January Precocities The stranger events in the natural history of
January,' 1035, of which not half has yet been told, ought to be put on formal record. They so far exceed previous annals—at least so far as my statistical knowledge goes—that they come into the class of miracles, or at least wonders. Astronomical influences have been defied in obedience to the softness of our clime. Every gardener has been discoursing on his winter flowers, his January crocuses and roses and potentillas, his stocks, violets, priinroses and the rest, his long green shoots on briar, honeysuckle and lilac. The botanical records are all surpassed and our scientific observers at Kew and in Edin- burgh have put these precocious events on record. Less has been said or recorded of the reaction of annuals to untimely warmth and perhaps to excessive moisture.
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