Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1895 — THE SUMMER OF 1816. [ARTICLE]

THE SUMMER OF 1816.

A Sharp Frost Every Month—lce in This State in July. We continue to receive occasional inquiries concerning the “year in which there was no summer.” Some persons appear to have a wrong idea as to the time. It was the year 1816. It has been called “the year without a summer,” for there was a sharp frost every month. There are old farmers living in Connecticut who remember it well. The farmers used to refer to it as “eighteen hundred and starve to death.” January was mild, as was also February, with the exception of a few days. The greater part of March was cold and boisterous. April opened warm, but grew colder as it advanced, ending with snow and ice and winter cold. In May, ice formed half an inch thick, buds and flowers were frozen and corn killed. Frost, ice and snow were common in June. Almost every green thing was killed, and the fruit was nearly all destroyed. Snow fell to the depth of three Inches in New York and Massachusetts, and ten inches in Maine. July was accompanied with frost and ice. On the sth ice was formed of the thickness of witidoiv glass in New York, New England and Pennsylvania, and corn was nearly all destroyed in certain sections. In August, ice formed half an inch thick. A cold northern wind prevailed nearly all summer. Corn was so frozen that a great deal was cut down and dried for fodder. Very little ripened in New England, even here in Connecticut, and scarcely any even in the Middle States. Farmers were obliged to pay $4 or $5 a bushel for corn in 1816 for seed for the next spring’s planting. The first two weeks of September were mild, the rest of the month was cold, with frost and ice formed a quarter of an inch thick. October was more than usually cold, with frost and ice. November was cold and blustering, with snow enough for good sleighing. December was quite mild and comfortable.—Hartford Times. Surveys and examinations of the bituminous coal beds of Pennsylvania have led the Government experts to announce that at the present rate of con* sumption the supply will hot be exhausted for 800 yeatrs to come.