PRACTICAL FARMER 



149 



own estates, within the limits of that city, part of 

 which I witnessed. 



I saw also in the summer of 1835, at Mr Ly- 

 mans, in Manchester, near the Connecticut River, 

 where a whole nursery of Cherry trees of 3 or 4 

 years growth had been killed by the previous win- 

 ter. Also, I received a letter in the spring of 1834, 



from Mr Welles of Glastonbury, lower down 



the river, stating that in the preceeding winter, 

 many of his large beariiig trees of the A[)p]e, 

 Pear and C.ierry, had been cut off and destroyed 

 entire. 



Mr Joseph? Davenport of Colcrain, Mass., and 

 a critical observer, also has informed me, that 

 during his frequent travels up and down the Con- 

 necticut river road, in 1836, he had observed in 

 [)articular situations in Northampton, that many 

 of the Mountain Laurels, (^Kalmia lati/olia,) and 

 also the Buttonwoods, had there l)een killed by 

 the previous winter. Similar destruction he liad 

 also witnessed in various (ilaces along the road, 

 on the west side, both above and below Spring- 

 field Bridge, in the Cherry trees, the Pear and the 

 Apple, and particularly the Peach trees, whose 

 destruction in certain situations was complete, 

 caused by the severe cold of the previous winter. 



This intense degree^of cold, is caused by the 

 position of the vallies of these rivers, which all 

 run from the North, or in the dirc'ctionfrom Can- 

 ada due South, to the ocean. And tiie ])revaiiing 

 Avinds throughout the vallies of these rivers is sel- 

 dom across the stream, but in their longitud.nal 

 direction, up or down. This direction they ac- 

 quire by the reflection of the winds as they strike 

 the sides of the hills and mountains, causing them 

 to flow up or down the valley, over the extensive 

 plains, and the surface of the waters, where they 

 can pursue their course freely, without obstruc- 

 tion. These winds bring down during the win- 

 ter, from high northern regions, and from other 

 climes, a degree of cold the most destructive, and 

 the climate of Canada let loose, escajies, finding 

 free passage through these main channels. 



The copious exhalations from these great riv- 

 ers by day, descending by night on the hills, roll 

 down by their superior gravity, descending and 

 resting on all the low plains and vallies, causing 

 also the destructive frosts of summer. 



This may serve to account for the excessive 

 cold which is experienced throughout the whole 

 valley of the Connecticut River. At Windsor, 

 Vt., the thermometer has dm*ing the present win- 

 ter, fallen .is low as 30° below zero. And at 

 Northampton, two years since, it was observed as 

 low as 33" below zero. Thus at Lancaster in 

 this State, on the low plain, on the river Nashua, 

 the thermometer was observed by Mr Breck, to 

 descend, two years ago, as low as 35° below zero. 

 This unusual and excessive cold produced a de- 



struction alike extraordinary. Lancaster is situa- 

 ted on a very large and beautiful plain, hemmed 

 in on two sides by hills, with an extensive open- 

 ing to the North. Yet on the neighboring hills of 

 Mr Wilder in Boltor., and but two miles distant, 

 the thermometer indicated a climate of a far mild- 

 er character during winter. 



Franconia, in New Hampshire, is not very re- 

 mote from the Connecticut, but on another river. 

 This place is subject during winter, to a degree 

 of cold the most excessive, from its peculiar posi- 

 tion, and exposedness to the cold winds of the 

 North, which here concentrate their forces be- 

 tween the gorges of the neighljoring hills. Dur- 

 ing the present winter, the thermometer has fal- 

 len as low as 38° below zero, at this place, but 

 this is not very uncommon there. In some other 

 winters it has been observed to descend as low as 

 40° below zero. Our climate is modified mate- 

 rially by its proximity to the ocean and from va- 

 rious other causes. The climate of a country, 

 and especi-ally on extensive plains, may be much 

 ameliorated during winter as well as summer, by 

 plantations of Forest trees, particularly by those 

 of the evergreen class. And 1 find that most for- 

 eign writers have explicitly enjoined, that all gar- 

 dens should be screened from cold winds on the 

 exposed sides, either by hills or by ranges of for- 

 est trees compactly arranged, but not so close but 

 that every tree may preserve its branches entire 

 from its summit to its base. 



I would wish to call the attention of our land- 

 holders to the cultivation of forest trees, either for 

 the y)urposes of timbur or of fuel. I have often 

 been struck with the appearance of desolation, 

 which is exhibited in the aspect of our hills, whose 

 bald summits form a prominent feature in the 

 lands.-ape, in all the older settlements of our land. 

 The forests covering the summits of these hills, 

 like the human hair which crowns the summit of 

 the head, would c.onstitute the greatest ornament 

 of the country. Shorn of these, they are despoiled 

 of their beauty. Travelling ainong the Islands of 

 our coast last summer, and particularly over the 

 Island of Nantucket, I was forcibly struck with 

 the desolate appearance of the whole Island. — 

 For the most part, not a forest or shade tree, was 

 any where to be seen, even for the protection of 

 the numerous herds of sheep, which there roam 

 at large, exposed, without even the shelter of a 

 tree, to the scorching sun of summer, and the 

 cold blasts and storms of winter. Here they roam 

 in winter and summer, devouring every shrub aud 

 tree that will serve as food, without protection. 

 This Island was formerly covered with forests of 

 the most luxuriant growth, an evidence that tlie 

 soil is by nature fertile. These forests were once the 

 protection of the soil, drawing as they did, their 

 nourishment in part from the atmosphere, so far 



