San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-06-07
THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER
The story OF the Phenomenal Wta,s ss 'hN ''''
lowed . Cold spring In 1917
New York sun,

During n cold spfing, IKE TIA
which is Just now drawing to an end
people generally console themselves e,,
with the reflection that the sun WI.
eventually get the victory ana tha'
summer will certainly come at last
though its coming may be delayed
Uncertain as the weather is, the gen
eral features of the season recui WIN
regularity which warrants the con,
fidence thus reposed in the annuai
return of seed. time and harvest; Dut
there are instances ON record IN
which even the seasons seem to nave
lost their Characteristic features, as II
the ordinary laws Of meteorology haa
been temporarily suspended. A re-
markable case of this kind ana one
which the long-continued cold
weather of this spring makes particu,.
larry interesting just now, is that OF
the wear 1916, which has been called
"the wear without, summer. A
communication printed in the Congre-
nationalist gives the following sum
mary of the weather OF this remark
able year: Ill,
January and February were mlld'
March was cold, April began warm
and 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 replanlt'
June was the coolest ever known IN
this latitude; frost and ice were COM
mon. 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 interior of New York, and also in
Massachusetts. There were a few
warm days. 1t was called a dry sea,
son. 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 wood-piles that usually
disappeared during the warm spell IN
front of the houses were steadily
built up again. Planting and shlver-
ing were done together, and the farm
ers who worked out their taxes on the
country roads wore overcoats ana
mittens. In town in Vermont
flock of sheep belonging to a farmer
had been sent as usual to their pas
ture. On the 18th of June, q heavy
snow storm fell in New England.
The cold was intense.
A farmer who had 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. lie
was rewarded with the only crop of
corn in the neighborhood. Consider
able 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 de,
stroyed; some favorably situated
fields escaped. August was more
cherries, if possible, than the sum-
mer 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 3Oth snow
fell at Barnet, forty miles from Lon
don. Very little corn ripened in New
England and the Middle States.
Farmers supplied themselves from
corn produced in 1915 for seed in the
spring of 1917. 1t sold at from 81
to SIS 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 share of
cold weather. November was cold
and snowy. December was comforta-
BILE, and the winter following was
mild. Very little vegetation was ma
tured in the Eastern and Middle
States. The suns rays seemed to be
destitute of heat during the summer;
all nature was clad in sable hue,
and men exhibited no little anxiety
concerning the future of this life.
The average price of -four 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
throus hout Great Britain in 1917, in
...,on[.,,n,,nn of the HIGH mice OF the