40 Prof. Loomis on the Hail Storm of the first of July, 1853. 
yond Williamsburgh, the wind was less destructive—the track be- 
came broader and less distinctly defined—and the general course 
deviated more to the east. The storm was reported as severe at 
Jamaica and South Jamaica. From the commencment near Pat- 
erson to Williamsburgh the track did not deviate sensibly from a 
straight line ; and its course was from N. 40° W. to S. 40° E. 
Throughout the entire track here mentioned, hail fell of unusu- 
al size. Near Paterson the stones were smallest in size, but most 
abundant in quantity. The destruction caused to the fruit and the 
crops was such as not unfrequently occurs in France, but has 
seldom been witnessed in this country. When I visited the spot 
a few days after the storm, the trees looked as if they had been 
pelted by myriads of heavy stones. The leaves were strewed 
thick upon the ground; and most of those which still clung to 
the branches, were riddled through and through, and dried upon 
the stems. The rails of the fences bore marks of large gashes 
where the brown weather-worn surface had been nicked off and 
a fresh surface exposed, as if by a volley of stones from a troop 
of mischievous boys. Upon the north ‘side of the houses along 
the track, scarce a pane of glass was left entire, and the clap- 
boards were covered thick with gashes an inch in diameter, where 
the paint was chipped off. Fields of wheat and rye, which had 
not been harvested, were beaten down as flat as if a heavy iron 
roller (such as is sometimes employed for smoothing gravelled 
walks) had been dragged over them; and fields of corn were 
totally destroyed. On some fields, I was assured that after the 
storm the ice lay ina solid compact mass two inches thick. 
Large quantities of ice still remained unmelted on the ground the 
next morning, and a tenant on one of the farms collected a con- 
siderable quantity and carried it into Paterson, (two miles dis- 
tant, ) to show to his landlord ; and I was informed that in a hollow, 
the crops of wheat, rye, oats and corn, as also the cherries, peaches, 
apples, etc., within the limits of the track. si 
