356 OBSERVATIONS ON NATURE 



till the 30th of May the fields were burnt up and naked, and the 

 barley not half out of the ground ; but now, June 10, there is an 

 agreeable prospect of plenty. 



AURORA BOREALIS. 



November 1, 1788. The N. aurora made a particular appear- 

 ance, forming itself into a broad, red, fiery belt, which extended 

 from E. to W. across the welkin : but the moon rising at about 

 ten o'clock, in unclouded majesty, in the E. put an end to this 

 grand, but awful meteorous phenomenon. 



BLACK SPRING, 1771. 



Dr. Johnson says, that "in 1771 the season was so severe in 

 the island of Sky, that it is remembered by the name of the black 

 spring. The snow, which seldom lies at all, covered the ground 

 for eight weeks, many cattle died, and those that survived were 

 so emaciated that they did not require the male at the usual 

 season." The case was just the same with us here in the south ; 

 never were so many barren cows known as in the spring following 

 that dreadful period. Whole dairies missed being in calf together. 



At the end of March the face of the earth was naked to a sur- 

 prising degree. Wheat hardly to be seen, and no signs of any 

 grass ; turneps all gone, and sheep in a starving way. All 

 provisions rising in price. Farmers cannot sow for want of rain. 



