Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-02

: Another fact worthy of notice, result
, ing from the difference of temperature, il
the dur0tion of the winters, which are
, here considerably abridged at both ends,
especially on the side of spring, which il
!, fully two weeks earlier than in Vermont
While there is two feet of snow
there, it is not an uncommon thing fer the
} grass to look as green as in midsummer
and the stock to be turned out here tc
subsist upon it. Here the apple is in full
blossom by the 10th of May, I should
Judge, which is at least fourteen days
earlier than in Vermont.
The amount Of s1a0a0 and number 0fdayS
Of Sleigbing furnish additional evidence Of
this fact. We have seen that there were
only % days of even Indifferent sleighing
here in 1870, which was undoubtedly as
much as the average. Here there is sell
dom foot of snow on the ground at once,
and semi occasionally it happens that
there is no sleighing during the entire
winter. Not so in Vermont, where the
"crystalline aggregations" is almost al
ways two feet, and sometimes fee and even
sic where the "run" is from three to four
calendar months, and where .ffty coraoc1i-
tue days of good "sleighing" is common,
and even one hundred not unknown.
And yet, it must be said, notwithstand-
ing the snow and extreme cold of Yer.
mont winter, it is far preferable to the
damp, drizzly, chilly, uneven winter here,
where snow, rain and sleet are promiscu-
ously intermixed, and every inch of snow
is liable and likely to be followed in
'short metre" by an equal amount of rain
and mud. The atmosphere, as a natural
consequence of such halfway measures, is
generally loaded with water. and wher-
ever it touches the body it "takes hold"
and sends shudder through the system
from "teeth to finger. ends" and forth
with you are the victim of a sensation of
which Vermont in her hsppiest hibernal
effort can not produce a respectable coun-
terfeit. Who does not think our bold,
straightforward, out-and-out Vermont
winters preferable to such cowardly vacil-
ating. half-and-half affairs?
The nightly dessS here are remarkable,
owing to the extreme humidity of the air.
An hour before shutdown it begins to de-
scend-everything then begins to feel cold
and damp, and ere morning is dripping
sCet, and it is often "high noon" before it
is absorbed by the air and carried up
again. Frequently one dew docs not
have time to dry off before another de-
scends, and every thing is thus kept wet
for several days together. They render
very cold, as we'll as damp, the night, es-
pecially during the warm seasons. And
for this reason there must be a greater
difference of temperature here between
the days and night than in Vermont. The
temperature is reduced so much and so
rapidly that early in the evening the in
evitable mist begins to rise along the
winding streams; and from every marsh,
frog pond and stagaant pool teens up the
"pestilential breath that breeds destruc-
ton at MONDAY"
Here the principal wind seems to be
ogest while in Vermont it is either north
or south-sometimes one and sometimes
the other But few features are common
to both sections of country. In Vermont,
for instance, one may be good weather
prophet, but if he undertake to predict
here by any eastern criteria he will be ono
whar." East, combination of elements
which in the morning proves to be a har-
binger of stormy day, forms no reliable
basis of Judgment here and has no mean
ing, unless, possibly, it be that the day is
little more likely to be clear than foul
When coming to Michigan people have
occasion to remark, often with "fear and
trembling" the greater force and FREE
quenoy of the thunder St012ls, which in
deed are sometimes both grand and ter
rife far beyond anything of the kind east,
Nor does this difference consist wholly in
the more violent agitations of the electric
currents. Such rains as are frequently
poured out of the heavens are ut
terly astonishing For some as
yet unexplained cause the greater
number of this class of storms occur be-
tween three and six o'clock the following
morning after very sultry day. On the
principle that large bodies move, show, of
course, these would reach us late in the
night after the others had "had their day"
But the real cause, both in point of
amount of water and the awful electric
energy displayed, doubtless lies in the
greater amount of time employed in their
formation before reaching the culminat-
ing point.
These are few of the fundamental diff.
ferences of climate. OF course there are
many other points of dissimilarity observ-
ed by every Vermonter-and there are
many thousands in Michigan-but it is
not thought necessary to point them out.
Some, as the direction of the wind, and
possibly the wind itself to a great extent,
are caused by the physical formation of
the country, which, though not the low,
marshy, uninhabitable country, supposed
to be by eastern people third Of a CEN
fury ago, is, nevertheless, comparatively
level with vast amount of primeval
forest still standing, in whose dark laby-
rinths the echo of the white mans axe
has never yet been heard, containing hun
dreds of streams of not over.pure water,
and an innumerable number of swamps,
marshes and small ponds, whose only out
let is the air Of heaven. But by far the
greater number of these differences are
caused by the difference of temperature.
| Battle Greek, Mich, Jan. IA, 1871,