Numerous natural phenomena are produced by frost. Water from the clouds, freezing slowly, crystallizes in little icy darts or stars, forming, by their assemblage, the beautiful flakes of snow. Its whiteness is owing to the smallness of the particles into which it is divided; for ice, when pounded, becomes equally white. Snow is very useful by protecting the plants it covers from the severity of the frost.Hailstones are drops of rain, suddenly congealed into a hard mass, so as to preserve their figure. They often fall in warmer seasons of the year, as even then the upper regions of the atmosphere are very cold. When dew or mist freezes, as it frequently does on every object on which it falls, it becomes hoar frost, producing figures of incomparable beauty and elegance.

As the cold of this inclement season advances, the birds collect in flocks, and, rendered bold by want, approach the habitations of man. The wild quadrupeds, also, are driven from their accustomed haunts; hares enter the gardens to browse on cultivated ve getables, and, leaving their tracks in the snow, are frequently hunted down, or caught in snares.

The domestic cattle now require all the care and protection of the farmer. Sheep are often lost in the sudden storms by which the snow is drifted into hollows, so as to bury them a considerable depth beneath it; yet they have been known to survive many days in this situation. Cows receive their subsistence from the provision of the farm-yard; and early lambs

and calves are kept within doors, and tended with nearly as much care as the farmer's own children.

"Now shepherds, to your helpless charge be kind;
Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens

With food at will; lodge them below the storm,
And watch them strict; for, from the bellowing east,
In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing
Sweeps up the burden of whole wint❜ry plains
At one wide waft, and o'er the helpless flocks,
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,
The billowy tempest 'whelms."

The plants, at this season, are defended by nature from the effects of cold. Those called herbaceous, which die down to the root every autumn, are safely concealed under ground; and the shrubs and trees that are exposed to the open air, have all their soft and tender parts closely wrapped up in buds, which, by their texture, resist the effects of frost, and are hence aptly termed the winter quarters of the young shoots. How admirable is the economy of Nature!

The earth, at this season, may now be compared to a mother who has been robbed of those children from whom she had the best hopes. She is desolate, and deprived of the charms which varied and embellished her surface; however, she is not robbed of all her children; here and there some vegetables are still to be seen, which seem to defy the severity of the winter; here the wild hawthorn shows its purple berries, and the laurestina displays its blossoms in clusters, crowned with leaves which never fade. The yew-tree rises like a pyramid, and its leaves

preserve their verdure. The ivy, evergreen, still creeps along the walls, and clings immoveable, while the tempest roars around it. The laurel extends its green branches, and has lost none of its summer ornaments; and the humble box shows here and there, in the midst of the snow, its evergreen branches.

FEBRUARY.

"Now shifting gales with milder influence blow, Cloud o'er the skies, and melt the falling snow; The soften'd soil with fertile moisture teems,

And, freed from icy bonds, down rush the swelling streams."

THE earlier part of this month may still be reckoned winter; though the cold generally begins to abate. The days are sensibly lengthened, and the sun has power enough gradually to melt away the snow and ice. Sometimes a sudden thaw comes on, with a south wind and rain, which at once dissolves the snow. Torrents of water then descend from the hills; every little brook and rill is swelled to a large stream; and the ice is swept away with great violence from the rivers. The frost, however, returns for a time; fresh snow falls, often in great quantities; and thus the weather alternately changes during most part of this month.

Various signs of returning spring occur at different times in February. The woodlark, one of the earliest and sweetest of our songsters, often begins his

Not long

note at the very entrance of the month. after, rooks begin to pair, and geese to lay. The thrush and chaffinch then add to the early music of the groves. Moles go to work in throwing up their hillocks as soon as the earth is softened. Under some of the largest, a little below the surface of the earth, they make their nests of moss, in which four or five young are found at a time. These animals live on worms, insects, and the roots of plants. They do much mischief in gardens, by loosening and devouring flower-roots; but in the fields they do no other damage than rendering the surface of the ground unequal by their hillocks, which obstruct the scythe in mowing. They are said, also, to pierce the sides of dams and canals, and let out the water; but this can only be an accidental occurrence, attended with their own destruction.

Many plants emerge from under ground in February, but few flowers yet adorn the fields or gardens. Snow-drops, in general, are fully opened from the beginning of the month, often peeping from the midst of the snow.

"Already now the snow-drop dares appear,
The first pale blossom of the unripen'd year;
As Flora's breath, by some transforming power,
Had chang'd an isicle to a flower;

Its name and hue the scentless plant retains,

And winter lingers in its icy veins."

The alder-tree discloses its flower buds; the catkins of the hazel become very conspicuous in the

hedges; and young leaves appear on the gooseberry and currant-bushes. The farmer, as soon as the ground is sufficiently thawed, ploughs his fallows, sows beans and pease, and rye and spring wheat,

"Joyous th' impatient husbandman perceives
Relenting nature, and his lusty steers

Drives from their stalls, to where the well-us'd plough
Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost;
There, unrefusing, to the harness'd yoke
They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil,
Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark.
Meanwhile, incumbent o'er the shining share,
The master leans, removes the obstructing clay,
Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe.
While through the neighbouring field the sower stalks,
With measur'd step, and lib'ral throws the grain
Into the fruitful bosom of the ground."

The husbandman, also, at this season, sets his early potatoes, drains his wet land, dresses and repairs his hedges, lops his trees, and plants those kinds which love a wet soil, as poplars and willows; and, with

"Fancy fir'd, anticipates their growth."

Winter in the Polar Regions.

Nor are the symptoms of returning spring confined to the inhabitants of our temperate climate; they also begin, towards the middle of this month, to be sensibly felt by those of the icy regions of the north.