Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-10-16
A YEAR OF WONDERS At THE
SOUTH.
WEATHER AND cRors ~ NORTH
CAROLINA.

ally. ~ uAs bttu year ot ettfvute'
and contradictions. The winter, just ths
opposlte of the preceding one, VAS mild
When March came In, the weather seem
ell clear out of joint. A long stretch ol
torrid temperature covered the greater
part Of the month. The mercury hover.
"a high In the eighties, and once reached
~ :, an unhesrd Of thing for March,
The weather kept dry. The world look.
ed almost like May. Strawberries,
grapes, apples and other fruits rushed
into bloom. Peaches had set and were
growing fast. Strawberries were hall
grown by the ?oth. being fully month
ahead of the season.
The change came on saturday, the
2ith. II turned cool aud rain set In that
night. continuing the next day, and
steadily growing colder TIL it passed Into
snow sunday night. The next day,
Easter Monday. the wind rose high, aud
a. the sun dropped, winter came with a
vengeance, the thermometer by the
morning going down TO lss. by u on
Tuesday, nature had dofied her green
robes for black ones. Fruit wss simply
non-existent. 4 few late strAwb berries
which had not vet gone Into full bloom,
and the exceedingly vigorous medium
early Strawberries, like liarton and Wool
verton, came out again aud made good
crops. Early and less vigorous kinds
did not bear a gallon To the acre. IL =
peach Was left In the state | have not
heard of Il. A few Wild plums escaped.
bat no cherries, I believe. On unpruned
vines there were q few struggling
bunches Of grspes; In some sections
more.
A summer without apples IL something
our oldest inhabltant never witnessed
till now. have not, so far, seen tree
In bearing, though hear of ope--an old
wlnesap tina, made cider from back In
the sixties. Even the perslmmons, To
which there has heretofore been no
limit, were cut of 10 the last one, much
"a the di.may Of drinkers Of home-made
beer. Many eycrgreens which had
withstood the blast IL countless winters,
had been coaxed into such rapid aud
tender growth that they we're half killed.
April kep, frosty or chsnecable to
near the 18th. May WAS dry and hot.
The tobacco-growers barely had rain
enough to get their plants se, many did
no, hnish. June VAS similar. Farmers
plowcd and hccd In dust, and tried to
lind .olace In the old saying that . dry
June means q good crop year.
never saw crops az clean, though less
Than half the usual quantity OF hoe
work VAS done. When the drouih
stretched well on into July, hearts sank.
II really Looked a. II there would not be
an ear Of highland corn made.
I failed To record the date, but before
the middle of July moderate showers
began not heavy enough To pack the
.oii, but vet enough To supply vegeta-
tIon with all needed moisture. A slow
bu, magical Transformation was brought
about. The oldest lnhAbitAnt comes
again 10 the front to declare that the Ike
of such crops were never before seen.
Nearly every year the cotton crop sus-
tains heavy lo.s, owing to the shedding
of the squares, which develop Into
blooms and later into bolls fillcd with
the white fiecce. In this climate large
proportion Of either the July or Angus,
crop OF squares, or perhsp. OF both, is
apt 10 drop of owing to unfA'orable
weather, either too much rain, cool
nights or some other untoward feature.
Hut this year every square made It's
bloom aud every bloom IL msking its
boil, and the bolls are unusually large
and plump. n the same conditions hold
e,eryw here the long unknown spectacle
Of cent cotton will b. seen next fall.
Tobacco long dwarfed aud threatened
With destruction has grown and ripened
beautifully, aud Il curing a. yellow n
A.. .I.a SA.I A. An
corn the south will this year bc another
Egypt. Corn will be shipped In Europe
from savannah. The acreage was large,
and the Yield L. bounteous iDdeed-lsr4e
ear. that hang low from very hcayiness
aud plenty of them. One simple fellow
I. s.id to be In q qulndary as to how To
fatien his hogs, for there won't lie any
nubbins-it being sn immemorial custom
10 fatten hogs on nubbins or short corn.
However, Il will probably occur to him
beforr hogs are penned, that for this
purpose long corn IL quite ~ good AZ
short, and that even II the July rains
did spoil his nubblns BY making ears of
them he can eat hog aud homlny just the
same.
And all other things have been In keep
ing. The gardens suffered In June, but
have long since recovered. Irish and
swee, potatoes have yielded heavily.
watermelons are larger, sweeter and
more abundant than ever known. Feas
will be plentiful, sud fodder. despite the
recent fogs aud enormous dew.. u
being saved In good condition. Hog
cholera having subsidized, there Will be
more homemade bacon than In twenty
year.
In all respect. IL will be q red letter
wear to the farmer; lsyp, the only other
really good crop year Ia long time,
bid. fair to be far surpassed. Aud u WAS
high time. for our people were hard be.
set, and a crop failure this year would
have been q great calamity.
But II has been q year OF great and
sudden extr-mes. March aud August
we're 10th colder and hotter than ever
before known. The burning and unsea-
.onable heat that We are now enduring
I. almost sure 10 again throw the sea.
son. out of Joint. Not only heavy aud
damaging storms are likely to lnJure
cotton aud late tobzcco, but early and
killing frost. are very likely. still, all
the corn, except on oyerfiowirg streams,
most Of the tobacco aud good deal of
cotton will te beyond Its reach. Old
negroes who date frost ninety days from
the .ound of the first ksty-did or frost
Nv, predict ~ for sept. -, three weeks
| ahead of its ayersge date OF occurrence.
Country Gentleman.