SOLON ROBINSON, 1839 107 



a single shower; June hot, with two or three days about 

 the 10th, of excessive rains and scalding hot; July and 

 August constant sunshine and south wind that engen- 

 dered much sickness; September and October continued 

 dry sunshine, with two or three small showers and as 

 many drizzly days, but not rain enough to prevent a 

 complete exhaustion of springs, ponds, streams and 

 marshes, &c. 



November, the first days, warm and pleasant, Sunday 

 night the 4th a snow fell about three inches — the 5th, 

 6th and 7th misty, and snow melted and came off exces- 

 sive cold, destroying great quantities of potatoes and 

 turnips; then moderately cold until the middle of the 

 month, when the cold increased, and Sunday the 18th 

 was a most severe cold day, freezing the ponds over, 

 strong enough to bear a man. Since then it has been 

 moderate, but now, the 25th, is again very cold. Cattle 

 have required feeding all the month, and in many places 

 water for stock is very difcult to be had. 



This has been a season of suffering in the west. 

 Yours &c. Solon Robinson. 



The Bur Oak. 



[Albany Cultivator, 6:20; Mar., 1839] 



Lake C. H. la. Jan. 25, 1839. 

 J. Buel, Esq. — Dear Sir — Your note of the 31st. ult. 

 is received. I shall send a box or bunch of the Bur oak 

 acorns to you for your own use and distribution, at the 

 first opening of navigation in the spring. If they will 

 grow, I shall feel proud of having introduced a new va- 

 riety of tree, and a good one, into your section of country. 

 The tree requires a very strong soil. I am now using in 

 my family, pork fatted upon the Bur oak acorns, which 

 is to all appearance as good as corn fed, except it is 

 more dry and less inclined to fry out much fat. The 

 timber, too, when seasoned, is the most solid and strong 

 of all oaks. The tree, when in foliage, is one of the most 

 beautiful in the forest, though it does not grow com- 



