May, in a rather cool situation ; and in September 
pot it in light compost, and keep it in a cold frame 
during winter. Although a Prussian plant, it rarely 
would hear full exposure through our winters. 
We are insensibly led to expect that all Russian 
plants are hardy, but on examining the immense 
extent of the Russian empire we find portions 
thereof warmer than any part of England, in- 
deed, this may reasonably be expected, seeing that 
its vast territory extends from forty degrees oi 
north latitude, to almost the north pole. Its warmer 
regions equal that of Italy and the south of France, 
but it is not this alone that influences the habits of 
their plants, for unlike Great Britain, with its per- 
petual alternations — its heat and cold, mingled like 
the constituent portions of granite — here a glossy 
bit and there a dull one ; unlike this, even Russia, 
in its milder portions, scarcely knows spring and 
autumn ; whilst in the colder regions these interme- 
diate seasons can scarcely be said to exist. The 
transition from summer to winter is abrupt and 
sudden, snow commences, and the earth is covered 
till the great change to summer again comes round, 
which, about Moscow, as stated by Tooke, in his 
View of the Russian Empire, takes place at the end 
of April; “ Then the rivers, covered a yard in thick- 
ness with ice, break up at once, and overflow theii 
banks to a great extent; in a fortnight the snow 
has disappeared, the rotten-like blocks of ice are 
dissolved, and the rivers are confined to their limits. 
A crackling from the bursting of the buds is heard 
in the birch forests ; in two days afterwards they 
are in leaf ” 
