071 perennial Plants in the open Air. 487 



shine, which, if it wanted in power, produced a dry air; and 

 thus the frozen stems above ground, and those of the peren- 

 nials under ground, sustained still more injury, and at last were 

 completely destroyed. 



The cold began about the beginning of December, and lasted, 

 without being very severe, till the middle of January ; but it was 

 uninterrupted and dry, and without snow. At last some snow 

 fell, which formed a covering; but it was unfortunately too late, 

 as the greater number of the perennials had already yielded to 

 the effects of the winter, and others, again, that had withstood it, 

 shared the same fate, notwithstanding the fall of snow. A thaw 

 then came on, which lasted but a short time ; the snow was 

 melted, but the water could not penetrate the frozen soil, and 

 remained standing on the beds, when the frost again came on, 

 and lasted till March, so that the beds became sheets of ice, 

 which totally covered or surrounded the plants. This was fol- 

 lowed by milder weather, and the ice began to give way about 

 the plants ; but the frost set in again, so that the plants were 

 again surrounded by ice, and many of them completely pene- 

 trated by it. The effects of last winter have proved, that 18° or 

 20° of Reaumur, accompanied by a sufficient covering of snow, 

 is by far less injurious to vegetation than a much less degree of 

 cold without snow, particularly in a free open situation, where 

 the soil is light and sandy. In the northern regions, where the 

 winter regularly sets in at a fixed time, with a heavy fall of 

 snow, and where the weather is steady, accompanied by a great 

 degree of cold, and the thaw does not come on till spring, 

 there the perennials thrive much better, and fewer of them perish 

 from the frost than in those parts where the weather in winter 

 is variable. 



Nature often acts differently from our theories ; and it is re- 

 markable, that the frost destroyed those plants which we had 

 always considered very hardy, and which had stood our climate 

 for many years, some of them, indeed, actually natives, and only 

 retained in the garden as fine specimens. Among these may be 

 reckoned, more particularly, perennials, which for a course of years 

 had been the ornament of our gardens, but which were entirely 

 swept away, from the effects of the winter. Auriculas, also, pri- 

 mulas, daisies, pinks, mallows, violets (even those in a wild state), 

 and a great many similar plants, were entirely destroyed. Straw- 

 berries were partly frozen, particularly where the runners were 

 not taken away in autumn. The evergreen perennials, however, 

 suffered the most, such as the different species of /Saxifraga ; the 

 leaves of which were so hard frozen that they might have been 

 reduced to powder, especially where they had no covering, or 

 where the covering had been blown off by the uninterrupted east 

 wind. The following plants, also, were totally killed by the frost: 



