1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



109 



was a strong, piercing wind from the north, which 

 greatly increased the apparent intensity of the 

 cold, and rendered travelling vdiolly unsafe, and 

 accounts of frozen limbs and even death by freez- 

 ing were not unfrequently reported ; yet the sky 

 was clear and the sun bright throughout nearly 

 the whole day. The mean temperature of the 10th 

 was 12.67° below zero, (8° below zero being the 

 highest point of the day !) and of the following 

 day the 11th, 11.5° below; the nearest recorded 

 approaches to this being 9.5° below on the 23d of 

 January, 1857, and 4.33° below on the 18th of the 

 same month and year. 



The general character of the remainder of the 

 month was quite mild, and the mean temperature 

 of the whole month was 24.48°. Excluding five 

 days commencing vrith the 8th, the temperature 

 of the month would be 20.19°, or only about three 

 degrees below the freezing point. The highest 

 temperature of the month was 44° above zero, and 

 the lowest 26° below zero, giving the unusual 

 range of 70° for one month. The warmest day 

 was the 6th, with a mean temperature of 35.83° 

 above zero, and the coldest was the 10th, with a 

 mean temperature of 12.67° below zero — a difier- 

 ence of 48.5° between the mean temperatures of 

 two days in one month, and even but four days 

 apart. 



A very large amount of water was deposited in 

 the rain and snow of the month, three heavy 

 storms of rain occurring, and the ground was 

 covered with a thick stratum of ice, so that the 

 sleighing was good, though but very little snow 

 fell after the heavy storm in the fore part of the 

 montli- There was much cloudy and disagreeable 

 weather, and though there were some fine days, 

 the unpleasant elements predominated ; and by 

 consulting the annexed tables the amount of 

 cloudiness may be ascertained, as well as the num- 

 ber of days of wind from the several quai'ters from 

 which it came. 



February was much milder than that month 

 usually is, but the sleighing was tolerably good 

 throughout the month, the ground being covered 

 with a thick layer of ice, in consequence of the 

 frequent rainstorms, but not a large quantity of 

 snow fell. Cloudiness was a characteristic of the 

 weather, and storms of snow or rain were very 

 frequent, four of the former occurring, in which 

 fell fourteen inches of snow, and five of the latter, 

 averaging a storm for every third day ; and there 

 were but four clear days in the whole month. The 

 mean temperature of the month being 29.44°, was 

 but little below the freezing point ; and the range 

 of the temperature was quite uniform, one week 

 varying but little from the others. The highest 

 temperature was 53°, on the 23d, and the lowest 

 was 4°, on the 27th. The coldest day was the 12th, 

 having a mean temperature of 17°; the warmest 

 was the 23d, with a mean temperature of 40°. 



December came in with two remarkably warm, 

 lowery, Indian summer-like days, the thermome- 

 ter standing at 66° in the shade, (in which all ob- 

 servations are given,) on the 2d, or three degrees 

 higher than on the 4th of July, while the mean 

 temperature of the day was 54° ; the 2d of De- 

 cember, 1859, being but half a degree colder than 

 the 4th of July of the same year ! a pretty fair 

 specimen of the eccentricity of the year 1859, in 

 a meteorological point of view. The weather be- 

 came cold, however, on the 3d, and the remain- 



der of the month was rather colder than the aver- 

 age of winter months. Towards the close of the 

 month the weather was even remarkably cold, the 

 mean temperatnre of the 28th being 5.67° below 

 zero, while the temperature at sunrise on the 29th 

 was 18° below zero ; and this is reported to be 

 the coldest December weather that has occurred 

 in this region in the last ten years. On the 9th 

 the temperature was one degree below zero, it 

 having fallen 54° during the thirty-six hours pre- 

 ceding ; and during the month the tem])erature 

 was five times below zero at sunrise, as foUov.s : 

 on the 9th, 1° below ; on the 10th, 1° below ; on 

 the 28th, 12° below; on the 29th, 18° below; and 

 on the 31st, 8° below. The mean temperature of 

 the month was 22.11°. The highest tomperatur'^ 

 was 66° above zero, and the lowest was 18° below 

 zero, giving the remarkably great range of tem- 

 perature for one month of 84°. 



It was a characteristic of the storms that they 

 commenced with snow or sleet, t-aid almost invari- 

 ably terminated with a fall of rain. The sleigh- 

 ing, however, was fair throughout nearly the whole 

 month. There were eight storms, depositing 

 twenty inches of snow and sleet, and with the rain 

 equalling 3.94° inches of water. For further par- 

 ticulars, respecting the wind, &c., reference may 

 be had to the tables, in the two months above. 



The leading features of March were its mild- 

 ness and the early opening of spring — the snow 

 generally disappearing by the 10th, and the ground 

 was quite free from frost as early as the 20th — al- 

 though it was marked by very heavy and disas- 

 trous freshets in the valley of the Connecticut 

 River. 



The month of April was quite fine, and tor- 

 tured by no severe extremes, the season preserv- 

 ing its forwardness with but slight interruptions, 

 the pastures being green at the close of the month, 

 at which time many trees were expanding their 

 leaves. 



And through May, even, the development of 

 vegetation was rather more rapid than usual, 

 cherry trees being in full blossom on the 9th, and 

 apple trees on the 18th — a sufficient encomium 

 upon the season. 



But clouds, and rain, and cold nights, Avere 

 prominent features in the weather of June, frosts 

 injuring the newly planted crops of corn and po- 

 tatoes, and severely nipping vegetation in gener- 

 al. Indeed, the weather was too cold for vegeta- 

 tion to advance but slowly, and the superabun- 

 dance of moisture was hardly a less evil to the 

 farmer. 



July was a very fine month, agreeable alike to 

 hay-makers and the growing crops. 



August was much more doubtful for the farmer, 

 the fore part being very warm, v.-hile the last part 

 was unusually cool, and there was a scanty supply 

 of rain, and though vegetation suffered much 

 from drought in some localities, it escaped its ef- 

 fects generally here. Light frosts near its close 

 severely threatened it, yet it escaped "with a 

 shiver," as one has remarked. 



September was quite cool throughout, and very 

 dry during the first half, while the frosts about 

 the middle injured the corn crop, so backward this 

 year, very severely. 



October was even still more disagreeable, if not 

 unfavorable, with its cold clouds and rough winds, 

 the wrather better befitting the month of Novem- 



