QL\)C jTarmcr's iUoutl)lij lUsitov. 



45 



METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT CON- 

 CORD, N. H., BY A. CHANDLER. 



Ill tlie first coluiuii the letteis iii. a. denote 

 inorniiijr and afternoon. Tlie figures in the col- 

 umn iindei- '• Wind" indicate its foice, viz: 1, 

 wind jii.«t |iei-ce|itil)lo ; 2, liglit; 3, moderate; 4, 

 brisk ; 5, hard. The figures in tlie cokiniu un- 

 der cluiids — indicates a perfect clear sky ; 10, 

 entirely overcast with clouds. 



Errata. — In the journal for January, pnhlished 

 in the Monthly Visitor I'or Fehruary, the G o'clock 

 observations of the thermometer on the 1st, 2d 

 and 4th day, and also the minimum height should 

 have been markeil with the sign of minu.s, to 

 show that the tcni|ierature was hdow zero. 



Remarks. — The first day of the month it be- 

 gan to rain at 9 o'clock, A. M. .'Vt 10 o'clock it 

 changed to moist .'■now : continued to snow till 

 5 o'clock, P. !M. ; fell about .5 inches dee|>. — 2d 

 day was very cold and windy.— 5th day. it began 

 to snow at hall" past one o'cloi'k, P. iVl. ; conlin 

 ued through the P. i\I. .and nii^ht, accompanied 

 with a bard N. E. wind. — Glh day, the morning 

 was calm, but it soon began to blow hard from 

 the N. W. — On the lOih it began to snow in the 

 night; full about 3 inches deep ; changed to rain 

 on the morning of the 11th ; at 8 o'clock, P. M. 

 cleared up pleasant.— 14th, it began to snow 

 about 8 o'clock, A. i\I. ; continued till 2 o'cloclc 

 P. M. of the 15th ; fell 10 or 12 inchi-s deep.— 

 16th, cold blustering i\. VV. wintl.- ISUli, a light 

 snow. — 22d, about one inch of snow tiill towai-ds 

 nighl.— 2:3d, cold N. VV. wiml. 



A Co.iiET. — The 28lh day was very clear and 

 pleasant, and rendered re narkable by what a[i- 

 );pared to be a comet near the sun. at mid-day. 

 VVIkmi I first saw it, which was abrtiit 11 o'clock, 

 A. M. it was apparently about (i or 8 degrees S. 

 S. E. of the sun. It then appeared like a small 



white cloud, 10 or 12 inches long, the nucleus 

 being somewhat brighter than the tail, vvhicdi 

 I spread out 2 or 3 inches wide. It continued the 

 same distance, apparently, from the i^wn till near 

 sunset, when it became hid from view by the 

 clouds; it was then the same distance from the 

 horizon as the sun, and of course set at the same 

 lime, lladit continued above the horizon after 

 dark it would probably have been as splendid as 

 the comet of 1450, " "by whi(di," says M. Arago, 

 " Pope (Jali.vtus was so terrified that he orderetl 

 public prayers to be oftered in all the churches ; 

 and, in the middle of each day, the comet and 

 llie Turks were e.vcommunicaled. That no one 

 need fail in this duty, he established the pr;ictice 

 of ringing the cliurcb bells at noon, which has 

 conliuued to this day." 



The ap|iearance of a comet, in mid day, at 

 this particular time, is well calculated to e.xcite 

 the fears of many ; but what has once be.^n may 

 be again, and that they have been seen in the 

 day time in '•olden time" is beyond dispute. M. 

 Arago, the greatest astronomer of France at the 

 present time, in his '-Tract on Cornels," written 

 to counteract the opinion which was getting to 

 be prevalcdt, that the comet of 1832 would strike 

 the earlb and break it in pieces, says in regard 

 to comets being seen in the day time, that " in 

 the year 43, before Christ, we are told that a 

 hdrii star appeared, which could be seen hy day 

 li^h't. wilh the naked eye. This comet was con- 

 sidered by the Romans as the metamorphosis of 

 the sool of Ccesar, who was assassinated a short 

 time before. 



" In the year 1402, after Christ, we hear of two 

 very remarkable comets. The first w as so bright 

 that the light of the sun, towards the end of 

 March, did not prevent its nucleus, or even its 

 tail, liom being seen at noon. The second was 

 visible in the month of June, and could be seen 

 long before sunset. Cardan relates that in 15.32, 

 the curiosity of the inhabitants of Milan was 

 greatly e.\ciled by a suu- which could be seen at 

 mid-day. At the time, Venus was not in a po- 

 sition to be seen by day-light ; the star of Cardan 

 must therefore have been a comet. This is the 

 fourth, visible by day-light, recorded by histori- 

 ans. The beautiful comet of 1577 was discovered 

 the 13tli of November, by Tyi-ho Brahe, fioni 

 his observatory in the island of Hawen, in the 

 Sound, before sunset. On the first of February, 

 the comet of 1744 was, according to Cliezeau.x, 

 more conspicuous than the brightest star in the 

 heaven.s, that is, than Sirius ; on the 8th it equall- 

 ed Jupiter ; some days afier it was only surpass- 

 ed by Venus : at the beginning of the next month 

 it was visible by day-light. On the first of March, 

 several persons, conveniently situated, perceived 

 this comet, without the aid of glasses, an hour 

 after noon." According to the foregoing, the 

 present comet makes the sixth that has been vis- 

 ible by day light. 



Perhaps a certain new .^ect of religionist.s will 

 see an awful coincidence between it and their si.\ 

 thousand years, and set it down us the fore-run- 

 ner of the destruction of our world. I think 

 that we may as well infer that a new one has 

 been createil, and come full as near the truth. 

 Instead of anticipating any thing dreadful to fol- 

 low it, we should rejoice that we have been per- 

 mitted to see .-i new manifestation of the" won- 

 derful works of God." 



It has heretofore been the opinion of many, 

 that comets have a great infiuence over the af- 

 fiiirs of this globe, causing earthquakes, erup- 

 tions of volcanoes, atmospheric commotion.s, ep- 

 idemic diseases, Sic. &c. One author irravety 

 appends to the date of the comet of lt)()8, the 

 remark, that "a// the cats in WestphaHa were sick," 

 and to another, that of 1746, that an earthquake 

 destroyed the towns of Lima and Callao in Peru ; 

 very aiiataisons incidents truly. 



i'hcre are many interesting questions in rela- 

 tion to comets, such as. Is it likely that a comet 

 will ever strike the earth ? Have they ever fallen 

 into the sun or stars ? Is it necessarv to have 

 recourse to a comet to explain the severe climate 

 of North America ? Was the moon ever a com- 

 et ? Rut MS my communication is already too 

 long, I will only add the opinion of Arago, "thai 

 thev have had no part or lot in the matter." In 

 myhumble opinion they were created by our 

 Maker lor some good and useliil ))nrpose, like 

 ALL OK His oTiiKii WORKS. .Ml the works of 

 Nature, although they may appear at first view 



to be out of joint, when their true end is found, 

 are seen to be in perfect bormony. 



Rrigand Domestic Life. — One incident was 

 related to us, which is not calculated to show 

 their domestic transactions in a very llivorablo 

 light, in spite of llie usual romantic ideas of ibo 

 eternal fidelity of a brigand's .bride. The chief 

 of a band w liirh infi^.sted this province had a 

 young wile, very much attached to him in all his 

 perilous w.-mderings, and presented him with a 

 son and heir, worthy she hoped, of imii.iting ihe 

 glorious exploits of his sire. This imfoi tiinate 

 little hamhiiiu, however, so disturbed the peace of 

 the hrigand's tent with its inlimtine cries, that he 

 threatened more than once to put an end to its 

 wailing, and one night, when returning, savage 

 and disappointed Iroin an unsuccessful expedi- 

 ition, he was again provoked by its sqiialLs, ri- 

 sing suddenly in a liny, he put his threat into ex- 

 ecution belbre the eyes of the terrified mother. 



From that moment love gave place in her heart 

 to hatred and the desire of vengeance, whilst her 

 husband, enraged at her continually regretting 

 the child, and perhaps suspecting some vindic- 

 tive intentions on her part, resolved, after some 

 domestic sipiabble.':, upon putting her also to death. 

 One night having confided his project to bis neph- 

 ew, whom he liad left at the head of the camp of 

 brigands, he told him not to give the alarm if he 

 heard the report of a gun, as if would merely be 

 himself giving a quietus to la Gindilta : and with 

 this warning he departed to his own tent, a little 

 distant from the others. Now it so happened 

 that his loving spouse had fixed upon this very 

 evening for the performance of her own long- 

 nursed schemes of revenge : and having deferred 

 her own fate by her more than usually amiable 

 demeanor, and artfidly got her victim to sleep, 

 she discharged the rontents of a rifle into his 

 body , and cutting ofV his head, escaped with it 

 to Rcggio, where she claimed and obtained a re- 

 ward from the autliorities for bis destruction. 

 The nephew heard the report of the rifle in tlie 

 night; and being before warned, merely nuittered 

 to himself, "'o zio cli' ammazza la Giuditta. " 

 and turned quietly round to sleep again. — StrutPa 

 Tour in Calabria. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 

 Cultivation of the Grape. 



There is no department of agriculture which 

 has been so neglected by farmers generally, ns 

 the cultivation of fine aiuf delicious fruits. This 

 is a matter of surprise, whether we regard profit, 

 or the plea.?ure and satisfaction to be derived 

 from an abundant supply for our own liimilics. 

 How delightful and wholesome it is, at all sea- 

 sons of the year, (as we may if we will,) in the 

 bosom of oin- families — surrounded, perhaps, by 

 our friends and neighbors — to refresh ourselves 

 with the various gifts of Ponjoii,a. 



There is hardly any li nit which can lie more 

 easily cultivated, or may he made longer to ad- 

 minister to our pleasure or profit, than the grape. 

 Of this there is almost an eiulless variety, both 

 tlireign and native ; none of the former, and but 

 few of the l.-itter, should bi^ cultivated by tanners 

 geucrallv. The Isabella, Catawba, and Clinton, 

 may be classed among the best nativi^ varieties, 

 thoiiL'b in all parts of the country there are some 

 wild iiamcless v.uietics, rich and delicious, for 

 the neglect of tlie propag.-ition of which our liirm- 

 ers are without eNcu.>.e, liir the grape is whole- 

 some, and may be justly called one of the greatest 

 delicacies which an all-wise and hountiliil Crea- 

 tor hiis bestoweil upon lean. 



This liuit is c:isily cultivated, and may be in- 

 crea.scd to any extent, w ilh no expense but the 

 labor, from cutting wliiidi liiay be obtaiiicil in 

 thrpusaiiils li-om .-iiiy pcrsim pi tilling his vines; or 

 some exipiisite vaifeties may l)e<ihlained from the 

 hedge <ir the swamp, and propagated to any ex- 

 lent'; Will you give this subject your .■iltentinn ? 



The best grapes are superior to either the 

 |)eaeh, llu' apple, or |iear— come after ihe ((inner 

 has pretty much gone, and may he kept through 

 the winter, ns well as the apple or pear. For 

 winter use, they should be iiii(d\ed in layers m 

 small lioxe.«, with a stratum of conimon cotton 

 baltim;- between the l.iyers. Thus they may lii^ 

 kept idl March, better in flavor than when they 

 wetc. first gathered fiom the vines. They should 

 he kept cool, dry, and awny from ihe frost. 



