INTRODUCTION. 



Summary of the Differences in Character of the Weather 

 preceding and during the principal severe winters of the 

 last fifty years, with the relative effects on vegetation. 



1837-38. In consequence of an excessively cold spring, it was 

 not until the autumn of 1837 that vegetation made most of its 

 growth ; but from want of sun, the wood could not well ripen ; 

 the temp, of Oct. being 2°, and that of Nov., 3°, below the av. 

 In the latter part of Dec. temp, was very high, the mean being 

 46°, so that young shoots were produced. The first week in Jan. 

 1838 was unusually warm, but after the 7th the weather increased 

 in severity till the 20th ; e.g., temp, at Chiswick, -4°-5 ; at Becken- 

 ham, -13°-5 ; at Claremont, -12°. Hence, the greatest injuries were 

 endured by growths being imperfectly ripened.* 



1840-41. The severity of this winter was less felt than that 

 of 1837-38 ; as the wood of trees and shrubs was well ripened, and 

 the long period of cold which preceded the severe weather of Jan. 

 1841 had prevented all tendency to premature growth. Temp, fell 

 to -7° at Bury St. Edmund's; -4°-0 at Stowe, on Jan. 8th; but 

 only to 6° at Chiswick.t 



1844-45. This winter was remarkable for its long continuance, 

 from the beginning of Dec. to the middle of March. In 1837-38, 

 the frost was sudden and the ground almost naked ; but on this 

 occasion a series of dry winds prepared vegetation for the shock 

 and the ground was thickly covered with snow. No great amount 

 of injury appears to have been generally recorded, though the 

 market gardens suffered much around London ; the min. temp, at 



* Obs. upon the Effects produced on Plants by Frosts in 1837-8, by Dr. Lind- 

 ley. Trans. Hort. Soc, 2nd Ser., Vol. ii., p. 225. See also On the Effects 

 of the severe Winter of 1837-8 on some Shrubberies and Gardens in Glamorgan- 

 shire, by L. D. Dillwyn, Esq., 1839. 



f Gard. Chron., 1841, p. 38. 



b 



