638 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



in a very lucid manner the exceptional duration of this winter's cold. 

 The table permits the following important deductions: 



December, 1S92. The mean of three consecutive coldest days was 27 F. ; lower 

 than any record for the same month. 



The number of days with a mean daily temperature below 32 F. was 2, only 

 equaled in 1872. The minimum temperature, 25 F., was surpassed only in 1876 (23 

 F.) and 1880 (13 F.). The number of days with minimum temperature below 32 

 F. was 5; only surpnssed in 1872 (7 days), 1876 (10 days), and 1880 (6 days). 



January, 1893. The mean of three consecutive coldest days was 24 F., only sur- 

 passed in 1886 (20 F.). The number of days with a mean daily temperature below 

 32 F. was 5, surpassed only once in 1886 (6 days). The minimum temperature, 20 

 F., was surpassed in 1873 (19 F.), 1884 (13 F.), 1886 (10 F.), and 1887 (17 F.). 

 The number of days of minimum temperature below 32 F. was 13, which is far beyond 

 any previous record. 



o r . 



The mean temperature for January for twenty-three years was 50 



The mean temperature for January, 1886, was 43 



The mean temperature for January, 1803, was 43 



The coldest December was in 1876 44 



The coldest January Avas in 1886 and 1893 43 



The coldest February was in 1886 48 



January, 1886, was regarded as the coldest weather experienced for fifty years. 



If the weather for thirty days from December 27, 1892 (inclusive), be 

 compared with any of the above records, it will be seen that its mean 

 temperature is 39.8 -P.* Thus there is ample ground for believing 

 that the duration of extremely cold weather in the winter of 1892- 7 93 

 was larger than any year of which there are records. 



The cold was much more severe at Pinehurst than in Charleston, as 

 the folio wing notes show: 



The week following Christmas was very cold, so that much ice was formed and the 

 ground frozen to the depth of about an inch for several mornings, although in the 

 afternoon it generally thawed out. The week January 8 to 15 was also cold, so that 

 all pruning was abandoned for the time being. But the week January 15 to January 

 22 has been unusually severe, as the following observations show : Saturday, Janu- 

 ary 14, 17 F. at 8 a. m. ; Monday, January 16, 20 F. at 8 a. m. ; Tuesday, Janu- 

 ary 17, 14 F. at 7 a. m. ; Wednesday, January 18, 18 F. at 7 a. m. On the 18th 

 2- inches of snow fell in the forenoon, followed by sleet in the 'afternoon, and the 

 whole was frozen in the early night. Thursday forenoon all vegetation was covered 

 with ice, and of such weight as to cause great destruction among the largest trees 

 (yellow pine and oaks) of this region. 



Freezing weather continued steadily until Friday afternoon, when a slight thaw 

 occurred. Ice covered all the tea bushes until Saturday afternoon, and those in a 

 sheltered position until Sunday, the 22d, at midday. The cold weather continued 

 with frozen ground every morning until Wednesday, January 25. The depth of 

 frost in the ground rarely exceeded 2 inches. 



The effect of the prolonged cold upon the tea gardens has sufficiently 

 developed since the return of the usual winter weather and the occur- 

 rence of several showers, so that now it may be possible to judge of the 

 injury inflicted. 



Quite young plantations have suffered considerably by the loss of 

 their tenderest leaves; but they will probably recover almost entirely, 

 with the exception of one garden of very tender and young Ceylon 

 plants, which have been very generally killed to the ground. These 

 last may spring up again from the roots. Nevertheless enough of 

 these plants have survived the trial to furnish abundant material for 

 propagation by cuttings another autumn, so that there shall be a garden 

 devoted to the most hardy of this tender and valuable variety. Partly 

 from a belief that the location of the Ceylon tea garden was unusually 

 exposed and partly from our confidence that by a judicious mulching 



* This is half a degree lower than the mean temperature of the thirty days (Janu- 

 ary 9 to February 8, inclusive), covering the phenomenal cold of 1886. 



