io6 September 1748. 



the greateft part flower fo late, and do not 

 get ripe fruit before the froft overtakes 

 them, although it appears from feveral ac- 

 counts of travels, that the vt^inters in Pen- 

 fyhaniay and more fo thofe in New Tork, 

 New England, and Canada, are full as fevere 

 as our SwediJJo winters, and therefore are 

 much feverer than thofe which are felt 

 in England. Several men of judgment 

 charged me for this reafon to examine and 

 enquire into this phoenomenon with all 

 poflible care. But 1 (hall inftead of an an- 

 fwer, rather give a few remarks which I 

 made upon the climate and upon the plants 

 of North America, and leave my readers at 

 liberty to draw the conclulions themfelves. 

 I. It is true, that the winters in Feu' 

 fylvania, and much more thofe in the more 

 northern provinces, are frequently as fevere 

 as our Swedijh winters, and much colder 

 than the Englijh ones, or thofe of the fouth- 

 ern parts of Europe. For I found at Phila- 

 delphia, which is above twenty deg. more 

 foutherly than feveral provinces in Sweden, 

 that the thermometer of p^ofeflbr C^^z//, 

 fell twenty-four deg. belovi^ the freezing 

 point in winter. Yet I was afTured that 

 the winters I fpent here,- were none of the 

 coldeft, but only common ones, which I 

 couU like wife conclude from the Delaware'^ 



not 



