EFFECT OF FROSTS OF WINTER OF 191 6-17 ON VEGETATION. 395 
of their life, which thereafter can be safely left to look after themselves ; 
the protection may be afforded by bracken or matting or merely by 
the close vicinity of other plants, but this story proves that trees not 
of extreme hardiness should not be isolated as specimens till they 
have reached a certain height and age. 
" This last winter's severity was the more felt because it followed 
on several of unusual mildness; for instance, Acacia dealbata, which 
had been given me by some Cornish or Irish friend, had grown vigorously 
with me for five years, and had developed into quite respectable 
size, but was of course killed stone dead early this year. All of us 
had thus been tempted to try delicate things, and though most of 
them have now been swept away, yet some few startling successes 
have occurred, and new and valuable experience has been gained. 
M I have always understood that for several years after it was 
first introduced the Tulip tree was supposed to be tender, and it was 
only by an accident that its hardiness was discovered ; in the same 
way on the walls at Kew Gardens can be seen specimens of plants 
now of proved hardiness, which must have been assumed to require 
a wall for their salvation when first brought to England. 
" The common horse-chestnut and the Mexican Choisya ternata 
are well-known instances of plants far hardier than their natural 
habitat would suggest. 
" This year has furnished one or two unexpected revelations. 
Lomatia ferruginea, which I should never have even thought of trying 
had not my friend Mr. Gerald Loder given me a plant, though 
only a small cane about 2 feet 6 inches high, is absolutely untouched, 
and Paliurus aculeatus, which I had tried and lost many years ago, 
had only two or three twigs slightly scorched. It is true that I have 
only one plant of these, and as Aristotle remarks, no doubt recording 
a then ancient proverb, ' one swallow doesn't make summer ' ; never- 
theless that twenty-nine degrees of frost should have left undamaged 
these two plants placed at hazard in the shrubberies, with no other 
protection than that afforded by neighbouring plants, is distinctly 
surprising and encouraging. 
" I may state here that the ensuing lists only concern plants 
growing in the open without artificial protection of any kind (unless 
so specified), and that in the case of creepers they are trained to a 
larch pole. 
" Early in the spring I wrote a short note for ' Irish Gardening ' 
on the effects of the winter's cold, especially with reference to the 
recent Chinese introductions, making, on. the whole, a fairly cheerful 
report ; that highly experienced and very good friend of mine, Sir 
Frederick Moore of Glasnevin, warned me after reading it that I 
should probably prove to have been far too optimistic and that some 
disagreeable surprises were in store for me. 1 am happy to say that 
so far as Aldenham is concerned this warning has not been needed, 
and a close summer inspection brings the opposite result that in no 
case have I lost plants which I thought safe, and in several cases 
