548 Summajy View of the Progress of Gardening, 



Every scientific gardener knows that the great art of inuring 

 the plants of a warm climate to a cold one, consists in adjusting the 

 growth of every season to the power of that season and climate 

 to ripen that growth. Hence, all plants which it is intended to 

 acclimatise should be placed in a poor dry soil, and in a situation 

 freely exposed to the influence of the sun and air. The trees 

 and shrubs of countries where the winter is extremely severe, 

 such as that of British North America, may be fully exposed to 

 any cold ever experienced in this country, during the winter 

 season, provided they have ripened the shoots which they made 



of cold, have been found so completely free from injury, as to be considered 

 quite hardy. 



The months of October and November of 1837 could not be said to have 

 produced any exciting eiFect on vegetation ; on the contrary, their temperature 

 was below the average. Yet this circumstance, combined with a want of sun, 

 tended to prevent the hardening of the wood, which is so essentially neces- 

 sary, in order to render it capable of withstanding the effects of frost. Hence, 

 the weeping willow, when its shoots are duly matured in a climate where the 

 summers are hot, will retain its character, even although the winters of such 

 climate be cold ; but, where the summers have not much warmth, although the 

 cold of winter be by no means intense, it assumes a stunted appearance. 



December, instead of a depression of 3° Fahr., which it usually averages 

 below its predecessor, was distinguished by a rise of 1°. In fact, the temper- 

 ature was little below that of May of the same year. It increased after the 

 middle of the month ; south and south-west winds were prevalent ; the ther- 

 mometer, in the shade, was generally between 50° and 55° through the day ; 

 never at freezing, and rarely below 40° at night. January commenced still 

 mild ; but, on the 8th, the maximum temperature was only 30° Fahr. ; and it 

 never reached higher till the 21st. On the 20th, the maximum was only 12°; 

 the minimum, on the same morning, was, over a great part of England, from 36° 

 to 44° below freezing. Vegetation thus experienced a vicissitude of 60°, 

 within the space of three weeks, without taking into account sun heat, for 

 which 10° more may be allowed. Neither in the present nor past century, is 

 there evidence of a frost so severe in its effects on vegetation; for subjects 

 that had existed throughout that period yielded to the more irresistible attack 

 of the intense frost above mentioned. Frosts of longer duration can be 

 remembered, but any extreme, much out of the ordinary course of nature, is 

 inconsistent with long duration ; so that we may conclude that such continued 

 frosts were not intensely severe. Howard, in his Climate of London, records 

 5° below zero, as happening in Feb. 1816. In the latter case, the intensity 

 at that season was probably of short duration, and would, consequently, 

 only take effect on the more herbaceous parts of vegetation. 



The mean temperature of February was 8° below the average ; but no 

 frost of extraordinary severity was experienced in England (in Scotland, it 

 was, however, more intense than it was there in January). Nearly an average 

 temperature was maintained in March ; but April fell more than 4° below the 

 mean. Leaves and blossoms were three weeks later than usual in expanding; 

 still, there was danger ; for sharp frosts occurred between the 10th and 19th 

 of May, sometimes as much as 6° below freezing. Of the class of fruit trees, 

 apples suffered most, and the failure of that crop has been general in most 

 situations. The summer, from this time, was, on the whole, congenial, but 

 rather below the average heat; and, as in 1837, the solar influence has been 

 much less powerful than usual. — R. T. 



