My Dear Sir - In compliance with your request to know the effect of the past severe winter upon the new evergreens, I give you the following result of my examination, first premising that nearly everything was entirely uncovered on the 26th December, when the thermometer was down to 13° below zero, and that from and after that time, until the 30th March, they were more or less protected by hemlock and cedar boughs, tied loosely upon three sides - that to the north being generally exposed.

Abiea Smithiana

(Himmalayan Spruce) - Leaves either destroyed, or quite brown, except on the lower branches, which, being more or less protected by snow, are quite green; buds perfect; will no doubt prove quite hardy. I should say young plants were but little if any more tender, than young Deodars.

Abies Douglasii

(the Deodar Cedar) - Somewhat burnt - not as much as J. Smithiana.

Abies Menziesii

Apparently uninjured and quite hardy. Color faded a little, like our native Arborvitss, which the spring will soon restore.

Pinus Pinaster

Sadly cut up; color of brick dust. A plant ten feet high, unprotected, except that the 11 o'clock sun is broken off; perfectly green and uninjured.

Pinus Cembra - (Stone Pine) - Uninjured.

Pinus Excelsa

Uninjured - quite as hardy, I should say, as our White Pine.

Pinus Pumilis

Uninjured; hardy.

Pinus Ponderosa

Greener, and even hardier than the P. Excelsa, and I think much finer; in fact I esteem this rapid growing pine, from the banks of the Columbia river, as in beauty, next to the Cryptomeria - with a deep green, and fine long wand-like foliage, of six or seven inches.

Pinus Sabiniana

Badly cut up. I should think if grown for several years on the north side of an evergreen wood, that it would stand, and become a magnificent tree. It has a foliage as long and as delicate as P. Ponderosa, but lighter green, more like the color of the Deodar.

Pinus Gerardiana

Hardy.

Pinus Lambertiana

Hardy. I can see but little difference between this and our White Pine, (P. Strobus).

Pinus Maretta, Or Maritima

Identical, it seems to me, with the Pinus Pinaster, said quite as much cut up.

Pinus Insignis

Hopeless; too tender for this latitude.

Pinus Filifolia

Hopeless; (but beautiful).

Pinus Sylvestris

Of course, quite hardy.

Pinus Austriaca

Quite hardy, and very valuable.

Picea Cephakmica

Cephalonian Fir) - Uninjured, and very handsome.

Picea Pinsasso

(M't. Atlas Fir) - Uninjured, and very handsome.

Picea Webbiana

(Webb's Silver Fir) - Quite hardy.

Picea Pindrow

Hardy.

Picea Nobilis

(Noble Silver Fir) - Hardy.

Picea Pectriata

(European Silver Fir) - Hardy and beautiful. And now for the queen of evergreens, the:

Cryptomeria Japonica

I am happy to say, that notwithstanding the thermometer being down once to 13° and twice I think to 12°, she has thrown off her cedar overcoat, and come out as bright, and as vivid, as the Arborvitaes in May, and I have no doubt will be coaxed into hardiness, unless, as I think you once suggested, my most successful specimen may have been worked upon some peculiarly hardy slock, or influenced by some fortunate situation, and consequently is not a fair instance of its hardiness. With other trees I have not been equally successful - but this particular one, within ten feet of a Deodar, is entirely uninjured, while the Deodar, with some slight covering, has lost all its leaves. [Your Cryptotneria is no doubt on its own root - most of the tender ones are grafted. Ed].

Araucaria Imbricata

I doubt if anything can be made of this, as a general rule - mine is four and a half feet high, and has survived three winters - but it has just now very much the appearance of having been made of Russia leather. Planted in a well drained and gravelly soil, well mixed with river sand, and on the north side of a wood, it may succeed. It seems peculiarly impatient of moisture. Cedrus Libani - Generally hardy; this year a good deal cut up.

Cedrus Deodara

Small plants have lost their leaves; a plant eleven feet high, on the west side of my house, perfectly green; same size on the east, somewhat browned, showing conclusively that the sun, and not the cold, is our enemy. Cedrus Argentea - About as hardy as G. Libani; may be more so when longer established here.

Juniperus Alpina

Hardy.

Hibernica

Hardy.

Communis Pendula

Beautiful and hardy.

Recurva

I think destroyed.

Encordi

Cut badly.

Tumariscifolia

Hardy.

Excelsa

Hardy.

Bedfordiana

Pretty and hardy.

Taxcodium Sempervirens

Destroyed - though I saw a tree bearing this name and appearance in Denmark, quite hardy, where peach trees would not live. Taxus - ( Common English Yew) - Hardy - though cut up this winter.

Horizontalis

Injured; but I think will stand. Thuja Filiformis - (weeping) - Beautifully graceful, and quite hardy. Tartarica - Hardy. Plicata - Hardy. New Funebral Cypress - I think will prove quite hardy, though the plants are very small.

Torreya Taxifolia

(The Florida Yew) - Undoubtedly hardy, though a little touched.

The English Evergreen Savin, has stood well. Golden and Silver leaved more tender. Gold and Silver Yews I think hardy.

Of the Rhododendrons - the Catawbiense and its varieties, especially the Belgic hybrids, have wintered without any protection, perfectly well. I understand from Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, that the Cunninghamia Sinensis, an evergreen resembling the Araucaria, but more graceful, and denser in foliage, stands our climate with entire success.

In recapitulation - I consider as fairly hardy, (by which I mean by the time they are three to five years old,) the following trees.