46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The month of May followed with only four slight rains and 

 seven whole cloudy days. In July vegetation suffered severe- 

 ly ; there were but five light showers in the whole month, two 

 of which were on the 1st, and only five cloudy days. It was 

 oppressively hot at the same time, the thermometer, from the 

 10th to the 21st, ranging from 95° to 97° in the shade.* 

 August was also exceedingly dry, there being but three rainy 

 days. In this year there were sixty-four days in which the 

 thermometer rose above 80°, twenty-eight of which were in 

 July. There were fifteen days on which it rose above 90°. 

 The drought was called very severe. 



In 1826, the earlier part of the season was remarkably dry. 

 and the springs were lower than in 1825. There was no rain 

 in May till the 22d, and then but little. t 



There were local droughts in August, 1828, when but .64 of 

 an inch of rain fell atWaltham; June, 1832, August, 1836, 

 July, 1837, and July, 1838. 



The month of June, 1841, was very dry, only 1.17 in. of 

 rain having fallen in Waltham, and 1.65 in. at Amherst, but 

 no other general and excessive drought occurred till 1844. 

 That year was almost without a parallel in the eastern parts of 

 this State, and was marked by its excessive dryness through- 

 out the country. The water in many of our streams was lower 

 than it had been for years.:]: The quantity of rain during the 

 three summer months was less than it had been for many years. 

 As might have been anticipated, the crops suffered very much 

 in many places. 



Avery dry time occurred in September and October of 1846, 

 another in the spring of 1847, another in April, 1848, and 

 another in 1853, when the quantity of rain which fell at 

 Amherst was but .95 of an inch. 



But the drought of 1854 was undoubtedly more extensive 

 and more destructive than any of those which have preceded 



• There fell at Waltham but 1.1 1 in. of rain, falling at Salem on the 1st, 4th, 

 (Ith, and 24th. 



f Dr. Holyokc's Journal, Salem. 



I But .67 inch of rain fell at Amherst in April of this year, and the whole 

 amount at Waltham for the summer months was less than it had been for many 

 years before. 



