The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-07
A YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER.
RecoIlections of the Summer Of 1S16-Sin-
gular Meteorological Phenomena.

RecolIections of the Summer Of 1s16-sin-
gular Meteorological Phenomena.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
was child, eight years Of age, in 1916, and
well remember the prvations endured by the
settlers in central New York during that and the
succeeding year. The past winter reminded me
of the winter of 1815-l6 for it cold and
boisterous My father had moved into this State
from Massachusetts with large family, and
rented a farm in GAINESVILLE, OnondaSa county.
/ had to walk a mile to attend school, so the
storms Of that long, tedious winter are firmly
impressed on my mind
As the season advanced we had good yield of
maple sugar from sugar-bush on the farm, so
we were supplied with that commodity. And,
by the way, farmers in those days were more
skillful in sugaring off than at present Loaf
sugar was at that time 81 a pound, for prices
went up during the war of 1872 and were still
maintained On that account maple sugar, in
the country. used almost entirely for the
table and cooking. | have seen it as white and
nicely grained as graduated sugar
There was no fruit that season, executing
Strawberries. which were sheltered by the clover
and grass in the meadows, and grew very nearly
the size Of ordinary cultivated Strawberries
We preserved gallons of those berries, and those,
with dried apples, were the only sauce recollect
on the table that year.
AS there were frosts every month in the year,
excepting August, the raspberries, currants,
gooseberies, and blackberrieS were all cut of
killed the vegetables, but after the third plant
ing was frostbitten it was too late to raise
anything. No was matured L do not
recollect whether any set or not but when
the hogs were shut up to fatten there was moth
ing which to fatten them, and when they
were killed there was lard, and the pork
was 50 lean it had to be fried in butter. My
father went forty miles to buy @agon-load of
potatoes for winter use.
Grass, clover, and wheat did well, so we had
plenty of milk, cream, butter aud bread, but
when COW was killed to salt for winter there
was no tallow to make candles.
There was, of course, no apples, peaches,
plumS pears.
Severe thuderstorms accompanied with high
winds, prevailed during the summer, and reeol-
lect my father having to brace himself against
the outside sitting room door and add his
strength to the fastenings to prevent it from be
ing blown open. Those were north north
west winds There was fire on the hearth al
most every evening during the summer, and
when the neighbors dropped in to spend the
evening the weather was a prolific topic Of con
yerSation. The canse of the unpropitious sea
son was believed to be the numerous spots on
the sun. ] remember well smoking glass over
candle to look at the sun, many times during
the summer | do not recollect how much of
the suns surface was obscured, but there was
sometimes large spot, which appeared through
the smoked glass to be an inch and a half IN
diameter. and at other times a string of small
spots. They were so numerous that smoking
pastime.
Father was by trade worker in iron, and
had forge or bloOmery, where he mnnufac-
tured bar iron. One afternoon in June the boys
went after the cows and they walked along
the road one Of them almost stepped on a rattle
snake cooled up ready to strike. Ny brother
was so frightened he gaze tremendous jump
which cleared the snake, and then all ran home.
Father took mink trap with him and captured
the snake alive and as he wanted to keep it, he
took it into the forge where it was warm The
night was cold and frosty, and at midnight,
when the men quit work he put the cage on the
anvil so his snakeship should not get chilled
The doors and windows were open, and the
next morning they found their prize killed by
the cold.
The succeeding year was quite as disastrous
to the farming comm nifty. There such
an unprecedented rainfall that the summer re
eeived the name of the wet season, and frosts
were quite frequent We raised plenty of pota-
toes beets carrots, and parsnips that year but
fruit again cut off There were two large
orchards on our place and father had built fires
in the stumps each frosty night until the 2Sth Of
June, think it was. On that day which was
Saturday, mother and the girls had been very
busy baking and cooking for the Sabbath, so
there a large fire in the kitchen. During
the day, which began warm and pleasant,
heavy thunder shower had come up, accompanied
with high winds and hail, which beat the wheat
and grass flat; and when IT cleared off. the north
wind lowered the temperature very fast, but no
one thought OF frost unt1i IN the evening when
some one came in and said that all the puddles
of water along the roadside were frozen over
thick as window glass. Father went out and
fired the stumps again, but it was too late.
The children climbed the trees in the orchard
over and over again to see if some fruit had not
escaped the frost for apples were as large as
good sized plums when they were cut Off, but
without success. To our great surprise, one day
in August, one Of my sisters found large sweet
harvest apple on the ground by the kitchen door.
nf
a branch which hung under the caves by the
kitchen be picked peck of apples. They were
very large and delicious. The foliage was in
iured by the June frost, and had grown out
again unusually dense and had effectually
screened them. On the limb of a peach tree,
sheltered by the carriage house caves, we found
two large ripe peaches.
When the wheat was fit to cut rained almost
necessarily. What was cut could not be dried to
bind in sheaves, and that which was uncut
lodged with the rain, and it all sprouted and be-
gan to grow
The flour we used that winter was made from
grown wheat and the bread was something to be
remembered Mother experimental and found
the best bread was made by heating the flour,
so she would put the quantity required for
baking in the kneading trough, have her hatirons
hot and iron the -four The bread, though very
sweet, did not rise we'll and was so sticky il
could scarcely be swallowed. Indeed, it was a
standing joke that TO eat the bread you must
first grease your mouth and throat
Your article entitled, 1.-THE Year Without
Summer in the Democrat and Chronicle Of
Wednesday, has revived my recollections Of
seventy years ago. When was a child people
believed that the sun and moon influenced the
seasons and the tides on the earth. Forty or
fifty years ago it was the fashion to derde such
ideas as supersttious, and showing the holders
to be ignorant persons, But in 1916 / do not
recall any theory being advanced to account for
the bad seasons except that referring to the
spots on the sun.