254 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PKBRUARir 18, 183S. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEB. 18, 1835. 



COBIPLETE PARMER AND RURAL, ECONOMIST. 



Gf.orge C. IUrrett and Russki.l, Oliiohnf. c^- Co, 

 have in press a iifw edition of ihe Com'plfie Farmer mid Rimd 

 Economist, by Thomas G. Ft'.sstNDKN, Eiiilor of ihe 

 New England Farmer, 7-evised and improved with considerulile 

 additions. The first edition was pnhhshed last season, and 

 was .sold within a few months of the pubhration. This rapid 

 sale, ajid the sentiments universally expressed by those who 

 have read the work, show that the public plaee a high value 

 upon it. The new edition will be ready for delivery about he 

 first of April. 



February 18, 1835. 



[For the New England Farmer.] 

 COI,D AVEATHER. 



Mr Fessenden t— Tlie fact stated by Mr Brcck, in 

 your paper of January 14, respecting the difference of 

 cold on the liigh and low land in still cold weather, are 

 undoubtedly true, although I am not aware that it has 

 been generally known. I have conversed respecting it 

 for many years, but have found almost all persons in- 

 credulous. 



My house is elevated from fifteen hundred to two 

 thousand-feet above tide water. And I learned from 

 my feelings, many years since, that in still cold weather, 

 the cold in the night and early in the morning was 

 much more intense in the valleys than on the high 

 lands. I have many times left my house at sunrise, 

 when tlie cold was not uncomfortable, and in an hour 

 descended a thousand feet, where 1 found the cold very 

 intense. I have as often, in very cold still evenino-s 

 when the weather was constantly growing colder, as- 

 cended from the same valley, when I was almost frozen, 

 and constantly as I ascended grew warmer until I 

 came to my liousc. 



Every person acquainted with the business of making 

 maple sugar, knows that frost is necessary to the man- 

 ufacture of it. The sap will not run from the tree 

 more than twentyf(»ur hours after it is thawed, until it 

 is again frozen. In the sugar season, which is in this 

 country from the middle of March to the middle of 

 April, the trees are generally frozen in the night and 

 thawed in the day, when the sap runs. In one fourth 

 part of the yetir, there are many days in succession 

 in which no sugar is made very near me from the 

 w ant of frosts. Whereas, at the same time, people living 

 not more than si.t hundred rods distant, but on ground 

 a few hundred feet lower, make it constantly with 

 gre.it success. This happens only in still, calm weather. 

 This circumstance capnot lie, however variant and 

 improper tlie construction of thermometers may be. 



I now come to the observations made on different 

 tiiermomoters, and I can only compare those in this 

 vicinity, except so far as they have been communicated 

 from different places tliis winter. 



■ I will first remark that my thermometer generally 

 indicates a leas degree of heat, or greater d<'gree of 

 cold tlian the thermometers in the valleys in this vi^cin- 

 ity. The average dift'cri'iice for this year is si.v oi 

 seven degrees. 



1 see it stated 



in your paper of Jan. 14, that the 



thermometer at Montpelicr, in Vermont, stood on Dec 

 "Joth, in tlie morning, at 28 degrees below zero. Of 

 this ] had heard before. Mine, which is also Fahrcn- 

 lieit, stood at 11 degrees below; a difference of 17 

 degrees. I am eleven miles ftoni Montpelier, and 

 elcvat<;d probably twelve or fifteen hundred feet above 

 tliat place. 



At 9, P. M. of January 3d, my thermometer was at 

 20 degrees, and at sunrise of the 4th, it was 23 degrees 

 below zero. .At Montpelier that morning, the mer- 

 cury was frozen, as it was also in another valley 

 four miles from me. In another valley, in a different 

 direction, five miles from me, the thermometer wag 40 

 degrees below zero. This last thermometer, by a com- 

 parison ranges exactly with mine. The two last men- 

 tioned valleys are, probably, a thousand feet below me. 

 On tlic morning of January 11th, my thermometer was 

 14 degrees above zero. In the valley five miles from 

 me, it was 11 degrees below at the same time, and the 

 same at Montpelier, a difference of 25 degrees. On 

 the morning of January 12, mine was IG degrees above 

 zero. In the valley five miles from me it was 10 be- 

 low ; a difference of 20 decrees. 



Mr Breck put his thermometer, on the morning of 

 Jan 10, at 14 degrees below zero, mine was 7 above, 

 although two degrees further north. 



After the cold morning of the 4 th, my thermometer 

 the five succeeding mornings stood as follows: 

 Jan 5, zero. For a fortnight, commencing before the 

 cold weather, and ending after it, the 

 air was unusually still. 

 G, 14 below. 



7, 10 do. 



8, 12 do. 

 0, 1 do. Tlie thermometer on this day, Jan. 0th. 



was 10 degrees above zero at 1 P. M 

 My tliermometer is at the north end of my liouse, 

 facing directly to the north, and three feet from the 

 ground. 



During the last six years the thermometer has been 

 lower two or three times in each winter in still cold 

 weather in the valleys than mine was at the same time. 

 But the difference that has come to my knowledge, has 

 never before this winter been more than thirteen de- 

 grees. 



There has been but one colder morning here than 

 that of the 4th of Jan. for the last six years, and that 

 was the 19th of Jan. 1S33. The cold was then 2G° be- 

 low zero. 



As to the cause of the unusual depression of the 

 mercury in tlie valleys, which Mr Brcck seeks to learn, 

 I do not profess to have much knowledge. However I 

 am willing to show you my opinion. 



It is known that the air is generally heavier, and 

 more dense in the valleys than on the adjacent liio-h 

 lands, and it is therefore capable of containing more 

 cold and frost. 



As to the other branch of Mr Breck'e inquiry, 

 " Whether if there had been any wind the cold Sunday 

 morning there would have been any difference between 

 the temperature of the hills and valleys.'" This question 

 I answer in the affirmative, without any hesitation. But 

 the difference would have been the other way, if there 

 had been much wind. It is a question that cannot be 

 settled by theory, but it may by facts. And the facts 

 which 1 shall adduce will show that the cold, in a cold 

 windy time, is greater on the high lands that in the val- 

 leys by several degrees. 



From observations I have made for several years past, 

 I have found that my thermometer has stood in the 

 morning in very cold windy weather, eight or ten de- 

 grees lower than those in the valley before alluded to. 

 Indeed, whenever the thermometer is below the freezing 

 point, and the wind strong, the cold is greater liere than 

 it is in the valleys. But the extent of the difterence 

 depends on the intensity of the cold, and the strength 

 of the wind. And a greater difference in sucli cases 

 than ten degrees has not come within my knowledge. 



and then the thermometer on the high lands was 20 and 

 22"^ below zero, and that in the valleys 10 and 12" below. 

 I think the cause of this difference is not so easily 

 accounted fotas in the other case. If it should be said, 

 as I have often heard said, that the high wind blows the 

 dense cold air to the high lands, how would the less 

 dense and warmer air descend into the valleys to take 

 Its place > This would be against the laws of gravitation. 

 [To lie continued.] 



Irish Oats ..— .\ correspondent in Burlington, N. J. 

 asks, " Have Irish Oats been successfully intioduced into 

 this country .'" We are not acquainted with any such 

 oats, and should be obliged if any of our friends would 

 give the information requested. 



The Addressof MrBlydenburgh,with which our paper 

 of this day commences, will be found interesting, and 

 "^vill well reward a diligent perusal." 



Splendid Boic^uet.— The Messrs Winship exhibited 

 at the Horticultural Ptooms this morning, one of the 

 most elegant bouquets that has rejoiced our sight for a 

 long season. It was composed of twentycight varieties ' 

 of beautiful flowers, now in bloom at their conservatory. 

 We may specify as among the choicest. Aloe variegata, 

 Aloe radula, Clerodendrum fragrans, Metrosideros lan- 

 ceolata, Calla ethiopica, Blclia hyacinthina. Iris chinen- 

 sis, Justicia CiErulea, Pelargonium comptum, and Rivina 

 huuiilis. It was delightful to look on such an evidence 

 of the riches of our Green Houses, and an increasing 

 fondness for the cultivation of plants, — the most inno- 

 cent recreation ever indulged in by man or woman. 



Transcript, litli inst. 



Four men were burnt to death in a camp in Planta- 

 tion No. 4, Maine, on the 5th inst. One of the men 

 escaped from the flames and ran two miles, his clothes 

 being burnt from his body. He was badly frozen before 

 he found shelter, and died in a few hours. 



Mr Barnum, of Michigan, lost a son a short time 

 since by hydrophobia. The boy was bitten by a dog 

 more than two years ago, but had experienced no symp- 

 toms of the disease until a day or two before he died. 

 He continued some hours after the paro.xysms com- 

 menced, in the most horrible state, and at last expired. 



To Subscribers. — In order to keep our files com-, 

 plete, we shall in future continue subscriptions for 

 even years or for six months, so that persons not giving 

 notice of their intention of discontinuing the Farmer 

 previous to the commencement of another year, will be 

 considered for at least the next six months. This ar- 

 rangement is the more necessary as we have frequently 

 had subscribers take three or four numbers on a new- 

 year, and then inform us they wish to stop. 



THERBIOMETRIfAlj. 



Range of Thermometer at the Maverick House, East 

 Boston, in a shaded Northwesterly exposure, free 

 from the wall. 



