80 
THE 
CANADIAN 
NATURALIST. 
sound will have given us warning of such an event. — It is 
a pretty sight to take a candle to the window : the feeble 
light can penetrate but a little way into the deep pitchy 
darkness, but every foot of that blackness is thickly studded 
with the white descending flakes^ which the light makes 
prominent. 
C. — I know that nothing is created in vain^ or without 
an end : but I should like to be informed^ what are the uses 
of the winter's snow. 
F, — From the lightness of snow, it is a poor conductor 
. of caloric : that is, the matter of heat does not readily pass 
through it;, or into it from contiguous substances. 
C. — I recollect reading of a woman who was lost in a 
storm^, and lay for several days buried up in an immense 
snow-drift ; and who declared that she had not suffered from 
coldj the snow having kept her warm like a blanket. 
F, — Just such a purpose does the snow serve to the 
earth : the grand scene of Nature's operations during winter 
is below the surface of the ground^, where she is preparing 
the germs and roots soon to shoot forth ; elaborating juices 
and consolidating parts^ previous to the active vegetation of 
spring. But if the ground were left bare, in cold climates, 
it would be hard frozen to a great depth, and the vegetative 
life would be either destroyed or suspended ; and the spring 
would be very far advanced before the earth could be thawed. 
To prevent these ill effects, God has mercifully ordained that 
a soft and warm covering shall be provided, the offspring of 
that very cold which is to be guarded against, thus making 
the evil work its own remedy. Among the subordinate uses, 
may be reckoned the advantage of having good roads made 
by it, for the conveying of produce to markets, drawing wood, 
manure, &c. : a benefit by no means small, and one which 
the farmer well knows how to appreciate. This was mani- 
fest in the winter of 1837-38, a winter remarkable for the 
