The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-05-31
A YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER.


The Meas AID Courier, of the
25th, contains q communication
printed in the CongregationaIist,
which gives the following remark
able summary of the weather in
1916, the ''year without a summer"
january and February were
mild; March was cold; April began
warm, but ended in snow and ice.
Ice formed an inch thick in May,
and fields were planted over and
over again till it was too late to re-
plant. June was the coldest ever
known in this latitude; frost and
ice were common. Almost 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 inter
ior of New York, and also in Mas
sachusetts. There were few warm
days. 1t was called the dry season.
But little rain fell. The wind blew
steadily from the north, cold and
fierce. Mothers knit extra socks
and mittens for their children in
the spring, and woodpiles that u.s.
ually disappeared during the warm,
spell, in front of the houses were
speedily built up again. Planting
and shivering 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 a farmer had
been sent as usual to their pasture.
On the 18th Of June a heavy snow
fell in New England. The cold
was intense.
A farmer who had q large field of
corn in Tewksbury built fires around
it at night to ward off the frost;
many an evening he and his neigh
bors took turns watching them. He
was rewarded with the only crop of
corn in the neighborhood. Con-
siderable damage was done in New
Orleans, in consequence of the rapid
rise of the Mississippi River. Fears
were entertained that the sun was
cooling off, and throughout New
England all picnics were strictly
prohibited.
July was accompanied with frost
and ice. Indian corn was nearly
all destroyed; some favorably stu
ated 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. Almost
every green thing was destroyed in
this country and in Europe. On
the 30th snow fell at Barnett, forty
miles from London. Very little
corn ripened in New England and
the Middle States. Farmers sup
piled themselves from corn produc-
ed in 1915 for seed in the spring of
1917. It sold at from 81 to So per
bushel.
September furnished about two
weeks of the pleasant weather Of
the season, but in. the latter part of
the month ice formed an inch thick.
October had more than its share of
cold weather. November was cold
zsr1et= su0wy. December wsEs CONF
Portable, and the winter following
was mild. Very little vegetation
was matured in the Eastern and
Middle States. The suns rays
seemed to be destitute of heat dur
ing the summer; all nature was
clad in sable hue, and men ex-
hibited no little anxiety concerning
the future Of this life.
The average price Of flour during
the year in the New York market
was S13 per barrel. The average
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 staff of life