of its ravages, may be useful, and not unacceptable 

 to persons that delight in planting and ornamenting ; 

 and may particularly become a work that professes 

 never to lose sight of utility. 



For the last two or three days of the former year 

 there were considerable falls of snow, which lay deep 

 and uniform on the ground, without any drifting; 

 wrapping up the more humble vegetation in perfect 

 security. From the first day to the fifth of the new 

 year, more snow succeeded ; but from that day the 

 air became entirely clear ; and the heat of the sun 

 about noon had considerable influence in sheltered 

 situations. 



It was in such an aspect that the snow on the 

 author's evergreens was melted every day, and 

 frozen intensely every night ; so that the laurus- 

 tines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked, in three or 

 four days, as if they had been burnt in the fire ; 

 while a neigbour's plantation of the same kind, in a 

 high cold situation, where the snow never melted 

 at all, remained uninjured. 



From hence I would infer that it is the repeated 

 melting and freezing of the snow that is so fatal to 

 vegetation, rather than the severity of the cold. 

 Therefore it highly behoves every planter who 

 wishes to escape the cruel mortification of losing 

 in a few days the labour and hopes of years, to 

 bestir himself on such emergencies ; and, if his plan- 

 tations are small, to avail himself of mats, cloths, 



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