Proceedings of the London Horticultural Society. 575 



sequence of the unusual severity of the season reported upon, he had applied 

 to various persons resident in different parts of the country for information 

 respecting the effects of the cold upon plants, as observed by them. After 

 mentioning the circumstances under which each set of observations was made, 

 and showing that while the thermometer fell as low as 12^° Fahr. below zero 

 in some parts of Kent, it was not observed at Dublin and Kilkenny below 20° 

 above zero, while in the Isle of Wight it fell to 15°, and in Cornwall to 12° 

 above zero. The reporter proceeded to examine the results thus produced, 

 firstly, in a tabular manner with reference to particular species ; and secondly, 

 geographically, by stating under separate heads, and in great detail, the effect 

 of cold upon plants introduced to gardens from Australia, California, and 

 Mexico, China, Japan, New Zealand, the West Indies, North America (ex- 

 cluding California and Mexico), the Himalayan Mountains, Cape of Good Hope, 

 South of Europe, Levant, and North of Africa, with adjacent islands, and, 

 finally, from Chile and similar South American regions. With reference to 

 this interesting subject, the following statements were made : — 



" Of Australian plants, none seem to have been able to bear so much as 

 even -)- 1 2°, except Billardiera longiflora, which is recorded at Glasgow to 

 have borne — 1° at the foot of a south wall, and a Eucalyptus, called alpina, 

 which escaped at Norwich ; it will, however, be probably found that this cir- 

 cumstance is, in both cases, attributable to some unexplained cause. It, there- 

 fore, seems useless to attempt to naturalise New Holland plants in the midland 

 and northern parts of England. On the coast of South Wales, where the 

 thermometer did not fall below +15°, Leptospermum lanigerum is the only 

 species which appears to have survived ; at Carclew, in Cornwall, where the 

 climate is generally very mild, although the temperature is reported to have 

 reached -f- 12°, almost all the New Holland and Van Diemen's Land plants 

 either perished outright or were irrecoverably damaged ; the only exceptions 

 being Jcacia stricta, affinis, Sojjhora, and diffusa, Callitris cupressiformis, 

 Corrae v a alba, Callistemon lanceolatus, Grevillea rosmarinifolia, Leptospermum 

 ambiguum, and Sollya heterophylla. It is only in some favoured spots, and in 

 the mild climate of Ireland, that any considerable number of Australian plants 

 have proved really hardy, and even in those places a great many species died. 



" Upon the plants of New Zealand there is little to remark, except that 

 there seems no probability of their (in many cases) acquiring a permanent 

 station in these islands. Phormium tenax, the New Zealand flax plant, 

 escaped in a swamp at Carclew, a circumstance that should not be overlooked 

 by those who hope to make it a subject of common cultivation in the milder 

 parts of Ireland. 



" Of the natural habits of Chinese plants little is known with precision. 

 Many, no doubt, are obtained from the northern provinces, where the winter 

 cold is severe ; and it is to be presumed that they are what we find hardy 

 enough to sustain a temperature of — 4-^°, or lower. Among these are es- 

 pecially deserving of notice the beautiful Cunninghanua sinensis; ^mygdalus 

 pumila; Praxinus /entiscifolia, a forest tree of the most ornamental character; 

 Glycine sinensis ; Juniperus chinensis, a valuable evergreen ; the noble yu-lan, 

 or Magnolia conspicua ; Kdlreuten'a paniculata, a fine deciduous tree; tree 

 peonies ; Taxddium sinense ; and the magnificent climber Bignom'a grandiflora. 

 Of the Chinese azaleas, A. indica alba proved the most hard}'. One scarcely 

 knows in what light to regard the unexpected fact of Illicium anisatum having 

 escaped at Claremont, where it was exposed to .a temperature of — 12° ; but 

 it is worthy of notice, that I. floridanum is reported in so many places to be 

 hardy, that no doubt can remain upon that point at least. The fact of Pit- 

 tosporum Tobira not having suffered in South Wales more than ^'rbutus 

 U s nedo, is important, and renders it desirable that this handsome evergreen 

 should become the subject of experiments as to its hardy qualities elsewhere. 

 Thea viridis stood where T. Bohea was killed. 



" Such Japanese plants as have been the subject of experiment have, in the 

 greatest number of cases, afforded evidence that the vegetation of the colder 



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