IS'ATUEAL HISTOEY OIP SELBORNE. 
19/ 
sunbeam let into a dark room. We thought them at first particles 
of the rime falling from my tall hedges ; but were soon convinced 
to the contrary, by making our observations in open places where 
no rime could reach us. Were they watery particles of the air frozen 
as they floated, or were they evaporations from the snow frozen as they 
mounted ! 
We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early informa- 
tion they gave us ; and hurried our apples, pears, onions, potatoes, 
&c. into the cellar, and warm closets ; while those who had not, or 
neglected such warnings, lost all their store of roots and fruits, and had 
their very bread and cheese frozen. 
I must not omit to tell you that, during these two Siberian days, my 
parlour cat was so electric, that had a person stroked her, and been 
properly insulated, the shock might have been given to a whole circle 
of people. 
I forgot to mention before, that, during the two severe days, two 
men, who were tracing hares in the snow, had their feet frozen ; and 
two men, who were much better employed, had their fingers so 
afi'ected by the frost, while they were thrashing in a barn, that a 
mortification followed, from which they did not recover for many 
weeks. 
This frost killed all the furze and most of the ivy, and in many places 
stripped the hollies of all their leaves. It came at a very early time of 
the year, before old November ended ; and yet may be allowed from its 
efibcts to have exceeded any since 1730-40. 
LETTEE LXIV. 
TO THE SAME. 
As the effects of heat are seldom very remarkable in the northerly 
climate of England, where the summers are often so defective in 
warmth and sunshine as not to ripen the fruits of the earth so well as 
might be wished, I shall be more concise in my account of the severity 
of a summer season, and so make a little amends for the prolix account 
of the degrees of cold, and the inconveniences that we suffered from 
some late rigorous vfinters. 
The summers of 1781 and 17,83 were unusually hot and dry; to 
^them therefore I shall turn back in my journals, without recurring to 
any more distant period. In the former of these years my peach and 
nectarine-trees suffered so much from the heat that the rind on the 
bodies was scalded and came off ; since which' the trees have been in 
a decaying state. This may prove a hint to assiduous gardeners to 
fence and shelter their wall-trees with mats or boards, as they may 
easily do, because such annoyance is seldom of long continuance. 
During that summer also, I observed that my apples were coddled, as 
it were, on the trees ; so that they had no quickness of flavour, and 
would not keep in the winter„ This circumstance put me in mind of 
