208 Meteorological Journal at Marietia, Ohio, for 1845. 
with the lake, and in some places directly bordering on the shore 
of this great inland sea...There was no rain from the last of 
March or the first of April, until the 10th of June, when there 
fell a little rain for one day, but no more until the 2d of July, 
when there probably fell half an inch, as it made the roads a 
little muddy. From this time; no more rain fell until early 
in September. This long continued drouth reduced the streams 
of water to mere rills, and many springs and wells heretofore 
unfailing became dry, or nearly so. The grass crop entirely 
failed, and through several counties the pasture grounds in 
places were so dry, that in walking across them the dust would 
rise under the feet, as in highways. So dry was the grass in 
meadows, that fires, when accidentally kindled, would run over 
them as over a stubble-field, and great caution was required to 
prevent damage from them. ‘The crop of oats and corn was 
nearly destroyed. Many fields of wheat so perished that no 
attempt was made to harvest them. Scions set in the nursery, 
dried up for lack of sap in the stocks, and many of the forest 
trees withered, and all shed their leaves much earlier than usual. 
The health of the inhabitants was not materially affected, al- 
though much sickness was anticipated. Grasshoppers were mul- 
tiplied exceedingly in many places, and destroyed every green 
thing that the drouth had spared, even to the thistles and elder 
tops by the roadside. 
The late frosts and cold drying winds of the spring months, 
cut off nearly all the fruit, and what few apples remained, were 
defective at the core and decayed soon after being gathered in the 
fall. Many of the farmers sowed fields of turnips in August and 
September, hoping to raise winter food for their cattle, but the 
seed generally failed to vegetate for lack of moisture.. So great 
was the scarcity of food for the domestic animals, that early in 
autumn large droves of cattle were sent into the valley of the 
Scioto, where the crops were more abundant, to pass the winter, 
while others were sent eastward into the borders of Pennsylvania. 
This region of country abounds in grasses, and one of the staple 
commodities is the produce of the dairy. Many stocks of dairy 
cows were broken up and dispersed, selling for only four or five 
dollars a head, as the cost of wintering would be more than their 
worth in the spring. Such great losses and suffering from the 
effects of drouth, has not been experienced in that portion of 
