CHAPTER XIV. 



THE CLIMATE AND SPRING FROSTS. 



"And hour by hour, when the air was still, 

 The vapours arose which have strength to kill : 

 At morn they were seen, at noon they were felt, 

 At night they were darkness no star could melt." 



SHELLEY. 



THE Climate of my garden is peculiar. Water from the depths 

 of the earth flows to the surface, and runs through the little 

 streams at a higher temperature than the atmosphere in winter, and 

 at a lower in summer. This condition has a tendency in early winter to 

 prevent the plants from going to rest ; in early spring it brings them 

 forward earlier than in other districts near London ; but when the sun 

 obtains more power in May and June, some districts are more forward 

 in their vegetation than ours are. In the coldest winters the frost 

 rarely penetrates to any depth on the north bank of the river, though 

 on the south bank it freezes as deeply as in other places. When 

 covered with snow, the earth is rarely frozen more than an inch in 

 depth. The thermometer frequently rises higher during the day and 

 falls lower at night than in other situations, a condition unfavourable 

 to vegetation. 



Frosts sometimes occur in March ; at others they destroy the peas 

 in flower in April. May frosts, however, are the especial terror of 

 the gardener, and usually occur in the third week of May. In the 

 year 1867, an exceedingly severe frost occurred as late as the 231x1 



