84 



part of the month was mild and considerably above the mean ; but little 

 snow or rain. 



Neivark, New Jersey. — The most remarkable characteristic of the month ' 

 was its little humidity as compared with other Februarys, for there was not 

 one of its immediate predecessors that did not exceed it in the amount of 

 water reaching the surface in rain and snow. There were several sudden 

 and great changes in the temperature, a few days being very cold, but, as a 

 whole, the month was warmer than fourteen of the last twenty Februarys. 

 The mean temperature of the winter now closed was 31.34^, and the quan- 

 tity of water that fell 7.080 inches, being a less quantity than has fallen any 

 winter, with the exception of those of 1851-'52 and 1853-54, since these obser- 

 vations commenced. 



February 29. — Garrison's, New York. — The weather during February has 

 been somewhat remarkable for its mild and uniform character and the 

 prevalence of westerly winds, and the frost is almost entirely out of the 

 earth, and the ice in the Hudson river of very little importance. 



February 29. — Brandon, Vermont. — No sleighing through the month. 



Middlebury, Vermont. — This February had a higher mean temperature 

 than the same month in any year since 185'7. The lowest temperature in 

 February in the past nine years was — 28", on the 8th of February, 1861. 



Ftbruary 29. — Portsmouth, Ohio. — From all the informatic^n I can gather 

 in parts of four counties around here, I find the peaches are killed, and in 

 many instances the trees. Wlieat looks very bad. 



College Mill, Ohio. — Peach trees reported by farmers universally in this 

 region nearly all killed. I doubt it, except in cases of small trees and the 

 small branches of trees in places much exposed. — Professor Wilson. 



Bochester, New York. — iMean temperature of the month, 28.46"; average 

 of February for twenty-eight years, 26.33°; this month nearly two degrees 

 above the general average. — Rev. C. Dewey, D. D. 



Skating at Shanghai. — A letter from Shanghai states that during the past 

 winter there was skating there on three difierent occasions, it being the 

 first time for several years. The thermometer would stand at 50° at noon, 

 and fall at night to lb". — Newi^poper. 



Drought in Buenos Ayres. — A letter dated Buenos Ayres, February 12, says: 

 The drought of which I wrote you before has not yet ceased, though there 

 have been, in a month, two genial rains. The ground is baked hard, and in 

 some places cracked open. The surface is like burnt ground. When the 

 winds prevail, storms of dust sweep over the plains, almost depriving the 

 remaining animals of life. Dust-storms, in which houses are unroofed, 

 trees blown down, and thousands of sheep driven to parts unknown, have 

 occurred in several places. Some districts are almost deserted by the 

 search after better pastures leagues and leagues away. Over hundreds of 

 miles of territory on this frontier the pastoral life has resumed its patri- 

 .archal forms, and the shepherds dwell in tents, feed their flocks on public 

 lands, watch them like sentinels in turn through the night, and, for conve- 

 nience, dig for themselves wells in their new location. The loss to the 

 country this year may be computed by millions. Large quantities of wool 

 are still going forward to the United States. — Newspaper. 



THE DROUGHT IN CALIFORNIA. 



From the Colusa Sun, December 19, 1863. — We have had during this week 

 a glorious rain, and the weather has set in warm and fine, and already the 

 fields are getting green. This will set the farmers to ploughing in earnest, 

 and large crops will be planted, but we would still say to the farmers that 

 they nuist not forget to make ready to irrigate their lands, as this will make 

 a certainty of crops. 



