SECRETARY'S REPORT. 47 



it. Not confined to this State, nor indeed to New England, it 

 was felt in nearly every part of the Union. The loss from 

 this cause alone has been estimated at no less than one hun- 

 dred millions of dollars. From the 20th of June to the 25th 

 of August rain fell only in slight showers and at long inter- 

 vals, and in many localities there was none for two whole 

 months. The melancholy effects cannot be described. Wells 

 gave out that never failed before, ponds dried up, and streams 

 diminished to nothing. The excessive rains of the early spring- 

 had retarded the usual operations of the farm; but with that 

 exception, and after they had passed, the favorable character of 

 the earlier part of summer had created a general expectation 

 of an abundant harvest. But soon the earth was parched to 

 perfect dryness ; clouds of almost impalpable dust floated in 

 the air, descending upon the wiry, juiceless grass, and covering 

 the leaves of the trees, which began to fall to the ground, yel- 

 low and withered, in midsummer, and every plant seemed tried 

 to the utmost limit of its endurance. Fires, too, ran through 

 the forests and along the lines of our great railroads, burning- 

 over thousands of acres, and doing an almost incalculable 

 amount of damage. 



Massachusetts, however, suffered less than most of the neigh- 

 boring States. On the seaboard particularly, the crops looked 

 pretty well in the midst of the drought, and in the deep soils 

 of the valley of the Connecticut they withstood the heat re- 

 markably well, considering its severity ; so that, on the whole, 

 the season has been much more fruitful with us than might 

 have been anticipated at some periods of its continuance. 



The drought of the last year was the more injurious on ac- 

 count of the large quantity of rain which fell in April, and the 

 excessive wetness of the ground in consequence of it. The 

 seed was sown late ; and though some days of very favorable 

 weather occurred, the drought coming on so soon, checked the 

 growth of plants before they were well advanced. There was 

 nearly twice as much rain in April, 1854, as in the correspond- 

 ing month of any one of the preceding twenty years. The 

 amount at Amherst was no less than 8.33 inches, while the 

 largest quantity which fell there in any April during the last 

 eighteen years was 4.82 inches, (in 1843,) and the average of 



