Chap. 1. 



DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 



13 



SLEIGHING. 



APPEARANCES OF BIRDS AND BLOSSOMS. 



In 1833-'9, sleighs run from December 

 23, to January 8, but there was no good 

 sleighing during the winter. In 183!(-'40 

 sleighing was excellent from December 

 16, to February 5,JiffAj one days. In 1840- 

 '41, sleighs run from November 22, to 

 November 29, and from December 7, to 

 December 12, but the sleighing was not 

 good. From December 27, the sleighing 

 was good till the 8lh of January, after 

 which there was no good sleighing, al- 

 though sleighs continued to run till the 

 20th of March. In 1841-'2, sleighing tol- 

 erable from December 18, to January 20, 

 after that no good sleighing though sleighs 

 run at several periods for a few days at a 

 time. 



The deepest snows, which fall in Ver- 

 mont, are usually accompanied by a north 

 or northeasterly wind, but there is some- 

 times a considerable fall of snow with a 

 northwesterly, or southeasterly wind. A 

 long continuance of south wind usually 

 brings rain, both in winter and summer. 

 Although snows are frequent in winter 

 and rains in summer, storms are not of 

 long continuance, seldom exceeding 24 

 hours. Storms from the east, which are 

 common on the sea board, do not often 

 reach the eastern part of this state, and on 

 the west side of the Green Mountains 

 they are wholly unknown, or rather, they 

 come to that portion of the country from 

 a northeastern, or southeastern direction. 

 Thunder showers are common in the 

 months of June, July and August, but 

 seldom at other seasons. They usually 

 come from the west, or southwest, but are 

 not often violent or destructive, and very 

 little damage is ever done by hurricanes 



or hail. The crops oftener suffer from an 

 excess, than from a deficiency, of moisture, 

 though seldom from either. 



Seasojis. — During the winter the ground 

 is usually covered with snow, seldom ex- 

 ceeding one or two feet deep on the low 

 lands, but often attaining the depth of 

 three or four feet on the high lands and 

 mountains. The weather is cold, and, in 

 general, pretty uniformly so, with occa- 

 sional snows and driving winds, till the 

 beginning of March, when with much 

 boisterous weather there begin to appear 

 some slight indications of sprino-. About 

 the 20th of that month the snows begin 

 to disappear, and early in April tlie ground 

 is usually bare. But the snows fall some 

 weeks earlier and lie much later upon the 

 mountains than upon the low lands. The 

 weather and state of the ground is usually 

 such as to admit of sowing wheat, rye, 

 oats, barley and peas, the latter part of. 

 April. Indian corn is commonly planted 

 about the 20th of May, flowers about the 

 20th of July, and is ripe in October. Po- 

 tatoes are planted any time between the 

 1st of May and the 10th of June. Frosts 

 usually cease about the 10th of May and 

 commence again the latter part of Sept., 

 but in some years slight frosts have been 

 observed, at particular places, in all the 

 summer months, while in others, the ten- 

 derest vegetation has continued green and 

 flourishing till November. The observa- 

 tions contained in the following table will 

 aff'ord the means of comparing the springs 

 of a few years past. They are gathered 

 from the Meteorological journal kept by 

 the author at Burlino-ton : 



Vegetation, upon the low lands and 

 along the margin of the lakes and large 

 streams, is, in the spring, usually, a week 

 or ten days in advance of that upon the 

 high lands and mountains ; but frosts usu- 

 ally occur, in the fall, earliest upon the 

 low lands, allowing to each nearly the 

 same time of active vegetation. The low 

 lands, however, enjoy a higher tempera- 



ture, and bring fruits and vegetables to 

 maturity which do not succeed well upon 

 the high lands. To the above remark, 

 with regard to early frosts, there are sev- 

 eral exceptions. On the low islands and 

 shores of lake Champlain, vegetation is 

 frequently green and flourishing long after 

 the frosts have seared it in other parts of 

 the state, and, along several of the rivers, 



