THE TREES OF AMERICA. 27 



SO that it demand this amount in three minutes, it is not difficult to perceive 

 that disease or death must follow. Again,, it will be seen that the same 

 effects may be produced by the rapid giving off of heat from the wind, when its 

 temperature is much above that of the object with which it comes in contact. 

 Ice, as Mr. Tudor remarks, wastes much more rapidly in the wind than when 

 exposed to a much higher temperature where there is no current of air. As is 

 well known, the air is a bad conductor of heat ; and if it remain at rest, in contact 

 with an object, it imparts or takes it very slowly. But let it once be set in 

 motion, at the rate of twenty miles an hour, which is by no means an uncommon 

 breeze, and it will be perceived at once how many thousands of particles of air 

 must in a short space of time come in contact with any object, and give or take 

 heat, as the case may be. Every one is familiar with the rapidity with which 

 the snow and ice wastes, when we have a warm wind in winter; liquefying 

 much faster than on a still day when the thermometer shows a much higher 

 degree of temperature. 



It is also well known, that if a part of the human body be burned or frozen, 

 and it be too rapidly cooled in the one case, or thawed in the other, a much more 

 serious disorganization follows than if the process had been a gradual one. The 

 analogy, without doubt, holds good in regard to vegetable life ; and we may here- 

 after ascertain that the wind, in blowing both hot and cold, is to be looked upon 

 with the same suspicion, in regard to its effects upon both animal and vegetable 

 health and life, as that with which, in the ancient woods, the Satyr is said to 

 have regarded his guest, who warmed his fingers and cooled his food with the 

 same breath. I have not, as yet, however, evidence that our winters kill well- 

 ripened wood, if it is of a kind that is at all adapted to our climate. 



The wind, like the skilful destroyer of a people, lays its hands upon the infant 

 plant, and blights it at the commencement of its wondrous life ; so that when 

 winter comes, and it is called to bare its arms to contend with the breeze and 

 the storm, it perishes in the stern contest. One of the best proofs of this is 

 shown in those shrubs and trees which require protection during the first few 

 years of their existence, and after the wood becomes mature, stand our climate 

 from year to year, producing flowers or fruit, as the case may be. Among 



