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On the Effects of the Winter 0/ 1879-80, on Animal and 

 Vegetable Life on the Borders. 



BEEWICKSHIEE. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



Judging from my own experience, I did not expect that tlie 

 winter of 1879-80, would be so calamitous to out-of-door vegeta- 

 tion, as I soon came to know from my friends and correspondents 

 it turned out to be. This state of matters has obliged me for 

 consistency's sake to do much of last year's work over again. I 

 have now to thank those non-members of the Club, who paid 

 such ready attention to my questionings, or who have aided those 

 members who kindly lent me their assistance. Situations near 

 the sea-coast have formed no part of the inquiry, as most of them 

 escaped harm ; but a few examples have been admitted. If any 

 grievous cases have been omitted, we shall hear of them subse- 

 quently. I feel particularly grateful to those gentlemen in the 

 Tyneside district, nearly all of them strangers, who have given 

 such a minute and valuable account of what happened in that 

 neighbourhood ; of which we would have remained wholly un- 

 informed, but for their endeavours to furnish a complete state- 

 ment. The reports on the valleys of the Coquet, the Aln, the 

 Glen, and the Till, are almost exhaustive. That there is so little 

 from the Wansbeck is from want of acquaintance with that part 

 of the country. North of the Borders the examples are as typical 

 as could be obtained. 



My own observations for this year have been on a small scale. At Renton 

 House, which is sufficiently elevated to stand above the fog that gathers in 

 the valley of the Eye, on Jan. 7, 1880, some evidences of December's severity 

 had become manifest. Cotoneaster microphylla and Jasminum nudiflorvmy on 

 the front of the house, where they are much exposed to the bitter frost winds, 

 were much scorched. The Ivy was untouched, but a Holly hedge was exter- 

 nally withered. Aueuba Japonica in the shade was nearly killed to the 

 groand ; but bushes fully exposed were unimpaired. The Furze by the post- 

 road sides near Grant's House had been quite browned by the frost and the 

 piercing winds. With the advance of the season, it became evident that 

 Furze on both sides of the valley of the Eye had been completely blighted, 

 and shewed no symptoms of verdure. Broom is a hardier shrub than the 

 Furze, and some of it escaped. The top twigs of Ashes, Oaks, and Sallows, 

 suffered between Grant's House and Coveyheugh ; as appeared by the scanty 

 foliage. At Grant's House there was very little fruit. Hawthorns and 

 Laburnums were most meagre in blossom, even in the most sheltered grounds. 



