The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1883-05-30
VIC year WIthonl . summeI


The Year without q summer.
Daringa cold spring, like thai
which is just nov drawing 10 an
end, people generally console them.
selves with the reflection that the
sun will eventually getths victory,
and that summer will certainly
come at last, though its comm may
be delayed. Uncertain o. the
weather is, the general features Of
tie seasons recur with a regularity
which warrants the confidence thus
reposed in the annual return Of
seed time and harvest; butthere
are instances on record in which
even the seasons seemSto have lost
their characteristic features, as if
the ordinary laws Of meteorolugy
had been temporarily suspended.
A remarkable case Of this kind, aud
one which the long continued cold
weather Of this spring makes par.
ticularly interesting just now, is
that Of the year 1916, which has
been called "the year without q
summer" The following is a sum.
mary Of the weather Of this re.
markable year,
January and February wetemild;
March was cold; April beganwa
but ended in snow and ice. Ice
formed an inch thick in May, and
fields were planted over aud over
again till il was TOO latoto liant.
June was the coolest ever known;
frost and ice were common. AL
most every green thing was killed;
fruit nearly all destroyed. Snow
fell to the depth Of ten inches in
Vermont, seven in Maine, three in
the interior Of New York, and also
in Massachusetts. There were a
few warm days. II was called a
dry season; but little rain fell.-
The wind blew steadily from the
north, cold and fierce. Mothers
knit extra socks aud mitlens for
their children in the spring, and
wood.piles that usually disappear.
ed during the warm spell in front
Of the houses were speedily built
up again. Planting and shiyering
were done together, and the farmers
who worked out their taxes on the
country roads wore overcoats and
mittens. In a town in Vermont a
flock Of sheep belonging to q farm.
er had been sent as usual to their
pasture. On the 18th of June u
heavy snow fell in New England.
The cold was intense.
A farmer who had n large field Of
corn in Tewsbury built fresaround
it at night to ward off the frost;
many an evening he and his neigh.
burs took turns watching them
He was rewarded with the only
crop of corn in the neighborhood.
Fears were entertained that the
sun was cooling Oft, and throughout
New England all picnics were
strictly prohibited.
July was accompanied with frost
and ice. Indian corn was nearly
all destroyed; some favorably situa.
ted fields escaped. August was
more cheerless, if possible, than
the summer months which preceded
it. Ice was formed half an inch in
thickness. Indian corn was so
frozen that the greater part was cut
down and dried for fodder. AL
most every green thing was dc.
strOyed in this country and in Eu
rope. On the Both snow fell at
Barnet, forty miles from London.
Very little corn ripened in New
England aud the Middle States
Farmers supplied themselves from
urn produced in 1915 for seed in
the spring Of 1917. II sold al from
81 to So per bushel,
September furnished about two
weeks Of the pleasantest weather Of
the season, but in the latter part
Of the month ice formed an inch
thick. October had more than its
snare OF COlu Weatner.- november
was cold and snowy. December
was comfortable, and the winter
following was mild. Very little
vegetation was matured 10 the
Eastern and Middle States. The
suns rays seemed to be destitute of
heat during the summer; all nature
was clad in u sable hue; and men
exhibited no little anxiety con.
corning the future of this life.
The average price of flour dur.
ing the year in the New York mar.
ket was sl9 per barrel. The aver.
age price of wheat in England was
81 shillings per quarter. Bread
riots occurred throughout Great
Britain in 1917, in consequence Of
the high price Of the statfof life.