igns are favorable
to the realization of their fondest hopes." This wonderful plant, it
seems, was found amid the perpetual snows of the northern boundaries
of Siberia, in 1863, by Count Swinoskoff, the eminent Russian
botanist, and it was by him cultivated at St. Petersburgh. The account
sent me is very vague, and is evidently not from the pen of a
botanist. It is stated that it comes forth on the first day of the
year, grows to the height of three feet, and flowers on the third day.
It continues in bloom for twenty-four hours, then dissolves itself,
being of the finest snow; it has a stalk one inch in diameter, and
leaves, three in number, 11/2 inches wide, covered with infinitesimal
frost or snow cones. The flower is of the shape of a star, with petals
3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide at the broadest part, forming a
basketwork of frost. The seeds are like a pin's head. This is about
all that can be gleaned from the description, and is by no means
satisfactory. Allow me to present my humble views of an analogous
discovery of frostwork on December 6, 1856, in a sandy loam in Chester
county, Pa., near the Paoli monument. In the _Horticultural Journal_
of Philadelphia, then edited by J. Jay Smith (New Series, volume vii.,
page 73, 1857), an account was published of my observations then.
These I have since more fully confirmed. The common dittany (cunila
Mariana) is frequently met with in December, with the base of the stem
surrounded with shellwork of ice, of a pearly whiteness. Dr.
Darlington, in his "Flora Cestrica" published in 1853, page 199, under
the article cunila, observes: "In the beginning of winter, after a
rain, very curious ribbons of ice may be observed, attached to the
base of the stems, produced, I presume, by the moisture of the earth
rising in the dead stems by capillary attraction, and then being
gradually forced out horizontally, through a slit, by the process of
freezing. The same phenomenon has been observed in other plants. See
observations on _helianthemum_, page 27." Had the doctor given a more
extended investigation, I fancy he would have agreed with me as to the
cause. I found hundreds of diversified specimens. I am not aware that
it was after a rain, but I took up a number of the plants, and always
found a vigorous scaly root bud, undergoing development at this early
season under ground, to produce a new stem the following spring. I
came to the conclusion that, as the temperature was below freez