The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1872-10-08
Grbs Tintes, Netp BIoonrfelo, 1la.
A Year without a Summer.

A LMOST everybody has heard tell
IN about the terrible dark year in the
early part of the present century, which
old New England farmers still refer to as
eighteen hundred and starved to death" /"
A contributor gives the following informa-
tion -
While every one is speaking of the pres
ent season as being remarkable in It's char
acteristics, have gathered for your read
ers some reliable facts of the year 1916,
known as "the year without a summer"
Few persons now living can recollect it (;
but it was the coolest ever known through
Europe and America. The following is a
brief abstract of the weather during each
month of the year. t4..
January was mild SO much so as to rem
der fires almost. needless in parlors. De-
cember previous was very cold.
February was not very cold with the
exception of few days it was mild, like
its predecessor
March was cold and boisterous during
the first part Of it ! the remainder was mild
A great freshet on the Ohio and Kentucky
rivers caused great loss of property.
April began warm, but grew colder as
the month advanced, and ended with snow
and ice and temperature more like winter
than spring ..t, ,.it.
May was more remarkable for frowns
than smiles. Buds and fruits were frozen !;
1 4, L
and the fields again and again replanted
until deemed too late.
June was the coolest ever known in this
latitude. Frost, ice, and snow were COM
mon. Almost every green thing was kill
ed. Fruit nearly all destroyed. Snow fell
to the depth of ten inches in Vermont, sew
eral in Maine three in the interior of New
York, and also in Massachusetts,. Consid-
cradle DANCE was done at New Orleans in
consequence of the rapid rise of the river !;
the suburbs were covered with water, and
the roads were only passable in boats.
July was accompanied by frost and ice.-
On the 9Th, ice was formed of the thick
ness of common window glass, throughout
New England New York, and some parts
of Pennsylvania. Indian corn was nearly
all destroyed some favorably situated
fields in places escaped This was true of
some of the hill farms in Massachusetts.
August was more cheerless, if possible,
than the summer months already passed.
Ice was formed half an inch thick. Indian
corn was SO frozen that the great part was
cut down and dried for fodder Almost
every green thing was destroyed, both in
this country and in Europe. Papers re-
ceived from England state, "that it would
be remembered by the present generation
that the year 1916 was year in which
there was no summer" Very little corn
ripened in the New England and Middle
States. Farmers supplied themselves from
the corn produced in 1915 for the seed of
the spring of 1917 1t sold at from four to
five dollars per bushel.
September furnished about two weeks of
the mildest weather of the season. Soon
after the middle it became very cold and
frosty ice formed quarter of an inch
thick.
October produced more than it's share of
cold weather; frost and ice were very COM
mon.
November was cold and clustering.
Snow fell SO as to make good sleighing.
December was mild and comfortable.
The above is brief summary of I" the
cold summer of 1867 as it was called, in
order to distinguish it from the cold season.
The winter was mild. Frost and ice were
common in every month of the year.
Very little vegetation matured in the East
crn or Middle States. The suns rays SEEM
ed to be destitute of heat throughout the
summer all nature was clad in sable
hue, and men exhibited no little anxiety
concerning the future of this life.
The average wholesale price of flour
during that year, in the Philadelphia mar
ket observation-disclosures per barrel. The
average price of wheat, in England, was
ninety-seven shillings per quarter.