England. In some cases this injury is unaccount- 

 able, in others it is explained by the drought of the previous 

 summers, which had in reality destroyed or enfeebled the plants 

 before the winter began. 



Many instances of exceptional killing are reported, many of 

 which are wholly unaccountable. A few of these we may cite. 



