348 Meteorological Journal at Marietta, Ohio, for 1842. 



failure of this kind has taken place in Ohio. The mercury at 

 no time sunk lower than to 6° above zero, on the 17th of Feb- 

 ruary ; and on no other day during the winter was it below 10°. 

 There were but a few days when it was below the freezing point. 

 The mean temperature for the spring months was 57°.ll, 

 which is nearly eight degrees above that of 1841. The tempe- 

 rature in March was 52°, and in April 59°. The latter month 

 is usually considered to be of the same temperature as the mean 

 for the year, which is between 52° and 53°, but this year it rose 

 to seven above. March was 10° warmer than in 1841, and April 

 was 12°. 44 — a very uncommon degree of heat for this climate. 

 For several days in March the mercury rose to 85°, and in April 

 it reached to 90°. The effect of this uncommon heat so early in 

 the season was very apparent on vegetation, and the blossoming 

 of fruit trees was accelerated by nearly a month over common 

 years. Pastures, meadows, and gardens, put forth such a rapid 

 growth, as to have by the 20th of February the freshness and 

 vivid green of April. On the 11th of March the Hepatica triloba 

 was in full blossom, although located in a northern exposure ; on 

 the 18th, crown imperial and early hyacinth ; 19th, Aronia botry- 

 apium or June berry — peach tree also in blossom ; 21st, imperial 

 gage and pear tree ; 27th, Sanguinaria Canadensis ; 30th, Anona 

 glabra or papaw. This fruit-bearing shrub does net usually blos- 

 som until more than a month after this period, and oftener as late 

 as the fore part of May than before that time. It is very cautious 

 in putting forth, and does not generally until all danger from frosts 

 is past. This I have noticed to be the case with a large portion 

 of our native fruit-bearing trees, and it must be an uncommon 

 late frost which destroys their fruit. Some of them are remarka- 

 bly shy in this respect, especially the chestnut, which does not 

 blossom till late in June or early in July. The Acacia robinia 

 is also another tree which is very cautious in putting out either 

 leaves or blossoms till all hazard from spring frosts is past. Very 

 different in this respect is the habit of our exotic fruit-bearing 

 trees ; in this climate they almost invariably put out their blos- 

 soms so early as to place the fruit annually in danger of destruc- 

 tion from frosts. This is more especially the fact on the banks 

 of the Ohio River, and along the southerly slope of the valley of 

 the Ohio; while the southerly portion of the valley of Lake Erie, 

 within this state, sloping as it does to the north, is nearly exempt 

 from frosts after the blooming of fruit trees, so that the border 



