Effects of the Winter of 1878-9, by James Hardy. 137 



ground, and the ponds and brooks were frozen. During that time, also, the 

 Tweed was three times frozen over from bank to bank opposite Paxton 

 House, so that men could walk across the river on the ice. The hardest 

 frost occurred on the night of the 13th and early morning of the 14th De- 

 cember, when the thermometer at the height of four feet from the ground, 

 and fully exposed to the open air, marked no less than 40 degrees of frost, 

 or 8 degrees below zero. 



At 10 o'clock at night on the 13th December, the thermometer fell to 5° 

 below zero, and at 9 o'clock on the following morning the indicator of the 

 thermometer showed that the temperature had fallen other three degrees 

 during the night, for it stood at 8** below zero. 



At the Meteorological Society's Station, in the garden at Paxton House, 

 the thermometer did not fall lower than 2" below zero on the night men- 

 tioned. It is not placed in the open air, but in a covered wooden box with 

 louvre boards at the sides. 



During the month of December last, 203 degrees of frost were registered 

 at Paxton garden ; in January, 155; in February, 63 deg. ; in March, 25; 

 in April, 14 ; and in the first week of May, 7°. 



The damage done to the trees and shrubs by the severity of the frost has 

 been very great. 



Fine specimens of the Conifers, such as Cedrus deodara and Cedrus Libani, 

 5 and 6 feet high, have been killed, as well as Taxodium sempervirens, 

 CryptoiMria elegans, and Japonica, in some cases. Ciipressus elegans, Pinus 

 nohilis, Pinus cembra and Pinus pinea, Andromeda procera, and Salisburia 

 adiantifolia have also been destroyed ; and Wellingtonia gigantea, and Thuja 

 gigantea have been injured. 



Evergreen shrubs have suffered severely. Great Bays and Portugal 

 Laurels, 10 and 12 feet high, and 20 feet thick, have been killed to the 

 ground; as well as common ivy on walls and trees, Lauristinus, Aucuba 

 Japonica, Cytisus, Cotoneaster, Garry a elliptica, white Jasmine on walls, com- 

 mon Privet, double flowering and common whins. Daphne Laureola in many 

 instances, and some Cotoneaster microphylla on walls. 



Common rhododendrons in some cases have been injured on the points of 

 the shoots, and a good many hybrid kinds killed to the ground. 



Even the common hollies and yews have not escaped — the points of the 

 shoots being browned. 



The gardener at Paxton House has remarked that the bays and yews under 

 the shade of large trees, especially beeches, seem to have suffered more 

 severely than when fuUy exposed. 



The whole of the standard H.P. roses have been killed, but the dwarf 

 H.P.'s have not suffered much. Tea roses on walls have been all killed to 

 the ground, although in many instances well protected with spruce fir 

 branches. 



Peach trees on walls have been injured, in some cases, as much as 2 feet, 

 from points of shoots being destroyed. 



The flower buds of apricots have been much hurt. 



Vegetables have sustained great damage— Broccoli especially, for none of 

 it ha8 been left alive. Savoys, parsley, lettuce, and Brussels sprouts have 



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