of Linneus, that the apple-trees sent from hence to New England blossomed
for a few years too early for that climate, and bore no fruit; but
afterwards learnt to accommodate themselves to their new situation.
(Kalm's Travels.) 4th. The parts of animals become more sensible to heat
after having been previously exposed to cold, as our hands glow on coming
into the house after having held snow in them; this seems to happen to
vegetables; for vines in grape-houses, which have been exposed to the
winter's cold, will become forwarder and more vigorous than those which
have been kept during the winter in the house. (Kenedy on Gardening.) This
accounts for the very rapid vegetation in the northern latitudes after the
solution of the snows.

The increase of the irritability of plants in respect to heat, after
having been previously exposed to cold, is further illustrated by an
experiment of Dr. Walker's. He cut apertures into a birch-tree at
different heights; and on the 26th of March some of these apertures bled,
or oozed with the sap-juice, when the thermometer was at 39; which same
apertures did not bleed on the 13th of March, when the thermometer was at
44. The reason of this I apprehend was, because on the night of the 25th
the thermometer was as low as 34; whereas on the night of the 12th it was
at 41; though the ingenious author ascribes it to another cause. Trans.
of Royal Soc. of Edinburgh, v. 1. p. 19.]


"Breathe, gentle AIR! from cherub-lips impart
Thy balmy influence to my anguish'd heart;
325 Thou, whose soft voice calls forth the tender blooms,
Whose pencil paints them, and whose breath perfumes;
O chase the Fiend of Frost, with leaden mace
Who seals in death-like sleep my hapless race;