zero. continent of North America, and the extreme south- ing 4° above, and about 10 o'clock P. M. 4° below ern line of snow so marked as to be easily traced, it would present, beside many partial two vast curves. If we turn in mind to such a range of vision, and commence on the Pacific Ocean, we should find the snow line commencing about N. Lat. 40°, but inclining southwardly as we rose the great western spine of mountains, and again inclining northwardly as we passed that system into the central basin of the Mississippi. In the latter region, the extreme snow line is in fact that of the gulf of Mexico, though that meteor is rare so far south. The permanent line along which snow occurs annually, is about N. Lat. 34°, but sweeps southwardly once more round the extreme Appalachian, opens, and is withdrawn one or two degrees farther north along the Atlantic coast, than on the Mississippi basin. On the Atlantic Slope, deep and abiding snows are not unknown, but they are not annual below the Chesapeake basin. Beyond the general limits we have sketched, the continent of North America presents from December to March, with very partial exceptions, one vast expanse of snow on the land, and ice on the rivers and lakes. Over these frozen regions the prevalent winds range along, or within 45 degrees of an axis which would be very nearly represented by a line drawn from Bhering's Strait to the Capes of the Carolinas. Since the above was written the following document has been published, which we insert, as it shows the wide extent of the cold of December 1831; and proves the position we have taken, that the winters of the United States are still liable to present as great, if not greater extremes of cold than have been recorded of any previous like season. "For the last 12 days the thermometer at Nashville, in Tennessee, has scarcely risen above the freezing point, and has usually fallen to the neighbourhood of zero about day-break. On Tuesday morning last, (the 13th) it was 1° below zero, on Wednesday morning 2° above, on Thursday morn This morning (16th) at sun-rise, it was 10° below zero. The snow which fell last week, continues of course on the ground." See National Intelligencer, Jan. 3d, 1832. The great severity of snow and frost experienced at Nashville, N. Lat. 36° 05', extended to Opelousas in N. Lat. 30° 30', as noticed in the National Intelligencer, January 10th, 1832. During this season of intense cold the Ohio river was frozen and passable on the ice, and the thermometer sunk to 16 degrees below zero at Cincinnati; the Ohio river of course frozen in all its branches above, and in the main stream far below that city. The New York canals were closed in the second week of December, and at Norridgewock in Maine, the thermometer sunk to 20 degrees below zero. The severe cold over the plains of Louisiana in the vicinity of Opelousas, is not a very rare phenomenon. The writer of this article resided many years at St. Landre, in Opelousas, and can assert that few winters pass there entirely without snow, and none without less or more hard frost. In the month of January 1813, snow fell to the depth of 11 inches at St. Landre, and was not entirely melted in eight days afterwards. Cotton, and other tender vegetables are frequently nipped by frost in Opelousas late in April. On the 12th of December 1800, near Natchez, Fahrenheit's thermometer showed a cold of 12° above zero, as recorded by Mr. William Dunbar, in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. VI. p. 40. Such quotations might, indeed, be multiplied to volumes, but we trust enough has been given to awaken the inquiring reader to an investigation of that atmosphere he breathes, and to the real character of a climate, upon a knowledge of which so much of human labour depends for a right or wrong application. VOL. XVIII.-PART I. 3 D* Maine Rhode Island Vermont New York 27,970 12,305 12,900 15,318 818 151,719 856 8 183,762 6,452 423,245 3,304 381 69,122 5,330 951 251,002 557 154,465 586,756 211,949 8,339 26,899 11,338 13,295 14,496 8,041 N. Hampshire 30,594 14,881 16,379 17,589 11,715 29,871 14,193 17,153 18,381 12,142 Massachusetts 63,646 32,498 38,305 39,729 31,316 60,920 30,674 40,491 43,833 35,381 9,945 5,352 5,889 5,785 4,887 9,524 5,026 6,463 6,919 5,647 37,946 19,408 21,683 23,180 18,976 35,736 18,218 23,561 25,186 20,827 29,420 12,046 13,242 16,544 8,076 28,272 11,366 12,606 15,287 7,049 100,367 54,273 49,275 61,594 31,943 85,473 39,876 48,176 56,411 28,651 10,374 20,343 34,780 15,859 16,301 19,956 12,629 32,622 14,827 17,018 19,533 11,600 4,402 12,422 103,226 46,161 54,262 59,333 38,435 99,624 43,789 53,974 53,846 33,394 14,561 1,706 602,365 8,250 4,437 5,121 5,012 2,213 7,628 4,277 5,973 4,981 2,390 8,268 6,153 35,852 17,392 21,234 22,778 13,394 33,796 16,437 22,367 21,170 11,906 19,587 105,635 1,588 671 1,178 1,332 539 1,577 663 1,027 1,028 463 92,438 40,500 48,708 50,262 30,221 87,323 38,835 50,730 47,810 27,453 North Carolina 63,118 27,073 31,560 31,209 18,688 59,074 25,874 32,989 30,665 17,514 South Carolina 37,411 16,156 17,761 19,344 10,244 34,664 15,857 18,145 17,236 New Jersey Delaware D. of Columbia 20,124 345,796 880,200 Georgia Kentucky 19,841 8,470 9,787 10,325 4,957 18,407 7,914 9,248 8,835 1,955 8,644 3,353 3,861 3,342 1,395 347 466 645 262 791 280 424 393 115 Mississippi llinois Louisiana Missouri Alabama Arkansas 1764,118 353,071 393,156 431,589 262,487 715,197 323,648 401,499 411,694 248,030 108,395 893,041 5,305,925 228. 970 214 6,737 472. 108 77. 750 310 262 217. 15,017 959 6,453 10,851 245, 795 810 4,177 72 41,273 18,463 20,403 22,079 13,291 39,131 17,827 21,290 21,464| 12,515 969 800 5,395 24 392,518 974 168,824 555, 4,554 196,365 415, 1,801 105,218 252 |1,035,058 468,083 547,597 571,997 364,836 981,421 448,322 561,956 544,256 338,478 186,446 1,191,364 7,259 49,217 24,528 7,146 28,530 27,742 19,178 35,466 19,672 5,529 22,703 22,956 18,413 70,993 38,573 10,912 49,506 54,414 38,668 11,530 5,860 1,767 7,596 7,618 5,888 36,848 20,682 6,284 25,731 25,632 21,814 35,708 19,241 5,860 24,137 22,035 16,189 222,608 104,297 29,598 132,733 138,634 81,259 42,055 19,970 5,956 24,639 24,418 18,537 175,381 77,050 25,901 102,550 97,144 64,493 9,071 4,448 1,719 5,516 5,607 3,263 41,511 18,952 6,261 26,404 27,916 16,960 3,276 1,540 550 2,171 2,893 1,291 103,963 45,762 13,148 58,863 57,898 38,245 75,488 32,912 9,748 39,527 36,264 25,453 42,658 18,258 5,877 23,984 22,115 13,919 35,444 14,743 4,215 19,483 17,874 10,860 83,050 36,004 10,383 41,328 38,178 25,136 67,746 28,497 7,472 31,028 27,549 18,780 111,683 45,858 12,607 57,008 54,432 31,626 29,629 11,454| 3,270 14,428 14,072 7,066 8,104 3,216 1,052 4,560 5,110 2,296 10,554 4,227 1,313 6,224 5,755 11,817 4,710 2,105 8,747 11,236 46,565 23,982 30,823 28,248 18,527 34,599 18,899 24,806 25,797 19,925 69,260 38,308 52,805 57,721 46,171 10,917 5,769 8,407 8,671 7,157 35,289 19,833 27,205 29,069 25,078 35,327 18,577 24,713 23,683 15,236 216,513 101,904 132,492 129,899 72,385 39,921 19,504 25,637 24,693 18,035 166,710 78,425 101,404 94,345 59,592| 8,657 4,311 5,573 5,537 3,299 39,454 19,578 27,293 26,347 15,807 3,319 1,640 2,518 2,615 1,351 98,485 45,766 62,411 55,995 35,686 70,998 33,101 42,253 38,069 25,135 39,891 18,741 23,662 20,939 13,273 33,177 14,937 18,642 15,365 9,041 77,641 35,120 41,905 35,483 20,799 63,419 27,770 31,569 27,931 15,638 106,036 44,106 53,337 48,797 23,689 27,684 10,707 13,635 12,009 5,074 7,220 3,176 3,791 3,107 1,596 9,558 4,018 4,842 4,166 11,062 5,484 6,708 Ohio Indiana Mississippi Illinois 2,641 1,803 Louisiana 4,822 5,695 3,102 Missouri Alabama 17,103 6,281 Michigan 6,625 2,895 609 1,130 525 692 927 1,179 VOL. XVIII.—PART I. 1,345,220 612,535 182,205 776,030 766,283 495,065 1,280,570 605,375 781,371 736,600 462,888 3 E* |