198 [Senate 



Boston, we can sometimes see it brighten in the southwest, there 

 giving signs that the weatiier is about to become clear. 



In general the snows here are not deep and do not lay long; and 

 the weather, though sometimes severely cold, is not long continued, 

 but is through the winter variable, and in January and February, we 

 have many warm days. Winter grain consequently suffers for the 

 want of a continued fleecy covering of snow, but the worst month 

 for grain is March, in which the weather is very variable, being hot 

 and cold, freezing and thawing, windy and calm, and blustering 

 with cold rains. 



The spring of the year is generally cool and wet, retarding the 

 operations of the farmer; and yet the season is in advance, and our 

 harvest is usually two weeks earlier than the harvest north of the 

 highlands on the Hudson river. In 1841, while the interior of the 

 State of New-York was suffering with drouth, here we had suffi- 

 cient moisture to keep the grass and grain in good condition, and at 

 harvest time fine weather, and occasional genial showers to refresh 

 the earth during and after housing the crops. 



But on the other hand we sometimes have if too wet for the com- 

 fort and convenience of the farmer. The spring of 1841 was very 

 wet, and it continued so until after planting late potatoes in June. 

 The potatoe crop suffered, and was generally poor on that account; 

 and although the Indian- corn was retarded inits growth, it recovered 

 by subsequent warm and favorable weather. The spring of 3842 

 was also unusually wet, but the rains were not cold. The conse- 

 quence was that grass and grain were very luxuriant and promised 

 great crops. The hay harvest commenced in June, but in July, be- 

 fore the hay was housed, there came on a period of wet weather, 

 and there was not a fine clear hay making day until the eleventh of 

 July. Then again there was rain on the 14th, 15th, and 16th. 

 Though the hay crop was large, much of it was injured or lost by the 

 bad weather. Part of the hay harvest was postponed until in August, 

 and that was also injured as well as the oat crop by much rain, which 

 commenced on the 6th, and it rained again on the 8th, 10th, llth, 

 12;h at night, 13th, 14th and ITth. This harvest, however, was 

 unusually wet, and though a portion of the hay was lost, the yield 

 was more than common, and many persons cut a second crop in Sep- 

 tember. 



Thunder showers in summer sometimes rise suddenly in the north, 

 and are wafted over the island in heavy gusts of wind, occasionally 

 accompanied by a fall of hail stones. Thunder storms are not ge- 

 nerally severe, and very little damage is sustained by them. At 

 other times, summer showers, with or without thunder, rise in the 

 southwest and spread over the island, or divide into two sections, 

 one passing north about and expending itself on the Atlantic, while 

 the other crossing the Rariton Bay, sweeps over the hills of New- 

 Jersey, leaving the central and southern part of Staten Island un- 

 touched, although at first threatened with a delug-e of rain. In 1839 

 and 1840, a number of such showers were observed in the months 



