42 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Fek. 



Meteorological Observations for Rochester, N. Y. 



BY LEANIJKK WKTHERELL. 



l^urmnary of the Mdeorolngccal Observations made from 

 Jan. 1, 1847 to Jan. 1, 1848. Also, for comparison— from 

 Jan. I, 1846, to Jan. 1, 1847, 



RocHESTEH is situated on both sides of the Gen- 

 esee river — 7 miles from its entrance into Lake 

 Ontario : Latitude, 48° 8' 17" ; Longitude, 77° 

 51' ; elevated 506 feet above tide water. 

 Monthly mean temp, of .(an. 1847, 24.63 ; do. 1846, 27.56 



I have thus placed in juxtaposition a summary 

 of the meteorological and otlier observations of 

 the last two years. The caieful reader will ob- 

 serve in comparing any two corresponding facts 

 given in the abstract above, the difference be- 

 tween the two years ; for example : the annual 

 mean for 1847 is 46.64 — that of the preceding 

 year is 47.44 — difference of only eight-tenths of 

 a degree. So again of the rain guage : differ- 

 ence between the two years, one inch and eighty- 

 six-hundrcdths ; so of the corresponding facts 

 generally — the difference between them is slight. 

 The prevailing wind here is northwest. 

 The season of the past year was not as forward 

 as that of the preceding year. Native plants 

 and the garden fruit trees were about one half a 

 month later in blos.soming. The summer though 

 quite productive was dry, especially the months 

 of June and July, and but little rain in May, — 

 During the autumnal months we had a great 

 abundance of rain — river very high most of the 

 time during this part of the year; so through 

 the month of December. We had only ten days 



of sleighing during this month — and this within' 

 the la.st half of it. The weather was very mild' 

 the last three days — on the last day of the month 

 and of the year, the thermorneter was 45 in the 

 morning, 53 at noon, and 52 in the evening. 

 The buds of the maple very much enlarged. 



The aurora borealis was unusually frequent 

 the past year. The one of March the 19th was- 

 remarkably splendid. Its brilliancy and extent 

 far exceeded any thing of the kind that I have 

 seen since 1836 and '37. From the arch which 

 was formed, shooting upward toward the zenith, 

 were numerous spires or beams of light chasing 

 and succeeding each other in rapid succession. 

 These were beautiful and grand: — beyond the 

 power of description. The undulations, called 

 ^'' 7nerrp dancers," were uncommonly fine and 

 dazzling. The light proceeding from these pyr- 

 amidal spires seemed to float in successive flashes 

 in mid-heaven, resembling the flashes produced 

 by igniting alcohol or gunpowder, more nearly 

 than any thing else that occurs to me for com- 

 parison ;■ or, to use a sublime comparison, re- 

 sembling what we might fancy to be the appear- 

 ance of the conflagration of the world. At 11 

 o'clock this phenomenon had passed the zenith 

 toward the south. The wind was easterly — the 

 sky cloudless — the thermometer 29, It has been- 

 remarked that the northern light is the " sign" 

 of a gale or storm. The following morning the 

 thermometer 29 at sunrise — dark clouds in the- 

 horizon — a little rain about 8 o'clock A. M.~ 

 succeeded by a pleasant day. 



Destruction of the Wire-Worm. 



Messr.s. Editors : — I noticed in the Novem- 

 ber number of the Genesee Farmer, an inquiry 

 from a correspondent in Clarkson, N. Y., rela- 

 tive to the extirmination of the wire-worm, with 

 a request that some correspondent would answer 

 the inquiry, through the Farmer. I have long 

 considered the wire-worm to be the greatest pest 

 of the farmer, in those soils where they abound.. 

 I have found that in a mucky, or a black sandy soil, 

 and in fact any soil where there is found much 

 muck or mold, they seem to be the most trouble- 

 some. Yet I have found them so abundant in 

 parts of a lot, that was almost exclusively gravel; 

 (but surrounded by mucky land,) that they de- 

 stroyed almost entirely wheat or corn when sow- 

 ed or planted on it. But I do not think fliat they 

 will do much injury to crops on such land, un- 

 less in the immediate vicinity where muck or 

 black sand predominates in the soil. 



It is no easy matter to eradicate the wire-worm 

 from soils that seem to be natural for them, when 

 once they have become numerous. I have tried 

 various means : One season after the wire- 

 worms had destroyed full half of my corn, as 

 soon or before it came up, I was told that if I put 

 a little salt, ashes, or lime in each hill, when I 



