34 
January, 1841 
4° 
December, 1879 
. . 0° 
„ 1842 
6° 
January, 1881 
.. 1° 
„ 1854 .. .. 
- 34 0 
March, 1883 
.. 8° 
February, 1855 . 
1 
1 2 
January, 1891 
. . 9-6° 
December, 1856 
6° 
February, 1892 . . 
. . 6 7° 
„ 1859 
6§° 
January, 1893 
. . 7° 
Christmas Eve, 1860. . 
-4° 
February, 1895 . . 
. . 2 7° 
December, 1874 
5° 
Or fifteen in all—Six in January, three in February, one in 
March, and five in December. 
These are but few, and occur in curious batches. Thus five 
come in seven years of the fifties (ending with 1860), and four 
in the last five years, leaving six for the other forty-three 
years. The coincidence by which all the December cases, and 
they alone, come from 1855 to 1879, is curious and suggestive. 
Any observer beginning in the former year would have had 
some excuse for asserting, after a quarter century’s experience, 
that such cold snaps were confined to December. 
Turning abroad, we find that, for Europe, 26° below zero was 
recorded at Archangel on February 5tli, when the whole 
Continent was frost-bound except the extremities of the Medit¬ 
erranean peninsulas. Deep snows along the liiviera, and 
orange and citron trees destroyed in Lombardy, were natural 
consequences. In Algeria, also, great damage to fruit and 
early vegetables was sustained, and the cold was far more 
widespread. We shall remember how it embittered the battles 
in China. B. B. Le Tall, Esq, writes that in Hobart, 
Tasmania, on January 29th, it was positively cold “ turning 
in,” although the date corresponds to our July. 
But the experiences of the Eastern Hemisphere were mild 
compared with the Western, where, at the same time, the 
thermometer sank to or below zero over more than half the 
United States. Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi were in¬ 
cluded, and even the very heart of Texas, in about the latitude 
of Alexandria. In New England, 26° below zero was touched. 
As in the Mediterranean, the tip of Florida escaped, and also 
the Californian coast up to Portland. In many of these regions 
even a frost is rare ; hence the mischief to fruit crops is 
incalculable. 
