The Cold Winter of 1917—18 and Its Effect upon Vegetation on 
Staten Island, N. Y.? 
Witit1Am T. Davis 
The extremes in temperature during the year 1918 will go down 
into history as most remarkable. On December 30, 1917, the 
mercury dropped to the low record of thirteen degrees below zero 
at 8.30 a.m. in New York City, and from that time on during the 
winter there were a number of cold periods often of considerable 
duration. The New York Tribune of Feb. 6, 1918, recorded 10 
degrees below zero at some of the terminal points in New Jersey, 
and 37 below in northern New York. 
The other extreme was on August 7, 1918, when the mercury 
reached 102° F. at 4 p.m. in New York City, passing the previous 
high temperature of September 7, 1881, when it stood at 100° F. 
That the continued cold of the winter should have an effect on 
the vegetation was to be expected, and it was recorded at a meeting - 
of this Association held May 18, 1918, that a recent examination 
of the high-water shrub, /va frutescens, growing on the banks of 
some of the salt-water creeks of Staten Island, showed that the 
bushes had died far down toward the ground. Some of the more. 
vigorous shoots had sprouted about 8 or 9 inches from the roots, 
while others had been more completely winter killed. The amount 
of vitality shown by this native bush in the spring is always in this 
latitude an index to the severity or mildness of the winter just 
passed. | 
As was to be expected the imported plants suffered most from 
the severe conditions, and hedges of privet that had grown lux- 
uriantly for many years were killed down to the ground, The 
fine hedge about the Staten Island Academy, corner of Wall Street 
and Stuyvesant Place, St. George, was a good example. It had 
stood for twenty winters, but without exception the bushes were 
1 Read at the regular meeting of the Institute October 19, 1918. 
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