prevalent Disorders, tyc, with Vokanic Emanations. 145 



closed its career with a similar storm * ; the wind moderated 

 after daybreak, backing round to the north ; the new year 

 commencing with fine skies, clear, and, for the season, warm 

 weather, and a slight hoar-frost at night. 



The close of 1834 has been marked by the same extra- 

 ordinary characters which distinguished that of 1833.f In 

 this county (Dorset) there are the same indications of pre- 

 cocious vegetation — blossoms, buds, and even fruit, a second 

 and third crop, since the spring. The gnats have swarmed as 

 in summer, in the lanes and enclosed places ; the dust flew on 

 Christmas-day; and the bees have been actively employed 

 on the blossoms of the flowers ; the anemone, heartsease, 

 violet, honeysuckle, poppy, &c, yet expanding in my garden.J 

 The temporary chills and occasional frosts have checked these 

 things at times ; but, on the whole, the weather has been 

 delightfully pleasant, and a very early spring must follow, if 



* This storm (Dec. 31. 1833) caused the tide to rise so high, that the 

 river Lune overflowed its banks ; and at Sunderland, seven miles from 

 Lancaster, the effects of the inundation were seen in the abundance of dead 

 earthworms, " with which," our informant [Mr. M. Saul] says, " the land 

 was covered." It is supposed that the salt water stimulated them out of 

 their holes and destroyed them : their remains were left, because the gale 

 had blown away the seafowl. 



f Mr. Cooper, of the New York Lyceum, states that there were many 

 birds at New York in the winter of 1833 and 1834, not usually seen there 

 during winter. (Amer. Jour., xxvii. 149.) 



J For many examples of the extraordinary nature of the year 1834 

 see Loudon's Gardener's Magazine, x. 573. et passim; and Worcester, 

 Herald, Nov. 22., wherein mention is made of a third crop of pears at 

 Pershore. A similar phenomenon is exhibited on an apple tree at Wim- 

 borne, Dorset, now (Dec. 23.) bearing apples as big as walnuts. Amongst 

 the natural curiosities of the late season, the Berlin papers mention the 

 fact of an apple tree near Cologne, on the Rhine, at least 65 years old, 

 bearing a crop of ripe apples on the south side, whilst the north side was in 

 full blossom ; and this phenomenon had been observed in the same tree 

 thrice during the last fifty years; viz. in 1779, 1787, and 1811. 



In the Annates de la Societe d "Horticulture de Paris (xiv. 240.), there 

 is an interesting paper, by M. F. P. Merat, on the extraordinarily hot 

 temperature of the month of January, 1834. Amongst other things the 

 writer mentions, that not only at Paris, but at Metz and along the Rhine, 

 vegetation was at that time precocious. He says there was no snow in the 

 winter, and that the thermometer in January descended but once to 1° or 2° 

 below zero (29° and 27° Fahr.); that, on the contrary, it was frequentlv as 

 high as 6°, 8°, and 10°, above it (46°, 50°, and 55°, Fahr. : the latter was* the 

 temperature of Dec. 31. 1834, in Dorsetshire); and that on one occasion 

 the mercury rose to 16° (68° Fahr.); that almond trees blossomed at Paris 

 on Jan. 15. and peach and apricot trees, also, exposed to the full wind ,• the 

 CobceVf scandens Cav., which usually dies in November, remained through 

 the winter ; and the Coronilla glauca blossomed as in autumn. The violet 

 also falsified the proverb En Mars la violette. The oldest inhabitants of 

 France remember no such winter as that of 1833 and 1834; and the 

 workmen were seen with naked arms, and open windows, without fires. 



Vol. VIII.~No.47. l 



