341 



March furnished less of variable and unpleasant weather, than 

 usual. 1.20 inches of rain fell on the 18th and 19th. The coldest 

 day was the 15th, (mean temperature 16 deg.,) and the warmest 30th, 

 (mean temperature 31 deg.) 



April. — A tremendous gale of wind from 8. W. prevailed on the 

 8th. Rain commenced on the evening of the 11th, and continued 

 without anv intermission until 10^ A. M. of the 13th. Showers then 

 came on at 3 P. M., which poured a perfect deluge of rain, accompanied 

 by vivid lightning and heavy thunder. 



The rain closed on the 14th. The quantity of water which reached 

 the ground during this storm was 3.77 inches — nearly twice the aver- 

 age for the entire month. Another storm of rain and sleet occuiTed on 

 the 23d and 24th, which was severely felt, the temperature being only 

 a few degrees above freezing. Owing to the abundant moisture and 

 somewhat more genial temperature, vegetation came forward some days 

 earlier than during the same period the year previous. 



May. — Rain began on the 2d, and continued almost every day until 

 the 23d. Nearly six inches of rain fell in the space of three weeks. 

 This excessive precipitation may, perhaps, be compared with that of 

 May, !861, but was not, as in that case, succeeded by seasonable show- 

 ers, which would have ensured a fine growing season, and in conse- 

 quence, vegetation was generally checked before it had attained a fair 

 start. It appears fiom the reports of the Smithsonian Institution, that 

 the excessive rains of April and May were experienced only to a partial 

 extent, throughout the country. The drought and high temperature 

 which followed here, however, prevailed almost everywhere, to the first 

 of these extremes, the only exception being in Wisconsin and Iowa. " In 

 these States only, the rain was profuse and somewhat gi-eater than the 

 normal mean. The almost univei-sal deficincy of rain for this month 

 has seldom been equalled, and the partial exceptions, or mitigations 

 rather, in addition to that just mentioned, were in lower Florida, some 

 parts of Virginia and of northern Ohio, and eastern New York, with 

 western Massachusetts. The vicinity of New York was the only deci- 

 ded exception east of Wiscc nsin." The entire amount of rain at this 

 place between the 23d of May and 25th July, did not exceed one inch. 

 During July, though the drought continued in most parts of this 

 State, it was interrupted at the south and west by abundant rains; in 



