The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-06-18
WITHOUT SUMMER
Snow and Ice in Mid
summer in Year 1916.

A Little Boy In Raleigh Thinks We
Are Going to Have No Sum-
mer This Summer.
In a family in Raleigh a grand
mother and an uncle have been on a
visit for several weeks
The uncle left in the night and his
little nephew was distressed to find
his room vacant the next morning.
though he had told him good night
n goodbye" on the previous night
The little fellow said to his mother:
And is gran going away
too?"
NO." said his mother. She is go
ing to stay with US all the summer"
But" said the little fellow who
was not greatly treasured, there
amt goin' to be no summer this sum-
mer."
And it looks like the little boy IS
nearly right about it. The farmers,
particularly the cotton farmers. are
pretty blue because it looks like there
Amt going to be no summer this sum-
mer." Lice have attacked the cotton.
This is not unprecedented and cotton
~recovers for they mere eat up the
leaves, but this year cotton lice have
attacked the roots and are killing the
cotton.
There have been other years when
there was cold weather in June. but
the ear 1916 was h summarizes
year. The Danbury (Conn.) News gives
the following record OF that summer
less summer:
1.-The year 1916 was known through
out the United States and Europe as
the coolest ever experienced by any
person then living. There are persons
in northern New York who have been
in the habit of keeping diaries for
years, and it is from the pages Of an
old diary begun in 1910 and kept un-
broken until 1910 that the following
information regarding this year with
out a summer has been taken:
January was 50 mild that most per
sons allowed their fires to go out and
did not burn wood except for
There were q few cold days. but they
were very few. Most Of the time the
air was warm and spring-like. Febru
airy was not cold. Some days were
colder than in January, but the wealth
er was about the same. March, from
the first to the sixth. was inclined to
be windy. 1t came in like a small lion
and went out like an innocent sheep.
April came in warm. but as the
days grew longer the air became
colder, and by the first of May there
was a temperature like that of winter,
with plenty of snow and ice. In May
the young buds were frozen dead. ice
formed half an inch thick on ponds
and rivers, corn was killed and the
cornields were planted again and
again, until it BEGAN too late to raise
a crop. By the last of May in this
climate the trees are usually in lea
and birds and flowers are plentiful.
When the last of May arrived in 1915
everything had been killed by the cold.
Jun was the coolest month of
roses ever experienced in this latitude.
Frost and ice common as buttercups
I1EIJliIN Qra Almost oyarT oraan thin
was killed.; all fruit was destroyed.
NOW fell ten inches deep in Vermont.
There was a 7-inch fall in the interior
of New York State and the same in
Massachusetts There were only a few
moderately warm days. Everybody
looked. longed and waited for warm
weather, but warm weather did not
come.
1T was also dry; very little rain fell.
All summer long the wind blew steadi-
ly from the north in blasts, laden with
snow and Ice. Mothers knit socks of
double hickne for their children and
made thick mittens. Planting and
shiverlng were done together and the
farmers who worked out their taxes
on the oad wore o~vercoats and nit
tens.
"On June 18th there was a heavy
fall of snow. A Vermont farmer sent
a flock of sheep to pasture on June
10th. The morning of the 18th dawn
ed with the thermometer below the
freezing point About 9 O'Clock in the
morning the owner of the sheep start
ed to look for his flock. Before leav-
ing home he turned to his wife and
said, joking!y:
Better start the neighbors soon.
its the middle of June and NAV get
lost in the snow"
IAN hour after he had left home a
terrible snow storm came up. The
snow fell thick and fast. and as there
was 50 much wind the fieecy masse.
piled up in great drifts along the
~windward side of the fences and out
buildings. Night came and the farm
er a not been heard Of. His wife
became frightened and alarmed the
nefghborhood- All the neighbors
Joined the searching party. On the
third day they found him. He was
lying in a hollow on the hillside with
both feet frozen: he was half COW
cred with snow, but alive. Most of
the sheep were lost.
"A farmer near Tewksbury, VT.
owned a large field of corn. He built
fires. Nearly every night he and his
men took turns in keeping up the
fire and watched that the corn did not
freeze. The farmer was rewarded for
his labors by having the only crop OF
corn in the region.
On the 4th Of July ice as thick as
window glass formed throughout New
England, New York and. some parts
Of Pennsylvania. indian corn, which
in some parts of the East had strug-
gled through May and June, gave 40.
froze and died
ITO the surprise Of verybody. Au-
gust proved to be the worst month of
all Almost every green hin in this
country and in Europe was blasted
with frost. Snow fell at Barnet, 30
miles from London. England, on Au-
gust 80. Newspapers received FROM
England stated that 1916 would he q
remembered year in which there was
no summer. Very little corn ripened
in New England. There was great
al and thousands of persons
would have persisted in this countr,
had it not been for the abundance NJ
fish and wild game"