250 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



ruary and March. Entries, &c. December. Do. 

 No mention of ice. January, 1743. Do. 1744, 

 3rd January. River full of ice. 19lh. Arrivals. 

 December. Entries and clearances. 1745, Jan- 

 uary, February, March, and December. Entries 

 and clearances — no mention of ice. 



1746, 28ih December. River frozen up for a 

 week. 1747, February 24th. First arrivals since 

 22nd December. December 15. River full of ice. 

 1748, January 12th. Entries and clearances. 

 December. Do. Through the month. 



So much for the information of the old German 

 inhabitants to Kalm. The above noiices are from 

 actual data printed at the limes spcciiied. There 

 is not a siniile instance noted of the river being 

 frozen up in November, and but few instances in 

 the month of December. Here arc authentic no- 

 tices of the climate of the Pennsylvania winters, 

 as far back as 16S1, 70 years anterior to the visit 

 of Kalm. Philadelphia was then a wilderness, 

 and no permanent settlement had been made in 

 Pennsylvania, on the Delaware, except at Chester 

 in 1675. 



There is abundant reason to believe, that the 

 accounts given in other States of the great severity 

 of the winters in olden times, are equally devoid 

 of correctness. It is probable the moderate win- 

 ters were forgotten, and the very cold ones made a 

 lasting impression on the memory. VVe know, 

 that in ancient history, we have no record of con- 

 sequence of events in times ol' peace j we read only 

 of wars. 



Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, written 

 in 1781, refers to the change of climates, &c. and 

 seems to agree with what is said by Dr. Williams 

 and others. 



He says : "A change in our climate, however, 

 is taking place very sensibly. Both heats and 

 colds are become much more moderate, within the 

 memory of even the middle-aged^ Now those who 

 have experienced the cold of the last iew winters, 

 and the heat of the summer of 1834, will not hesi- 

 tate to believe, that Mr. Jefferson and the middle- 

 aged of that period, drew wrong conclusions, and 

 if now alive, would not entertain such notions. 

 He speaks of the long and cold winters of olden 

 times, on the authority of the elderly, and they 

 were as much mistaken, it seems to me, as the old 

 Germans who undertook to inform Kalm. "Snows 

 are less frequent (in 1781) and less deep. They 

 do not often lie, below the mountains, more than 

 one, two, or three days, and very rarely a week." 

 They are remembered to have been formerly fre- 

 quent, deep, and of long continuance. The elder- 

 ly inform me, the earth used to be covered with 

 enow about three months in the year. The rivers 

 which then seldom failed to freeze over in the 

 course of the winter, scarcely ever do so now." 

 — Jef. Notes. 



In remarking on these observations, it will be 

 evident to all, tliat Mr. Jefferson in 1781 describes 

 a milder climate, much, than we have experienced 

 of late years. We have had more freezes and 

 more snows which continued lor moderate periods, 

 than he describes. But when were those winters 

 with deep snows, and of long continuance — with 

 the earth covered with snow about threu months in 

 the year? In 1781, the elderly speak of them. 

 Their memories are proven to have been faulty 

 by recorded fiicts. We have seen th;it, at the first 

 eettlenicnt of the country, the winter of 1607 Avas 



excessively severe here and in Europe. We hav^. 

 Smith's history from that period to about 1630. 

 During that period, he mentions no other severe 

 winter, and it is clear fi-om his detail of events, 

 movements and operations, that they had during 

 that period none of the long freezes and snows 

 spoken of by the elderly in 1781. It is true we find 

 but tew notices of the weather, earlier than the 

 notices aforesaid, commencing with 1681. But it 

 can hardly be doubted, we should have had them, 

 if instances of extraordinary severity had occurred. 

 We think it also ftiirly inferalh, that those win- 

 ters of three months snow, never had an existence 

 here, from the facts, that the events described in 

 our history could not well, if at all, have happened, 

 if such had been the weatlier. From 1681, we 

 know such winters had no such existence liere, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, the winter of 1741 and 1780. We 

 can fairly say we know this, because if no such 

 winters happened as far north as Pennsylvania, 

 no one can believe they happened here. We 

 have brought the notices down to 1749. By re- 

 ferring to the diary after that period, we find that 

 the weather for the next 30 years up to 1781, was 

 very similar to those years noticed above. There 

 was but one winter of three months cold weather 

 in Pennsylvania, and that was 1780. The Dela- 

 ware was not generally, and in fact but rarely fro- 

 zen over in the month of December. It may not, 

 however, be amiss to remark that from the record- 

 ed noiices of the weather before referred to, there 

 seems to have been more cold winters from 1750 

 to 1780, than f>om 1720 to 1750. On the whole, 

 it seems that there is not proof, that the winters, 

 one or two hundred years ago, were generally 

 colder than the winters since 1800. An examina- 

 tion of the recorded notices of the winters up to the 

 present time, will clearly show, that the winters 

 have become neither milder or shorter than they 

 were at the first settlement of the country. 



The want of leisure, at present, prevents me 

 from referring particularly to meteorological tables 

 to substantiate the view above taken. Bnt there 

 is little doubt, that such tables, for the last 80 years, 

 would show that there has been no abatement in 

 the average temperature. Perhaps the subject 

 may be resumed hereafter. The subject, of what 

 winds were most prevalent on this continent 200 

 years ago, would also afford much curious specu- 

 lation, and would doubtless be interesting. For 

 the last k\Y years, many have been the complaints 

 that the easterly winds had much increased of late 

 years. It will be found on examination, that pre- 

 cisely the same comj)laints were made sixty, if not 

 100 years ago. S. 



From the Cultivator. 

 BEET SUGAR 



We have received a communication from a 

 friend, soliciting our co-operation with the friends 

 of improvement in Pennsylvania, in furthering 

 the culture of the beet, and the manufacture of su- 

 <jar fi'om this root. Some gentlemen in Philadel- 

 phia, impressed with the importance of the sub- 

 ject, have patriotically sent Mr. James Pedder to 

 France to acquire the knowledge requisite to the 

 culture and manufacture. Our correspondent 

 says, "I have seen samples of the sugar made from 

 the beet root, equal to the finest loaf I ever saw, and 



