The long cold, worst winter that " the oldest inhabitant" ever knew has at last passed away, and spring, smiling and gay, with warm sunshines, genial showers, the rich song of birds, has come to gladden the hearts of all animate creation.

"Winter is passed and gone." It was a long winter and a cold one. November, often noted for its fine sunny days, was cold and frosty. Winter early threw her snowy mantle over the earth. December came with greater strength of cold, and January was the perfection of frosti-ness. For many successive nights the mercury shrunk below zero, nor did midday tend to draw it far from its hiding place. "The thaw," considered so necessary an accompaniment of the month, came, but the chilly north wind soon blighted its noblest efforts. February too, the shortest month of all the year, but lengthened now, that timid damsels might have time fo choose before they weed, was more renowned for its length, from its even, unmitigated coldness. The lowest the mercury fell with us was 10° below zero, while in common winters from 17° to 20° below is nothing new, at least for a few mornings.

Fruit trees and fruit buds have suffered but slightly from the effects of the winter. The cherry is in full and vigorous bloom. The peach, plum, pear, and apple promise well.

Delicate wooded plants come out fair, with less injury than usual. May it not, from the results of last winter, be fairly inferred, that a fluctuating temperature is more fatal to plants than an even one, though it be long continued cold. W. Bacon. Richmond, Mast., May, 1852.