230 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
LETTER LVI. 
Since the weather of a district is undoubtedly part of its 
natural history, I shall make no further apology for the four 
following letters, which will contain many particulars concern- 
ing some of the great frosts, and a few respecting some very 
hot summers, that have distinguished themselves from the rest 
during the course of my observations. 
As the frost in January, 1768, was, for the small time it lasted, 
the most severe that we had then known for many years, and 
was remarkably injurious to evergreens, some account of its 
rigor, and reason of its ravages, may be useful and not unac- 
ceptable to persons that delight in planting and ornamenting; 
and may particularly become a work that professes never to 
lose sight of utility. 
For the last two or three days of the former year there were 
considerable falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the 
ground without any drifting, wrapping up the more humble 
vegetation in perfect security. From the first day to the fifth 
of the new year more snow succeeded ; but from that day the 
air became entirely clear; and the heat of the sun about noon 
had a considerable influence in sheltered situations. 
It was in such an aspect that the snow on the author’s ever- 
greens was melted every day, and frozen intensely every night ; 
so that the laurustines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked, in 
three or four days, as if they had been burnt in the fire; while 
a neighbor’s plantation of the same kind, in a high cold situ- 
ation, where the snow was never melted at all, remained 
uninjured. 
From hence I would infer that it is the repeated melting and 
freezing of the snow that is so fatal to vegetation, rather than 
the severity of the cold. Therefore it highly behoves every 
planter, who wishes to escape the cruel mortification of losing 
in a few days the labor and hopes of years, to bestir himself on 
