283 Meteorological Journal at Marietta^ Ohio, for 1844. 



The only complete failure of any staple crop was that of po- 

 tatoes in the year 1838, from the effects of a drought, confined 

 chiefly to Ohio. From facts observed in the older quarters of the 

 earth, it is probable that we shall continue to have a sufficient 

 supply of rain for the growth of our crops, so long as the larger 

 portion of the country remains clothed with forest trees. That 

 forests have quite a large influence on the clouds, in attracting 

 moisture and rain, and in preserving the earth from degeneration, 

 has been long observed ; and those regions of the earth which 

 are destitute of trees, are known to suffer greatly from drought. 

 Our hills are not sufficiently elevated to have much influence on 

 the clouds, or they might in part supply the place of trees in at- 

 tracting moisture from the skies. But the bowels of the earth in 

 this favored valley are so fully replenished with bituminous coal, 

 that many ages must elapse before our forests will all be needed 

 for fuel. While they remain in one third of their present amount, 

 it is not likely that the region of the Ohio will feel permanently 

 and injuriously the need of a sufficient supply of rain. 



The mean temperature for the past year was 53°-25, which is 

 nearly three degrees more than that of the year preceding. 



The amount of rain was 36-64 inches, being 5'12 inches less 

 than that of 1843; nearly the half of which fell in the three 

 early summer months ; as the summer may be said to have com- 

 menced early in May this year, instead of June. 



Seasons of the year. — The mean temperature of the winter 

 was 34°-21, which is about two degrees warmer than that of the 

 preceding year. The Ohio River was at no period frozen over, 

 although at times there was so large a quantity of floating ice, as 

 to stop for a few days the running of steamboats. The last week 

 in January the cold was pretty severe, falling on the morning of 

 the 27th to zero ; but at no other time during the winter did the 

 mercury sink to any point near this. There fell a considerable 

 amount of snow during the winter; the largest at any one time 

 was eleven inches, but it was soon melted away by the sun and 

 rains. So moderate was the cold, that ice of sufficient thickness 

 was not formed to put up in our ice-houses ; and only a small 

 quantity was saved late in February, taken up in the Ohio River, 

 as it floated down from the breaking up of the Allegheny. The 

 want of this valuable article was keenly felt by the sick, and in 

 the domestic economy of the inhabitants of Marietta, during the 

 ensuing long and hot summer months. 



