11 



INTRODUCTION. 



Isleworth being -5° on Feb. 12th. The excessively cold temps., 

 both in 1837-38 and in 1844-45, having been in the S. of England; 

 and the weather having been equally severe on the Continent in 

 the latter winter, — even Orange trees being killed at Marseilles, 

 while the min. temp, was -3° at Turin — it would seem that the 

 South of Eng. lay on the outskirts of a large anticyclonic area 

 over the W. of Europe. It appears to have been very cold at 

 Inverness, but " as the frost came on gradually plants became so 

 hardened as to endure it with impunity."* 



1851- 52. Subsequent to a short period of cold weather in Oct. 

 and Nov., the temp, on Nov. 4th being 22° near London, with no 

 injury to plants, there were two months of temp. 2° to 6° above 

 the av., the severest period not returning until April, with N. and 

 E. winds prevailing for three weeks. Previous to Nov. 1851 the 

 weather had been singularly dry with low temps. Hence the 

 tissues of plants were in a state approaching a winter torpor and 

 did not suffer. Much the same conditions prevailed a second time 

 until spring ; consequently even tender bushes were quite uninjured. 

 In March, temps, fell to 18°, 17°, 16° and lower, the weather 

 being dry, windy with Easterly winds and the temp, uniformly low. 

 " The experience of this winter shows the small effect of English 

 cold upon exotic plants, provided they are dry, torpid and well 

 sheltered from sun and ivarmth."t 



1852- 53. The June of 1852 was cold and wet ; July being hot 

 and dry, but Aug. and the remaining months were wet. The mean 

 temp, of Dec. was nearly 47°, and the earth temp, at 1 ft., 3° -5 

 above the av. Jan. 1853 was nearly 4° above the av., but Feb., 

 with a min. temp, of 16° on the 18th, and the following months, 

 even to Sept., were below the av. Hence the cold spring following 

 on previously wet and mild seasons caused a considerable amount 

 of injury. I 



1859-60. Great heat and drought came in the summer of 

 1859 ; the ground temp, on Oct. 4th being 62°, and that of the air, 



* Gard. Chron., 1845, p. 150. 1885-6. This winter resembled that of 1845 

 in being prolonged to the middle of March ; but there were no very great 

 depressions of temperature as in 1879-80 and 1880-1. For accounts from 

 various parts of the Britith Isles, the reader is referred to the Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture, April 1st, 1886, p. 254, and subsequent issues. 



f Gard. Chron., 1852, p. 147. 



X Gard. Chron., 1853, p. 659. 



