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XXXVII. Observations upon the Effects produced on Plants by the 

 Frost which occurred in England in the Winter of 1837-8. By 

 John Lindley, Ph. D. F. R. S. 8?c. $C Vice Secretary. 



Read December 4, 1838. 



The winter of 1837-8 was in England more injurious to vegeta- 

 tion than any which has occurred in modern times, and it must be 

 many years before its disastrous effects can be repaired under the 

 most favourable circumstances. We may have had winters in 

 which the temperature was as low, and the duration of severe wea- 

 ther longer, but on this occasion several concurrent circumstances 

 contributed to mark the effects of the season more distinctly. At 

 no previous time in the history of English gardening have there 

 been so many rare exotics exposed to the naked influence of the 

 climate ; for the mildness of several previous winters, and the ge- 

 neral increase of a desire to introduce new plants, had filled our 

 gardens with species before unseen except in greenhouses. 



Not only were all the common annual vegetables cultivated in 

 kitchen gardens entirely destroyed, in the colder parts of the 

 country, but strawberry plants prepared for forcing were so much 

 injured as to be incapable of producing their flowers, and the 

 vine was in many cases killed in greenhouses, in which a fire 

 was not lighted. Among our native trees, the yew was affected 

 in Cambridgeshire, and much more so at Glasgow ; Ruscus acu- 

 leatus was injured in its native woods in Kent ; the ivy lost its leaves 

 and common thyme and broom were killed near London ; the furze 

 perished wholly above ground not only all round London, but even 

 in South Wales, Cornwall and Devonshire ; Atriplex Halimus lost its 

 branches in Cambridgeshire; many of the hardy heaths were killed 



