34 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



April. — Ploughing' and sowing grain is performed during this month. 



May. — By tlie 15th of this month we usually get our corn planted, and not 

 unfrcquently the mercury rises to 80° or even 90^ Fahrenheit in the shade. 



Ju7ie and July. — These are very hot, and vegetation makes rapid gi'owth, 

 especially in June ; but in July the nights are cool, without, however, dimin- 

 ishing the noonday heat. 



August is the most agreeable of our summer mouths. During this hot 

 weather we have fine breezes daily, without Avhich our summers would be op- 

 pressive. Generally we have a cold storm in this month, but very seldom 

 frost severe enough to injure anything. 



September. — By the middle of this month we look foi our first frost, which, 

 however, touches us very gently. 



October is a glorious month in Minnesota. About its commencement we 

 usually have a killing frost, after which we seldom have another for about 

 ten days. 



November. — The air cools down, and we are ready for winter by the middle 

 of the month. Ice usually forms in the river the latter part of the month, 

 and occasionally we have a flurry of snow. 



December gives us our first taste of winter, and the thermometer has a decided 

 downward tendency, until, in 



January, it ranges about zero, though still oftener above than below. In 

 January we usually have one week of severe cold, during which the mercury 

 falls to thirty-five or forty degrees below zero. I have yet to see it there three 

 successive mornings, or remain at that point more than four hours after sunrise. 



In February we have a cold " snap " for a few days also. In fact I have 

 seen the thermometer at thirty-five degrees below zero at sunrise, and at two 

 o'clock thirty-two degrees above, so that it may safely be said that these 

 extremes are attained in this latitude, but are only of a few hours' duration. 

 We have generally a week each, in January and February, of excessive cold. 

 But our peculiarly dry atmosphere deprives our cold of the power of inflicting 

 the suffering which is experienced in the eastern States, with the mercury only 

 at zero. 



This review of one year will answer, as an average, for nine out of ten in 

 Minnesota. It seldom rains here from October to March. Our snows are dry, 

 and it is seldom that more than six inches fall at one time. I have never 

 seen the snow over two feet on a level during a Minnesota winter. Generally 

 we have from six weeks to two months of good sleighing, but for two years 

 past have had hardly six weeks each winter. During the summer months we 

 have generally frequent rains, and exceedingly heavy dews. For the past 

 two years, however, there has not been, in this portion of the State, sufficient 

 rain for vegetation, and last year our crops were nearly a total failure from 

 dry weather. Ten years ago we used to have the most terrific thunder-storms, 

 but for several years past thunder and lightning are great rarities. We have 

 fine bracing air, pure water, and (unless previously ruined) a resident of Min- 

 nesota has a good constitution and a glorious appetite. Thousands of invalids 

 resort here to regain health, and many succeed. Fever and ague do not origi- 

 nate here, neither are there any local miasmal affections. In fact, we can 

 recommend our State as very healthy. 



POSTAL FACILITIES. 



In no portion of the States are the people more highly favored by govern- 

 ment in post ofiice facilities than in Minnesota. The enterprise of our first 

 settlers demanded frequent communication, and there is hardly a settlement of 

 half a dozen fiirailies that has not the most valuable of all public favors — a 

 daily, tri- weekly, or weekly mail. 



