The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-02-20

| steamers and fat-boats; the Ohio, be
ing in manner lined with them, froz'
up by the sudden setting in of winter
long before they could reach the mar
kets below. In many instances whole
cargoes of apples and potatoes were de
stroyed by the frost, and hundreds more
lost by the destruction of the boats il
the ice, which was generally from IL K
l6 inches thick. It was one of the mos
disastrous seasons ever known to river
craft In February following, the great
food of 1892 took place. February wal
very cold, the mean for the month being
25 degrees. On the morning of the 9th
the thermometer was 9 degrees below
zero, continuing so all day. On the sth,
9th and 10th, three days in succession,
it was below, falling on the 9th to Is
degrees. Tbs was the winter quoted
in the above article as so intensely cold
all over the United States.
The first four days in February, 1886,
was very cold. On the Sd it was 8 de-
grees below zero, and on the 5th it was
l6 degrees, the mean for the month be-
ing II degfees above, while January
was 31a degrees, and the coolest day,
the 25th, at 10 degrees below zero. In
February, 1888, the mercury was at and
below on FIVE mornings. The 2lst it
was at 10 degrees below; the mean for
the month was little under 81 degrees.
From this period to January, 1852,
fourteen years, no very severe winters
occurred. On the 18th January, 1852,
there fell six inches of snow, which, with,
the previous falls, made about ten inch
es. On the morning of the 18th the
mercury fell to zero; on the 10th it
was at % degrees below, at 6 A. NJ.
At an earlier hour, viz: three and four
o'clock, it was 27 degrees by several
thermometers, a few miles above Mari
eta. in the valley of the Muskingum.
The following morning.it was IL degrees
above. On the 24sh it was again below
zero 2 degrees. The mean for the
month was "a degrees, 60 minutes.
The cold weather extended all over the
Western States. The disastrous effects
were again seen on peach-trees. It also
ruined many quince-trees, especially all
on my grounds; spice bushes and sassa.
fras were much killed many grape
vines, in exposed localities, lost some of
their branches; young, thrifty, growing,
pear and apple-trees, suffered much. 1t
was melancholy winter for fruit grow
ers.
In ls53-54 and '55 the temperature
was not below zero, and at that point
only twice.
On the first of January, 1856, the
mercury was at degrees below zero,
but had been on the 24th on December
at zero. On TIE sth of January, at 9
P. NJ, it was 2 degrees below, of the
morning Of the 9th, at six A. M, Is de-
grees below, the 10th, degrees below,
the llth, 12 degrees below, the earth be-
ing covered with snow since the 25th of
December. On the 18th it was at two
degrees above, and commenced showing
rapidly from the northeast all that day
and part of the night, fell l3 inches, ma
king in all about sixteen inches; on the
goth there fell six inches more of snow.
The average depth being now about two
feet all over this part of Ohio. On the
18th and 18th it thawed little in the
but froze ia the shade of build
ings; on the 23d it again fell to zero,
and the following morning, the 24th,
was down to ten below. I have plausi-
BILE reasons to suppose that the mercury
in my thermometer on the 10th ultimo
was at twenty degrees below, at o'clock
A. NJ. Two intelligent men living Zone
two and the other three miles) above
me on the Muskingum, found their in
struments at o'clock 20 degrees below,
md at 6 a. NJ. only IL below, having
arisen from change in the current of
air s degrees in that time. A "self-
thermometer would be very
useful for such changes.
1t is now the oath of january, aud
the mean temperature for this month is
l6 degrees above zero. It has been be.
low zero on six days, being one.fourth
part of the time. This is probably the
greatest extreme of cold, in so short a
period, known in Ohio. The latitude
If Marietta is SO degrees Is minutes.
S. P. HILDRETH.
January "a, 1856.