422 Effects of the Winter o/" 1837-8 



are Pinus ponderosa and ^^bies DouglasjV. The pines and 

 firs in the Birmingham Garden are planted upon a sloping 

 bank, facing the south-west, in a deep, poor, sandy loam, in an 

 elevated situation, without any protection against the wind, which 

 is frequently very high in this neighbourhood. 



Mahon/fl fascicularis is totally killed ; whilst M. ^quifolium, 

 repens, and gluraacea, all so beautifully figured in your Aihoretiim 

 Britannicum, are uninjured, and are now nearly in full flower. Ber- 

 beris fmpetrifolia, rotundifolia, and dulcis, are likewise uninjured. 

 These are all in peat soil, slightly protected from the wind by 

 hedges ; but they have received no other protection. 



Rlbes speciosum and glutinosum were cut down to the ground, 

 but are sending up young shoots. B. ??2alvaceum is partially 

 injured, but all the other species of the genus have escaped. 



^'rbutus f/'nedo, ^ndrachne, and serratifolia are nearly killed ; 

 whilst A. mucronulata, and a species near it from Valdivia, in 

 the interior of Chili, are but little injured. 



jErica australis and mediterranea, killed: the latter species, 

 however, was nearly dead before the cold commenced ; the 

 young shoots having all, from some cause, been killed by a very 

 slight frost in November, not only here, but in several other 

 places that have come to my knowledge near us, all about the 

 same time. E. mediterranea var. ? hlbernica is but slightly 

 injured. The other hardy ericas have suffered in proportion to 

 the size of the plant : the small plants have escaped, whilst the 

 largest of the same sorts are nearly or quite killed. I have fre- 

 quently observed the same effect upon them in more mild 

 seasons; which convinces me a supply of young plants ought to 

 be kept up ; or the spreading points of the old plants should be 

 laid down, to enable them to endure the winter. 



Cistuses of almost all sorts are killed, or nearly so; but this 

 frequently happens in milder winters. Helianthemums are not 

 nearly so much injured, some not even hurt. Syringa JosikseV, 

 Corema alba, i/yp^ricum KalmzawMm, Symphoricarpus montanus, 

 Epigae^a repens, and Andromeda tetragona, not injured; the 

 latter is now in full flower. 



Alstroemerias appear to be very hardy : some of them were 

 pushing out young leaves during the latter part of the frost, 

 without receiving any injury, and without any shelter whatever. 



The different species of hydrangeas are not more cut down 

 than generally happens every season. Colletm horrida and 

 Piplanthus nepalensis appear both killed. 



Laurustinuses are all nearly killed ; common laurel, but little 

 injured ; Portugal laurel, not hurt with us, but almost killed in 

 many gardens near us; U\e%, all species much injured. Few 

 of the other hardy shrubs present anything different in their 

 appearance from that of other years at this season ; and I do not 



