others, but also by perfecting its seed pod, and that without any artificial impregnation. As this may be a novelty, I have much pleasure in sending it to you; possibly its produce may be even hardier than the parent bulb.

"The border in which these plants have grown is particularly calculated for the culture of tender bulbs. Brunsvigia Josephine flowered there last autumn, with a stem nearly as large as my wrist, and a head of thirty-six flowers, seeding abundantly. Ismene calathina, Vallota purpurea, and many others flower annually, Hemanthus toxicarius flourishes there, but has not blossomed."

36. Note upon a newly introduced Half-hardy Species of Salvia called Salvia patens. By George Bentham, Esq., Secretary.

"It will excite some surprise, that this plant, growing plentifully in the same districts from whence we have received the S. fulgens, should never till now have been transmitted to this country, and it will be readily believed that there are yet many which would amply reward the exertions of future collectors. We know for instance of a Salvia longiflora among the Peruvian mountains, with a corolla above five inches long, a S. speciosa in the same country with long dense spikes of a rich purple, a white-flowered S. leucocephala, said far to exceed the beauty of S. leucantha, and in the Mexican mining districts the S. Regla, Sessei, and pubescens, with their inflated scarlet calyxes, S. phoenicea, covered with a profusion of flowers of the same colour, are stated to be fully equal to the S. fulgens in their general appearance, and even in South Brazil it is probable that S. persicifolia, or some others allied to it, may fairly enter into competition with S. splendens. Others are known to have orange or yellow flowers of different shades. Indeed out of near two hundred species of American salvias, there seems reason to believe that three fourths of them may be worthy of cultivation.

"We may hope, however, that in the S. patens, we have now secured one of the most desirable of the group, more especially as there seems reason to believe that it is not more tender than S. fulgens. It is a perennial, growing to the height of two, three, or four feet, erect and hairy. The leaves are large, ovate, or deltoid, broadly hastate, or somewhat heart-shaped at the base, or the upper ones rounded, green and hairy on both sides. The corolla is of a rich blue, between two and three inches long, is remarkable for its broad gaping mouth; the upper lip being long, falcate, and erect, inclosing the stamens and pistil, the lower lip hanging with two lateral oblong reflexed lobes, and the middle one very broad and emarginate.

"The S. patens will probably thrive best under the same treatment as that which succeeds with S. fulgens, and like that plant it will be found to vary much in the size, the brilliancy, and the number of flowers, according to the temperature and light in which it is grown. Particular care should be taken not to weaken the plant or suffer it to become etiolated, in order that the raceme may not lengthen too much and increase the distance between the flowers.

"We owe this splendid addition to our gardens to the exertions of John Parkinson, Esq., her Majesty's consul at Mexico, who transmitted seeds to this country early in the present year; and it was raised and first flowered in August, 1838, by Mr. W. B. Page, nurseryman, at Southampton."

37. Observations upon the Effects produced on Plants by the Frost which occurred in England in the Winter of 1837-8. By John Lindley, Ph. D. F.R.S. &c. &c., Vice-Secretary. Read December 4. 1838.

"The winter of 1837-8 was in England more injurious to vegetation than any which has occurred in modern times, and it must be many years before its disastrous effects can be repaired under the most favourable circumstances. We may have had winters in which the temperature was as low, and the dura

tion of severe weather longer, but on this occasion several concurrent circumstances contributed to mark the effects of the season more distinctly. At no previous time in the history of English gardening have there been so many rare exotics exposed to the naked influence of the climate; for the mildness of several previous winters, and the general increase of a desire to introduce new plants, had filled our gardens with species before unseen except in greenhouses.

"Not only were all the common annual vegetables cultivated in kitchen gardens entirely destroyed in the colder parts of the country, but strawberry plants prepared for forcing were so much injured as to be incapable of producing their flowers, and the vine was in many cases killed in greenhouses, in which a fire was not lighted. Among our native trees, the yew was affected in Cambridgeshire, and much more so at Glasgow; Ruscus aculeatus was injured in its native woods in Kent; the ivy lost its leaves and common thyme and broom were killed near London; the furze perished wholly above ground not only all round London, but even in South Wales, Cornwall and Devonshire; Atripex Halimus lost its branches in Cambridgeshire; many of the hardy heaths were killed to the ground; and the common periwinkle was observed by Mr. Dillwyn to lose its leaves at Sketty in South Wales. Even at the latter place, where the climate is comparatively mild, Menziesia polifolia was destroyed; Erica vagans, with its varieties, was much injured at Woburn; and the common holly was extensively affected in several places in the middle and north of England; this plant however offered very different powers of resisting cold, some of the varieties proving much hardier than others, and, according to the observations of Mr. M'Intosh, those which are variegated, more so than the plain kinds. Of numerous exotic trees and shrubs from the South of Europe, New Holland, the Himalaya mountains, China, and the alpine regions of South America, many of which had been growing for years unharmed, a large proportion perished. Nearly all the rare specimens of this kind which had been collected, with so much care and cost, in the Society's Garden, were destroyed. All round London fine old evergreen oaks, and cork trees had their leaves and young shoots turned brown, laurustinuses, sweet bays, and the common Arbutus were generally cut off, while in most gardens not a plant remained alive above ground of all the beautiful varieties of the China rose and its kindred species.

"These and similar facts have induced me to investigate the extent of the mischief produced throughout the country in different situations; and by the kindness of those gentlemen to whom I applied for such evidence as came within their knowledge, I have been enabled to assemble a considerable amount of interesting information. My thanks are in particular due to The Rev. Frederick Beadon, North Stoneham, Hampshire. Mr. William Beattie Booth, Gardener to Sir Charles Lemon, Bart. M.P., Carclew, near Penryn, Cornwall. Philip Davies Cooke, Esq., Owston, near Doncaster, Yorkshire. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, Esq., Sketty, near Swansea. Mr. James Forbes, Gardener to his Grace the Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire. Mr. Philip Frost, Gardener to Lady Grenville, Dropmore. The Rev. Professor Henslow, Cambridge. The Hon. and Rev. William Herbert, Spofforth, near Wetherby, Yorkshire. Mr. Stephen Hooker, Nurseryman, Brenchley, Kent. Mr. George Leslie, Gardener to John Fleming, Esq., Stoneham Park, Southampton. Mr. James Townsend Mackay, Trinity College, Dublin. Mr. Frederick Mackie, Nurseryman, Norwich. Mr. Charles M'Intosh, Gardener to H. M. the King of the Belgians, Claremont. Sir Charles Miles Lambert Monck, Bart., Belsay Castle, Northumberland. Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart., Rolleston Hall, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. Lieut. Gen. Henry Monckton, Somerford Hall, near Wolverhampton. Mr. Stewart Murray, Curator of the Botanic Garden, Glasgow. Mr. Ninian Niven, Curator of the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, Dublin. John P. Parkin, Esq., Honorary Secretary to the Royal Horticultural Society of Cornwall. John

Rogers, Esq. Jun., Sevenoaks, Kent. The Hon. W. F. Strangways, Abbotsbury, Dorchester. John Henry Vivian, Esq. M.P., Singleton, Swansea, Glamorganshire. Joseph Walker, Esq., Calderstone, near Liverpool. William Wells, Esq., Redleaf, Tonbridge, Kent. John Williams, Esq., Pitmaston, near Worcester. Mr. John Wilson, Gardener to the Earl of Surrey, Worksop Manor, Nottinghamshire. Mr. Robert Wilson, Gardener to his Grace the Duke of Norfolk, Arundel Castle, Sussex.

"I have also occasionally availed myself of such published accounts as have appeared most worthy of notice.

"In order that the conclusions to be drawn from the facts hereafter noticed should possess their proper value, it is necessary in the first place to explain the state of the weather, previously to the occurrence of the frost itself, and during its continuance. For this purpose the observations made in the garden of the Society by Mr. Thompson, and a few derived from other sources, will convey a sufficiently correct idea for the principal part of England.

"The month of April, 1837, was perhaps the coldest and at the same time the most sunless ever remembered. It was 7° Fahr. below the mean of the same month for ten preceding years; and the temperature of May following was 6° below the average. In the latter month, the appearance of vegetation was like what it generally presents a month earlier; the common hawthorn, for instance, was not farther advanced in leaf on the 1st of May, in the past season, than it generally is on the 1st of April. The general temperature of April and May being thus low, and the nights frequently frosty throughout both months, vegetation advanced but little, and only commenced under favourable circumstances in June; plants consequently made the greater portion of their growth after Midsummer, and during the Autumn, at which season the shortness of the days, and an unusual deficiency of sun heat, were insufficient to enable them to complete the process of lignification.

"October was nearly 2° below the average of its temperature, and consequently did not contribute its usual share towards maturing the wood of the season. November was fully 3° below the mean. December was seasonable during the first fortnight; but a most remarkable change took place after the 15th. The mean temperature of the last sixteen days of the month was 46°; instead of the temperature which usually occurs at the winter solstice, this corresponds with that generally experienced even after the vernal equinox. The rise of temperature, above that of November, was also greater than what takes place between March and April. The thermometer was seldom below 40° at night, and never at freezing. These circumstances all contributed to bring on excitement in the fluids of plants, as was evidently manifested in the production of young shoots by many species. On Christmas day the thermometer in the shade stood at 541°.

"In the beginning of January the weather was slightly rainy, and so unusually warm, that the lowest temperature observed on the 2d of the month was 41°, and for each of the four first days the thermometer marked 48° in the day, the wind blowing from the S. and S.W. On the 5th the wind shifted to the N.W. and the temperature began to fall, but up to the 7th the thermometer did not sink below 27°. After this, winter may be said to have set in ; the weather continued to increase in severity till the night between the 19th and 20th, when it arrived at its greatest intensity and the thermometer sank in the morning of the 20th to -40, the ground being scarcely covered with

snow.

"In quoting the temperature throughout this paper, I have only taken the observations made upon thermometers placed under ordinary circumstances. But where the thermometer was so isolated, as to be cut off from the influence of the heat emitted by surrounding bodies, the temperature was in reality much lower, as will be seen by observing the column, in the following table, in which the observations upon the radiating thermometer are recorded. The daily register of the weather during this period was as follows:

"At Sevenoaks*, the following hourly and other observations, made by Mr. Rogers, are too curious to be omitted.

3

22

25

Fine.

18

The foregoing observations were made with two self-registering thermometers, one vertical and one horizontal, laid upon a board, on a bank of snow facing N.W. One of the instruments was made by Knight of Foster Lane, the other by a different person, and both had been compared and tested accurately with a thermometer made by Newman. The register of the horizontal instrument became deranged at the 6 P. M. observation, the spirit receding from the register, which was lodged against the bend of the tube. The remaining observations were with the vertical thermometer (Six's), checked by the mercurial side of the horizontal one; but in the observation at 124 A. M. the mercury had passed the register of the vertical thermometer, so that an allow

* At this place a singular phænomenon was observed by Mr. Rogers. During the extreme cold the branches of a lime-tree, which overhangs a part of his garden, drooped so as completely to lie on the ground, and those above fell proportionately; there was neither ice nor rime on them to increase their weight, so that this phænomenon must have been some direct effect of cold. The branches recovered themselves as the day advanced and grew warmer, and eventually they so completely regained their original position, that Mr. Rogers at first thought his gardener had cut away all that drooped and impeded the path the morning before.

ance of 1° is made on the two last observations for the immersion of the register in the mercury.

"In the interval between the last two observations, the mercury had descended so as to pass the upper end of the register, indicating the point it had reached by a globule, which had become detached, and which remained lodged in the bent part of the tube beyond the register, showing a temperature of at least 5° below zero; how much lower it was, there was no evidence to prove.

"At Langley Farm, near Beckenham, in Kent, the residence of Lancelot Holland, Esq., it was observed, that on the night of the 19-20th January a thermometer facing the west, 6 inches above the ground and 20 yards from the house, and from any body which could radiate heat, fell to 13° below zero. It stood at that point when Mr. Holland examined it a little after seven in the morning. It fell to zero soon after sunset; at 11 P. M. on the 19th it was 3° below that point. In the morning of the 20th, Mr. Holland examined two other thermometers attached to the house: the one facing the north was 70, and that to the west 6° below zero.

"At Redleaf, near Tonbridge, Mr. Wells reports the cold to have been only 1° on the morning of the 20th, and the ground covered 8 inches deep with snow.

"At Cambridge, according to Professor Henslow, the thermometer was observed in the Botanic Garden at 3° above zero on the 20th at 11 P. M. ; and it was, therefore, in all probability, in the morning as low as near London. Among other facts it was noticed, that Vinca major and Euphorbia amygdaloides among our native plants were much injured. Even the young shoots of all the trees in the plantations near Cambridge suffered more or less, and what seemed very remarkable, of none more so than the beech.

"In the garden of the Rev. Frederick Beadon, at North Stoneham, in Hampshire, the thermometer fell on the morning of the 20th to zero.

"At Claremont, the English seat of H. M. the King of the Belgians, Mr. M'Intosh states, that against a white wall, 4 feet from the ground, over a gravel walk, and exposed without shelter to the east, the thermometer indicated 12° below zero, and that at Walton, three miles from Claremont, it was said to be as low as -14°. The ground was not covered, at the most, with more than 6 inches of snow, and in many places was scarcely coloured. At this place it was ascertained, that on an open part of the lawn, about 50 feet above the general level of the park, the ground was frozen to the depth of 28 inches.

"In the Glasgow Botanic Garden, Mr. S. Murray states, that the lowest range of the thermometer during January and February was 1° below zero, but five miles distant from Glasgow it was 31° below zero. He however adds, that about 8 inches of snow were by a partial thaw half dissolved, and afterwards frozen so firm, that the Green of Glasgow was used as skating ground, and during this period the branches of plants were like ropes of icethe varieties of Rhododendron arboreum suffered severely at that time.

"At Worksop Manor, in Nottinghamshire, the seat of the Earl of Surrey, the thermometer was seen at 3° above zero, on the morning of the 20th of January; the snow at the time lying, on an average, 6 inches deep, and covering a great part of the foliage of the evergreens. In the neighbourhood of Worksop the cold was still more severe; the thermometer having stood at Osberton, the residence of G. S. Foljambe, Esq., at 2° below zero.

"But although the frost, making all allowance for errors in instruments, was thus severe in some places, it appears, as might be expected, that it was far less intense in the western and southern parts of the island.

"At Brenchley, near Lamberhurst, in Kent, whence some returns have been furnished by Mr. Hooker, the amount of frost was not ascertained, but he states that he examined his thermometer nightly after 11 P. M., and never found it below 14° above zero. Mr. Hooker's nursery is situated on a gentle slope to the north, with a slight valley running through the middle of it from