98 An Hîjîorical Journal of 



Puîfe, and Roots, v/iiich they preferve in Store-Rooms as well 



as they can, but which has fcarce any Virtue when they have 



been kept there fome Months. 



Add to this, that excepting Apples^ which are excellent 



here, and the fmall Summer Fruits which do not keep, the 

 Fruits of France have not fucceeded in Canada, Thefe, Ma- 

 dam, are the Difadvantages which are caufed by the great Cold. 

 We are, notwithftanding, as near the Sun as they are in the 

 moil fouthern Provinces of France^ and as we advance in the 

 Colony, we come nearer ftill. From whence can this different 

 Temperature of the Air proceed under the fame Parallels ? 

 This is what, in my Opinion, no Perfon has yet well ex- 

 plained. 



T he greatefl Part of the Authors ^ who have treated on this 

 Reftexion on the ^^^^ fatisfied themfelves with fay- 



C ufès^of^he reat ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ fevere Cold proceeds 

 PlJ^ y gt a from the Snow's laying fo long on the 

 ^ * Ground, that it is impoffible that the Ground 



fliould be well warmed again. But this Anfwer makes the 

 Difhculty ilill greater, for one may afk what is it that produces 

 this great Quantity of Snow, in Clim.ates as hot as Languedoc^ 

 and Fro'vence, and in Parts that are much more diftant from any 

 Mountains. The Sieur Deny s ^ whom I have cited feveral Times 

 before, afTerts, that the Trees grow green before the Sun is 

 high enough above the Horizon to melt the Snow, and to warm 

 the Earth; that may be true in Acadia, and on all the Sea 

 Coafts, but every where elfe it is certâin that all the Snow is 

 melted in the thickell Forefl: before tliere is a Leaf upon the 

 Trees. This Author feems not to have any better Authority for 

 faying, that the Snow melts rather by t'^e Heat of the Earth, 

 than that of the Air, and that it is always at the Bottom that it 

 begins to melt : For who can be perfuaded that the Earth, co- 

 vered with a frozen Water, fhould have more Heat than the 

 Air, which receives iiTimediately the Heat of the Rays of the 

 Sun. Befîdes, it does not Anfwer the Queftion, what is the 

 Caufe of this Deluge of Snow, which overflows vail Countries 

 in the midi! of the temperate Zone ? 



There is no Doubt but that, general] y fpeaking^ the Moun- 

 tains, Woods, and Lakes^ contribute m.uch to it ; but it appears 

 to me, that we muft iliîi feek for other Caufes. Y^^ûi^x Jofeph 

 Brejjani, an Italian Je/uif^ who pail the belt Years of his Lite in 

 Canada, has left us in his native Tongue, a Relation of Nc^aj 

 prance, in which he endeavours to clear up this Point of Phi- 

 Icfrphyo He cannot allow that we Ihould attribute the Cold;, 

 of which we feek the Caufe, to any of the Caufes I have juft 

 inentioned, ^in, the Mo^intains, Woods, and Lakes, with which 



this 



