44 



drought will be oppressively felt by our mills if there are not 'storms soon. 

 There perhaps never was so little snow or rain during the autumn and winter 

 in this country ; there certainly has not been for seventeen years. The weather 

 lias been generally pleasant and mild for the season. 



Randolph, Vermont. — December 3. — An Indian summer haze settles in the 

 valleys. No snow on the earth. 5th, thermometer 41° at 5 a. m.; at 7, 35° ; 

 at noon, mud in the road in shady places frozen hard ; at 2 p. m., 25-' ; at 9 p. 

 m., 30° ; farmers ploughing. 9th, good skating on mill-ponds; ninniiig streams 

 partially frozen over. 13th, ice broken up in the branch. 15th, good skating 

 on ponds ; ground frozen five inches deep. Five inches of snow fell on the 2l8t 

 and five inches on the 24th. 27th, sleighing all gone by 2 p. m. ; people in 

 sleighs on the road found it necessary to leave them and hire wagons to get 

 home. The rapid melting was caused by slight rain last night and high tem- 

 perature to-day ; thermometer at 7 a, m. 42° ; at 2 p. m. 58°. Sleighing again 

 on the 30th. 



Rutland, Vermont. — December 9. — Water frozen an inch and a quarter ; 

 ground six inches. 23d, ice six inches thick on Otter creek. 28th, the very 

 low meadows on Otter creek covered with water. 



RicJnnond, Mass. — With the exception of a very few days, December has 

 been a remarkably mild month. On the night of the 20th there was a fall of 

 snow. The morning of the 21st was mild. At 10 a. m. a violent wind arose 

 from the northwest, which broke off large trees, continuing to blow with great 

 force until 2 p. m , when it subsided to some extent. The 23d was the coldest 

 and the 27th the warmest days of the month. 



New Bedford, Mass. — December 28. — Sharp lightning and some thunder at 

 5 p. m 30th, about eight inches of very light snow, from 11 a. m. to 9 p. m., 

 with a very calm state of the atmosphere. 



Mendon, Mass. — December 3. — Smoky. 1 Itli, numerous flocks of wild geese 

 going south. 31st, snow one and a half inches deep. 



Georgetown, Mass. — Wild geese migrating in large numbers and in ex- 

 tremely large flocks the latter part of the afternoon of the 12. h. There was 

 snow suflicient for sleighing from the 8th to the 12th inclusive, and from the 

 morning of the 21st until the afternoon of the 24th. Baldpate pond froze on 

 the night of the 7th sufficiently to bear the weight of a mm, but open on the 

 10th, and mostly free of ice until the 13th, when it froze four inches, and re- 

 mained closed until the 25th, except at the mouths of brooks; since "honey- 

 combed " and unsafe generally, with many open spots. The ground has not 

 been solidly frozen as yet more than three or four inches, and now ( December 

 31) there is very little frost, and for most of the week the ground was entirely 

 free. 



Top.'ifield, Mass. — December 31. — Streams continue very low. 



WillUimstown, Mass. — December 31. — Uround frozen three or four inches; 

 no sleighing up to this time. 



Newbury, Mass — Comfortable sleighing from the 10th to the 12th ; also from 

 the 21st to the 24th. 



Westjleld, Mass. — The rains have not raised the streams much. Deep wells 

 are nearly dry, which contained an abundance of water through the summer. 

 The wells that are not deep and that have been dry have no lack of water now. 



Newport, R. I. — December 26. — Very dense fog all day and until 8.20 a. m. 

 of the 27th, when it began raining, and continued in light showers till 3 p. m. 

 The 27th was the warmest day of the month, and the temperature unusually 

 high for the season of the year. 28th, thunder and lightning from 4.30 p. m. 

 to 6 p. m. 



Pomfret, Conn. — December has been a pleasant month, not much snow or 

 rain ; deep wells just beginning to rise a little. 



Middhtoicn, Conn. — December 7. — i'irst snow of the season. 8th, sleighs 



