20i FEOZEN PLANTS MUST THAW GKADUALLY. 



such an exposure the early sunbeams will be received ; but, on 

 the other hand, vegetation there would be exposed to several 

 unfavourable actions. There would be little protection from 

 easterly winds, whichj whether south-east or north-east, are the 

 coldest and driest that blow : in the next place, an exposure to 

 the first sun of the morning is very prejudicial to garden pro- 

 ductions that have been frozen by the radiation of the night ; 

 it produces a sudden thaw, which, as gardeners well know, 

 (see Hort. Trans., iii. 43.) causes the death of plants which, if 

 slowly thawed, would sustain no inconvenience from the low 

 temperature to which they had been exposed. 



The following well authenticated cases will exemplify this important 

 practical truth. 1 . In the early spring of 1 846, a quantity of Geraniums, 

 and other soft-wooded plants, were conveyed some twenty miles by 

 waggon on a frosty night, and not being properly protected were 

 completely frozen when they arrived at their destination, by daylight 

 in the morning. So much were they frozen^,' that the succulent tops for 

 several inches were apparently masses of ice, and the greater part of 

 the leaves had suffered more or less. The whole of these plants were 

 quickly removed to a dark cellar ; and a covering of mats, supported 

 by a temporary frame-work, was thrown over them. Water, just 

 above the freezing temperature, was freely applied to the foliage, and 

 no light admitted for twenty-four hours. On removing them, scarcely 

 a leaf had suffered, except such as had been bruised in the unpacking. 

 2. One night, in mid-winter, the person in charge of a conservatory 

 forgetting to apply the necessary artificial temperature, found on 

 entering the house at 4 o'clock in the morning, that the tender plants 

 were much frozen. He applied fire to the boiler, raised the temperature 

 a degree or two above freezing, and then liberally applied cold water 

 with a syringe. The result was that nothing beyond a few leaves or a 

 stray shoot sustaiaed any damage. 3. A house of Pelargoniums was 

 penetrated by frost, the plants much frozen, and the frost on the 

 increase when the circumstance became known in the morning. Cold 

 water was in this case applied, but without the precaution of raising 

 the temperature above freezing. The result was that the water, as 

 soon as it fell on the foliage, became ice. The more water the greater 

 evil. This detected, a fire was, lighted, and the necessary temperature 

 acquired, when the result was aU that could be wished. Sunlight was 

 prevented reaching the plants until their fluids were once more in 

 motion. — A sudden thaw is easily obviated, by syringing frozen 

 plants with cold water a few, degrees above 32°. Mr James Cuthill 

 mentions the following occurrence in illustration of this : " In the spring 



