USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia > Part 8
USA > Virginia > A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia > Part 8
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In 1621 the Virginian Company in petitioning parliament for encour- agement and protection, earnestly recommended the colony "for that tem- perature of climate which agreed well with the English." Smith often makes similar comparisons, and it is evident from the writings of our ear- liest historians, that the climate of Virginia differed but little from that of England. The immense mass of vegetation which overshadowed the coun- try, filled it with fogs and vapors, assimilating it to that of England, and rendering it extremely cold in its winters, and tardy in its summers. It was less affected by the standard temperature of the sea than England, and was marked with more striking vicissitudes. The cold winter of 1607, which was felt throughout all Europe* was, in the language of Smith, found "as extreame in Virginia." There were also many unseasonable years, and others singularly propitions to the agriculture of the country. The year 1610 was long recollected by the epithet of the starving time, while in the ycar 1619 two crops of rare-ripe corn were made. Among many of the acts of the House of Burgesses regulating the trade of the country, we find one which prohibits the exportation of Indian corn "on account of the un- seasonableness of the last two summers."
As the country was gradually cleared of its forests and undergrowth, the elimate became dry, temperate, and warm. The act of the House of Bur- gesses of 1705, which directed the capitol to be built at Williamsburg, re- cites, "that this place hath been found by constant experience to be healthy and agreeable to the constitutions of this his majesty's colony and domin- ion, having the natural advantages of a serene and temperate air, and dry and champaign land." A correspondent to the Royal Philosophical Socie- ty, who wrote an account of Virginia about this period, says "that the win- ters are dry and clear-the spring is carlier than that of England. Snow falls in great quantities, but seldom lies above a day or two, and the frosts, though quick and sharpe, seldom last long. July and August are sultry hot, while September is noted for prodigious showers of rain. . The north and N. W. winds are either very sharp and piercing, or boisterous and stormy, and the S. E. and south hazy and sultry."
.* In this year at Paris the beard of Henry IV. was frozen in bed cum regina. Sul- ly's Mem, Vol. IV. 263.
60
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
From the want of accurate observations, and those careful collections of meteorological facts which elucidate the character of all climates, our spe- culations on that of Virginia must be necessarily vague and indefinite, and for the nicer shades of its changes, we are forced to substitute the broader features of its outline. Our climate is uniform only in its sudden vicissi- tudes. Its consistency is impaired by many causes, which have produced a difference of temperature dependant on the deeply marked geographical distinctions of our sea board, tide water, valley, and mountainous regions. My observations have been principally confined to that intermediate country, between the Chesapeake and the South West Mountains, on the low and moist lands of the Matapony, in latitude north 38º 6', and about seventy miles south of Washington City. While I am forced in my examination of the temperature of other parts of the state, to rely on statements often in- accurate in their conception and irrelevant in their details.
The standard temperature of every country is regulated by that of the le- vel of the ocean. According to the researches of Professor Leslie, the mean temperature at the level of the sea, in our latitude, is between 67º and 719, which gradually diminishes from that level, until it reaches the point of perpetual congelation. Pure air is not heated by the sun's rays which pass through it. The solar rays must be stopped by the earth, col- lected and reflected before any heat can be given to the atmosphere. In tak- ing a standard, we assume the sea, which affords a fairer criterion of uni- form temperature, than the mean heat of springs and wells. Neither does the sea retain the extreme of heat or cold which we find in the earth. A cold wind blowing over this volume of salt water, necessarily cools its sur- face, which from its increase of specific gravity, sinks and gives place to an inferior warmer wave. The action of the wind in rippling the surface of the water, and the influence of tide and currents conspire in bringing the warmer water to the level of the sea to mitigate the coldness of the wind: this action continues till the whole water is so far cooled that it be- comes susceptible of frost. When frozen it is no longer warmed from the inferior water, but blows on with increased rigor. A warm wind takes a portion of cold as it passes over the surface of the sea, and becomes reduced to the mean temperature of that body. The sea breeze so prevalent in Eas- tern Virginia is cool, as much from the standard heat of the ocean, as from its rapidity of motion. It is cooler in Virginia than in the West Indies, and often since the opening of the country, spreads its elastic freshness to the foot of the South West Mountains. There is a sensible and striking difference between the temperature of Eastern and Western Virginia. The former from its vicinity to the sea coast, becomes tempered into more gen- tleness; while its earlier vegetation shows the greater power of its soil to retain heat. In the latter the winters are longer and more severe, yet the farmer may there admire the wisdom of that providence, which in increas- ing the rigor of the frost, mellows and crumbles the land for the purposes of agriculture, while the light soils of the east require no such agency.
In the course of five years, from 1772 to 1777, Mr. Jefferson made many observations on the temperature at Williamsburg, and having reduced them to an average for each month in the year, he has given us the results of the greatest daily heat of the several seasons. * I have before me a series of careful observations compiled by that accurate thinker, and accomplished
* Notes on Virginia, Query 7.
61
OF VIRGINIA.
scholar, the late David Watson, (of Louisa county,) in a similar period of five years, from 1823 to 1828. His residence was near the South West mountains, and in a country comparatively thickly covered with wood. The result of his observations and those of Mr. Jefferson, making a distance in time of 52 years, and of southern latitude in favor of Williamsburg, is here submitted :
MR. JEFFERSON'S.
MR. WATSON'S.
January,
381º
to
44º
January,
36
to
44
February,
41
to
473
February,
35
to
40
March,
48
to
541
March,
44
to
49
April,
56
to
623
April,
56
to
60
May,
63
to
701
May,
61
to
69
June,
713
to
781
June,
71
to
79
July,
77
to
821
July,
80
to
84
August,
76}
to
81
August,
81
to
84
September,
693
to
743
September,
74
to
77
October,
613
to
663
October,
59
to
63
November,
47号
to
533
November,
46
to
54
December,
43
to
482
December,
40
to
44
The coolest and warmest parts of the day were separately added, and an average of the greatest cold and heat of that day was formed. From the averages of every day in the month, a general average for the whole month was deduced. In following this mode of analysis, there are many slight features of discrepancy between the statements of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Watson, which considerably impair the correctness of the comparison. Mr. Watson's thermometer was suspended in a passage, far removed from the action of fire, in a house constructed of wood; and the calculation of his table is based on observations made between the hours of 10 A. M. and 3 P. M. Mr. Jefferson is silent as to the situation of his thermometer, while it appears that he has reckoned from the hours of 8 A. M. to 4 P. M.
The hottest period of these five years, observed by Mr. Watson, was in July, 1825, when the thermometer on several days rose above 90°, and the hottest month was in August, 1828. The coldest period was during the month of January, 1827, and the warmest winter was in 1828-29.
My own observations made during a period of four years, from 1829 to 1834, cannot be calculated for an average temperature. Many days and even months from my absence from home, were necessarily unnoticed. Those periods which are recorded differ but little in their particular and daily results, from those of Mr. Watson; while I have noticed his singular omission-the prevalence of the winds, and the "fantastic tricks" with which our climate so playfully disports. From my observations, I am induced to place the mean temperature of our climate at 55°; thus varying according to natural and artificial causes several degrees from the standard tempera- ture of the sea.
The year 1831 was characterised by many vicissitudes of heat and cold. On the 27th February the mercury sunk to 7º, while in July and August it frequently rose to 86° and 94º. The ensuing winters of 1831 and 1832 were uncommonly rigorous, snow fell in great quantities, and in many places continued on the ground till the 4th of March. Early frost did much inju- ry to vegetation, while the cold was but slightly removed from the carth
62
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
until late in the ensuing summer. The spring of 1834 was attended by severe frosts, which resembled in their destructive character, those which had rendered the year 1816 proverbial. They committed great devastations in April, and on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of May, the Indian corn on our low lands, and the leaves of the garden and forest trees were scathed and blighted to a degree precluding, in many cases, all hope of restoration.
In Virginia the transitions from heat to cold are sudden, and sometimes to very extreme degrees; often in the day time the mercury will stand at 94° or 81º, and will fall in the course of a few hours to 60º and 50º. Mr. Jefferson informs us that the mercury has been known to descend from 920 to 47º in thirteen hours. I have frequently noted vicissitudes of a similar kind, and when the change is accompanied by a S. E. wind and rain, the air becomes cold, raw and disagreeable. We have few summers in which a fire is not often required. On the 1st of May, 1827, there was a light fall of snow at Gloucester Court House,* while it is not uncommon to see slight frosts in August. In our winter the cold weather, though severe, is short, and the frequent snows of the night are generally removed before the sunset of the ensuing day. Water in ponds is slowly congealed, and rare- ly makes ice thick enough for preservation, until it has been chilled by a fall of snow-again, its production is very rapid; rivers half of a mile in breadth, will be frozen over in the course of one night, sufficiently firm to bear men and horses.t In the month of January, 1827, inany of those short yet wide salt streams, which wash the shores of Gloucester county, were frozen to the extent of thirty or forty feet from the land. This rigo- rous cold is rarely of much duration. Sustained, and principally created by north and northeastern winds, it quickly yields to the shifting of the wind to any other point. Some of our winters are so temperate and mild, that the cattle can find a support in the woods. Vegetation has been ob- served in all the winter months, and in the latter part of December diminu. tive pears, peaches and apples, fully ripened, have been gathered from the trees. A rose, exposed in an open garden, bloomed throughout the whole winter of '28 and '29. In this winter the peach tree bloomed in the latter part of January, and produced in its regular season a plentiful crop of fruit. Many of our coldest days are succeeded by gentle and moderate evenings; our severest cold is about the latter part of January, generally commencing after a hard rain, and continuing on an average about six days, thus realis- ing the truth of that old Virginian proverb, "that as the day lengthens the cold strengthens; a rapid thaw, often accompanied with rain and east winds, then takes place, while warm days and moderate nights soon reduce its se. verity, and open the way for the premature approach of spring. "Halfe of March" is no longer winter. Spring has already scattered her vivid mantle o'er the scene, while the whole air is redolent of life and fragrance. Yet even its brightness is momentary-an unexpected frost often shows that the frown of winter still lingers on the land, and we too frequently find a practical illustration of Shakspeare's metaphor,
" The tyrannous breathings of the north, Checks all our buds from blowing."
* Dr. Rush in his essay on the climate of Pennsylvania, mentions a fall of snow at Philadelphia on the night between the 4th and 5th May, 1774.
t Mr. Jefferson tells us that in 1776 York river was frozen over at York town, and in 1780, Chesapeake bay was solid from its head to the mouth of the Potomac. The cold winters of 1784 and 1814 still live in the recollections of tradition.
.
63
OF VIRGINIA.
It is now stormy, variable and cold; now cahn, gentle and warm, and now dry, peaceful, and serene. Until the middle of May our climate presents one incessant tumult of rain and drought, frost and heat; yet a spring uni- formly cold is far more favorable to our agriculture, than its usnal uncertain temperature for suppressing vegetation, it protects it from the blighting frosts of March and April. Often during the spring months the weather is ex- cessively damp, cloudy and hazy. In March, 1833, the sun was obscured for more than thirteen days, while every thing was chilled into gloomy mel- ancholy.
The vegetation of this season affords us a criterion of the heat of the spring, which may be received in aid of the more accurate results derived from the thermometer. In the course of four years I have found these ave- rage periods of time suststained by careful observations:
Peach blooms from March 7 to March 14.
Apple blooms from March 20 to March 29.
Cherry blooms from March 13 to March 17.
Plum blooms from March 26 to March 31.
Strawberry blooms from March 24 to March 31 .*
About the latter part of May our summer has commenced : the air be- comes dry, warm and elastic, and the verdure of the forest assumes a more deepened hue of vivid green. The superabundant moisture of the earth acquired during the winter, is now thoroughly evaporated, and the tempera- ture of the season in dispelling lassitude, invigorates into activity. Sum- mer burns on with a bright and glowing splendor, alternately relieved by gentle showers and refreshing breezes. Occasional droughts of many weeks in duration, parch the luxuriance of the vegetation-they are succeeded by copious and heavy showers of rain, which quickly restore the withered prospect. The approach of autumn is marked by heavy fogs in the morn- ing and evening, which are soon dispelled, leaving that calm and serene temperature, which gives to this season all the beauty of tranquil repose. In every season there is a large and constant exhalation from the carth in the shape of vapor, its volume being proportioned to the heat of the day. We do not often observe this exhalation when the heat of the atmosphere differs in a small degree from that of the earth; when the temperature of the air is considerably lower, this vapor so soon as it has arisen is deprived of a part of its heat, while its watery particles are more closely attracted into union and become visible in the shape of fog. In the autumn of Virginia, the heat of the day is sufficient to produce a large ascent of vapor. Undis- turbed by currents of wind it easily condenses, and is thickened by calm and chilling nights into a heavy mist, which in the guise of a cloud finds its resting place on the earth. Autumn of all other seasons, is least liable to sudden and extreme vicissitudes. The approach of winter is alike gradual and uniform, and though we have frequent light snows, the mildness of au- tumn is rarely wasted away until late in December.
In reasoning from the researches of philosophy, we are taught to place but little reliance on the uncertain narratives of tradition; they, however, with a slow yet steady advance, acquire respect, and often mould theory into fact, and fashion opinion into fixed principles. The common belief that our
* At the residence of R. G. Esq. near the Natural Bridge in the valley of Virginia, these fruit trees in the year 1834, bloomed at the following periods:
Peach
April 1.
Plum
April 1.
Apple
March 30.
Strawberry April 15.
64
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
climate has been changed into a milder temperature, has taken most of its certainty from the statements of our old people, who are uniformly consist- ent in this particular. The bloom of the orchard trees formerly restrained by a protracted winter from premature expansion, rarely failed arriving at the maturity of fruit; the earth remained covered with snow for many weeks, and the winter did not, as now, dally with the wantonness of spring. The marshes, uncleared lands, ponds and lakes, which conspired to absorb the heat of the earth,* have been almost obliterated or greatly - reduced. There is a lesser quantity of snow, and more of rain, while the frequency of violent storms of wind in the spring and summer, distinctly prove the great mass of our local heat, and accumulated electricity.
The winds of Virginia are singularly fickle and capricious, possessing neither the uniformity or regularity of those which blow at the tropics. Our prevailing wind is the south west, which assumes, alternately, gentle and severe characteristics. The frequency of southwestern winds above the latitudes of the trades, flows as a necessary consequence, from the continu- ance and direction of the vast currents of air. It moves unconfined and unresisted over the sea, until it reaches that unbroken range of mountains, which towers from one extremity of our continent to the other. It strikes against them, and from its elasticity rebounds with great velocity, in a direc- tion opposed to the forcing powers of the trades, taking in its oblique move- ment all those features which mark our southwestern wind.
During the spring the N. E. is the most common wind. The huge mass- es of snow and ice at the north pole, are gradually melted by the heat of the sun; great quantities of vapor during this time are exhaled and remain suspended, augmenting both the weight and bulk of the atmosphere. That wonderful and mysterious agent, electricity, in dispelling the vapor and converting it into elastic air,t gives an impetus to that wind which issuing from the poles, takes a northeastern direction as it advances southerly, (its diurnal motion being less than that of the earth,) and falls surcharged with snow and rain on every portion of our country.
Mr. Jefferson made 3698 observations on the various points from which our winds blew, noting their changes two or three times in each day. The prevalence of the S. W. winds, over those from other quarters is thus nu- merically stated by him:
South West, 926.
North, 409.
North,
611.
West,
351.
South East, 223. East,
North East,
548.
521.
South, 109.
He has also made a comparative view of the difference between the winds at Monticello and Williamsburg. He has reduced nine months' observa- tions at Monticello, to four principal points, being perpendicular to, or par- allel with, our coasts, mountains, and rivers, viz: the N. E., S. E., S. W., and N. W. He has also reduced an equal number of observations, 421, from his table above, taking them proportionally from every point.
* This principle is apparent from the fact that marshy countries are always cold; the decrease of temperature after a violent rain, also proves its truth. 'An unusual evaporation carries off the heat of the earth, and may we not reasonably expect a cold winter after a wet summer ?
t Through a glass tube filled with water, Dr. Franklin passed an electric shock, the tube was shattered to pieces, and the water disappeared; a similar experiment was tried with a tube filled with ink on a sheet of white paper, the same effects were pro- duced, the paper being neither stained nor discolored.
.
1
T
65
OF VIRGINIA.
My own observations made many times in each day, amount to 749, with- out reducing them in the proportionate manner of Mr. Jefferson. I have submitted them under the points and heads which he has adopted:
N. E.
S. E.
S. W. N. w. Total.
WILLIAMSBURG,
127
61
132
101
421
MONTICELLO,
32
91
126
172
421
BRAYNEFIELD,
204
130
247
168
.749
In an average of two years, I have found our winds thus yearly prevail- ing; the dominant wind of cach day being only reckoned, and not the usual vicissitudes of local breezes, or squalls.
Days.
South West,
122
North,
Days. 26
North West,
89
South,
21
North East,
61
West,
12
East,
30
South East,
4
302
63
302
days 365
A curious phenomenon is sometimes witnessed during a severe wind from the S. W .; a thin vapor or scud is seen moving with great velocity below the clouds, from the N. E., there being two currents of air of directly contrary courses in active motion at the same time.
In the carly part of the spring and autumn, in dry seasons, about sunset it is common to meet with currents of warm air, small in their extent yet ex- tremely rapid in their movements; they are considerably above the heat of the human body, and are wayward and eccentric, both in their duration and extent. Their existence has given rise to much speculation, and even the experienced philosophy of Mr. Jefferson has succumbed to the mystery* of their origin.
Our frosts are sometimes equally severe and unexpected. No body plac- ed near the earth has a temperature of its own, but is entirely regulated by that of the earth. A violent storm of rain, by absorbing much of the heat of the earth, is often followed by a destructive frost. When the power of frost reaches a certain pitch, the vapors dispersed throughout the air, yield their latent heat-the atmosphere becomes clouded, the frost is either de- stroyed or mitigated, and the vapors descend in rain or snow.
Our hardest Fosts never penetrate the earth more than three inches, and though the leaves of the trees and shrubs are scathed or destroyed, and tim- ber sometimes splits in the direction of the fibres of the tree, its roots uni- formly remain uninjured. 'Those portions of vegetation which grow near- est to the carth, and those in low and marshy situations, receive the severest injuries. On the night of the 17th May, 1834, the leaves of the oak, hicko
* May they not proceed from that latent electricity, which pervades the air most in dry seasons, and which is attracted to the human body by its heat, - thus producing from the action of afinity, the feeling of sudden warmth ?
9
.....
1
66
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
ry, and all the forest trees, were blighted in most of their foliage; the syca- more only remained unhurt. Frost during the winter, is a fatal enemy to those plants which are nurtured in southern exposures; they are sometimes covered with snow, which melting rapidly, is converted in the course of the night into destructive ice. Our white frost is generally harmless, it being simple dew slightly congealed.
Dew is found in Virginia in heavy masses, generally in the months of August, September, and October; it lies in greater quantities on our flat than high lands, being collected there during the absence of the sun from the horizon, like the relics of a drizzling rain. It appears first on the low- er parts of bodies, because in the evening the lower atmosphere is first cool- ed and most disposed to part with its vapor.
Virginia is subject to rains of vehement and long continuance; they fall in the largest quantity about the breaking of the winter, and in March and September. I have no data on which to reckon their depth* or their preva- lence over the fair and cloudy days of our climate. Our valley and wes- tern regions, by the condensing power of their mountains, and our tide wa- ter sections, by the attractive force of broad rivers, have more local rains than the intermediate country, and do not suffer in the same proportion from continued droughts. If a year be remarkable for rain, it is fair to conclude that the ensuing winter will be severe, from the great evaporation of the heat of the earth, and if the rains have been violent, sterility and barren- ness will follow in the next year in proportion, as the surface mould, so vi- tal to vegetation, lias been scattered and wasted away.
Our Indian summer presents an ample field for the creations of fancy and the conceits of theory. It generally follows excessive and protracted droughts, and is dispersed by heavy rains. It has been traced to electric influence- to the burning of mountains-to the existence of numerous impalpable atoms of decayed vegetation, and has been assimilated to those light gray clouds which overhang Peru. Adhuc lis est subjudice.
POLITICAL AND MORAL CONDITION.
Having given a summary account of the natural condition of Virginia, reserving a more detailed account for the particular counties; we now pro- ceed to give a similar succinct description of the situation of her people, be- gining with their number and classes.
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