OF SELBORNE 27S^ 



concerning some of the great frosts and a few respecting 

 some very hot summers, that have distinguished them- 

 selves from the rest during the course of my observations. 



As the frost in January 1768 was, for the small time it 

 lasted, the most severe that we had then known for many 

 years, and was remarkably injurious to evergreens, som& 

 account of its rigour, and reason of its ravages, may b& 

 useful, and not unacceptable to persons that delight in 

 planting and ornamenting ; and may particularly become 

 a work that professes never to lose sight of utility. 



For the last two or three days of the former year there 

 were considerable falls of snow, which lay deep and 

 uniform on the ground without any drifting, wrapping up 

 the more humble vegetation in perfect security. From 

 the first day to the fifth of the new year more snow 

 succeeded ; but from that day the air became entirely 

 clear ; and the heat of the sun about noon had a consider- 

 able influence in sheltered situations. 



It was in such an aspect that the ^now on the author's, 

 evergreens was melted every day, and frozen intensely 

 every night ; so that the laurustines, bays, laurels, and 

 arbutuses looked, in three or four days, as if they had been 

 burnt in the fire ; while a neighbour's plantation of the- 

 same kind, in a high cold situation, where the snow was. 

 never melted at all, remained uninjured. 



From hence I would infer that it is the repeated melt- 

 ing and freezing of the snow that is so fatal to vegetation, 

 rather than the severity of the cold. Therefore it highly- 

 behoves every planter, who wishes to escape the cruel 

 mortification of losing in a few days the labour and hopes, 

 of years, to bestir himself on such emergencies ; and, if 

 his plantations are small, to avail himself of mats, cloths, 

 pease-haum, straw, reeds, or any such covering, for » 

 short time ; or, if his shrubberies are extensive, to see that 

 his people go about with prongs and forks, and carefully 



