23-1 



Observations upon the effects of Frost, 



I have no certain return from Binstead, in the Isle of Wight, 

 but Mr. Fleming's gardener states, from observations made in 

 the garden of the Rev. Augustus Hewitt, that the greatest frost 

 occurred on the morning of January 15, when the thermometer 

 fell to 15° ; and this agrees with a communication with which I 

 have been favoured by Dr. Bromfield of Ryde, whose thermo- 

 meter fell to 18° on the evening of the 15th of January, and never 

 sunk lower, nor could he ascertain that it fell below 15° anywhere 

 in that town. It is deserving of notice, that on this day the lowest 

 temperature near London was 21°. 



At Pitmaston, near Worcester, Mr. Williams states, that in his 

 garden on a gravelly soil, about 40 feet above the Severn at low 

 water mark, and a mile distant from that river, " the thermometer 

 was down at 12° on the morning of the 15th, and at 13° on the 

 morning of the 20th ; those were the two coldest nights experi- 

 enced. The instrument was fully exposed to the air on the east 

 side of some paling, some few leaves of a laurel intercepting the 

 radiation from the bulb of the thermometer to the heavens ; 

 had it been placed on the surface of the ground, and that surface 

 had a covering of snow on it, and had the bulb of the instrument 

 been so placed as to have radiated its caloric into space, it would 

 doubtless have sunk many degrees lower ; however that would not 

 have been the temperature of the air at 5 feet above the surface, 

 but the temperature of the leaves or parts of the plant exposed 

 to the sky." 



Sketty Hall, the seat of L. W. Dillwyn, Esq., is situated about 

 three miles west of Swansea, half a mile from the sea, and only 80 

 or 90 feet above its level. At this place, it is believed, that the 

 thermometer never sank below 15° ; but at a gentleman's house 

 about 8 miles from Sketty it fell to 1°. Penllergare, the residence 

 of Dillwyn Llewelyn Esq., and Penrice Castle, that of C. R. M. 

 Talbot, Esq. M. P., are both occasio ally referred to by Mr. Dill- 



