164 



exposed alike to the destructive frosts of winter and of 

 summer. The winds which blow almost invariably in 

 the longitudinal direction of these vallies, bring down at 

 certain seasons, a degree of cold the most pernicious 

 and destructive. Not only, in certain cases, have all 

 manner of fruit and mulberry trees been destroyed, but 

 also the button wood, the red cedar, and the oak. At 

 Troy, and. at Albany, both downwards towards the 

 Cattskill, as well as upwards towards Champlain, we 

 have the records of a degree of cold the most extraor- 

 dinary. Throughout these extensive vallies, and great 

 northern floodgates, the rigors of a Canadian winter are 

 precipitated of winters intensely cold, brought down 

 by winds from high northern latitudes and the frozen 

 regions of the arctic circle. 



Thus also in the valley of the Nashua and at Lancas- 

 ter, in Massachusetts, Mr. Breck has observed the ther- 

 mometer to descend as low as 33 deg. below zero. At 

 Northampton, also, in Massachusetts, in the valley of the 

 Connecticut river, the thermometer has at times been 

 observed to descend to 33 deg. below zero. Also at 

 Greenfield, on this same river, and about the latitude 

 of 42 djeg. 40 min., as the Rev. Henry Colman has in- 

 formed me, he once observed that the mercury of his 

 thermometer had descended quite into the bulb, and 

 more than to 37 deg. below zero, which was the lowest 

 point marked on the scale of his thermometer. At 

 other points, the mercury has been observed to descend 

 to 38 deg., and even to 44 deg. below zero. 



