USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
·
The snows, as we have already remarked, come on earlier and go off later in the forests than they do in the improvements. They also come on earlier and go off later on the hills and other elevated places in the improvements, thau in the plains and valleys. The difference, in both instances, is striking. The snow likewise disappears sooner on southern and south- eastern aspects than it does on northern and nortwestern. The difference in elevation is sometimes modified by winds and wa- ters, and perhaps by the soils. That portion of the western country, between Oneida creek, Niagara river and Lake Erie, and between Lake Ontario and the Chatauque and Alleghany hills, affords a luminous example, notwithstanding it has an ele- vation of from four to eight hundred feet above the ocean. The southwest wind, the lakes and soil, occasion the difference. The peach tree grows in all the country comprised within the above limits ; and in many parts, particularly between Cayuga lake and Niagara river, attains'a perfection not to be found on Long and Staten Islands, which are in the Atlantic ocean two de- grees southerly. The black walnut grows spontaneously along Genesee and Niagara rivers, and intermediate, and along Lake Erie. The sassafras, which is little more than a shrub, in the east, the north and the interior, acquires the magnitude of a tree. Several other trees grow spontaneously in this district, which do not elsewhere. Many of the forest trees grow to a much larger size. The elm, the oak, chesnut, whitewood, but- ton wood, &c. present fine instances.
.
The difference in vegetation, between the eastern and west- ern parts of the State, amounts to eight or ten days, and this in favour of the latter. The same difference holds throughout the season. Wheat, rye, corn, and all kinds of grain, are
1
1
£
STATE OF NEW-YORK. 369
harvested before they are in the Mohawk country, and even · than they are in the basin of the Hudson, in the same paral- lels. Frosts usually begin later in fall, and have less severity. 'The forest trees are clothed a longer time with verdure.
The peach tree, which thrives and obtains so much perfec- tion in some portions of the western country, is debilitated and sickly in the same parallels along the Hudson, and does not do well. In the Mohawk country, lying between the former and the latter, it seldom bears any fruit. The severity of the weather commonly kills the young shoots-the tree languishes, becomes consumptive, and ultimately dies.
In autumn there are usually several great movements in the atmosphere, which serve as so many precursors of the approach of winter. The first happens about the time of the equinox, and is often attended with heavy wind and more or less rain. It is now and then violent on the Atlantic coast, and on lakes Erie and Ontario. This is succeeded by fine weather, which lasts with some interruptions, till about the tenth or twentieth of October, when the second occurs. This, like the preceding, is accompanied by wind and rain. There is, however, consid- erable difference. The winds are often very violent, and come very near to hurricanes, especially on Lake Erie. Here the winds are southwest, northeast and northwest. The two latter have commonly to yield to the first. The southwest and north- east are opposed the one against the other ; the northwest is the antagonist of both. Coming from an opposite quarter, it combats these rivals, and increases the confusion. The south- west and northeast blow along the coast of the ocean, with less fury. The southeast sometimes comes in and partakes. These winds sometimes occasion the loss of vessels both on the coast and the lakes. On Lake Erie the wind will shift to every point of the compass in an hour or two. These winds rarely last over two or three days. They are followed by cold of some days duration, when the weather settles down and be- comes fine. The Indian Summer, a series of smoky days. usu- ally follows or comes shortly after the settlement. Its continu- VOL. I. ₹ 47
.
-
1
370
HISTORY OF THE
ance is now and then two weeks. The Indian Summer, at present, is shorter, and comes later than formerly.
A third begins the middle or latter part of November. It is less windy, but generally more rainy. Sometimes it is snowy. The cold is more intense than it is in the foregoing, and lasts longer. Instances have not been wanting of winter setting in with it, and lasting till the following April.
The fourth usually begins about the middle or towards the latter end of December, when winter assumes her empire.
We shall, in the next place, notice certain movements which occur every winter and spring. Generally in January, between the eighth and twentieth, there is a heavy thaw, accompanied with southwest wind and rain, and sometimes with thunder and lightening. In the basin of the Hudson, the southwest becomes a south wind. The southwest wind prevails mostly in the basins of the Hudson and St. Lawrence; it, however, not unfrequently pervades the greater part of the State. Portions of the southwest wind, at times, enter the valley of the Mohawk, on the Hudson and St. Lawrence sides, and meet at Fall Hill, Anthony's Nose, or some other place, while at others a cur- rent extends westwardly or eastwardly throughout the whole. This thaw lasts from two to four days, and carries off most of the snow in the vicinity of the Hudson, and the neighbourhood of the lakes. In the Mohawk and Susquehannah countries its influence is less. It weakens as it recedes from the lines of the grand arial torrents, which are the Hudson and the basins of the great lakes.
A second thaw ensues, which is less violent, between the tenth and twenty-fifth of February. Its continuance is two or three days. It is not uncommon to have two or three thaws in each of the latter months. Formerly, before large clearings were made, there was rarely over one thaw in each month. These occurred every year. The inhabitants remarked them on ac- count of their constant recurrence. The one they called the January, and the other the February, thaw. Latterly they have been less noticed, in consequence of the frequent thaws in those months.
371
STATE OF NEW-YORK.
The third thaw commonly takes place between the tenth and twentieth of March, and like the preceding, is attended with southwest wind, rain, and sometimes thunder. Its action is confined mostly to the Hudson and St. Lawrence basins, with this difference, that its sphere is enlarged. This thaw and storm might be called that of the vernal equinox. These thaws, as we shall hereafter show, have but little effect on the snows within the forests ; seldom occasioning much diminution in the quantities, or causing the streams to break up.
A fourth begins between the first and tenth of April, and lasts some days. This is usually succeeded by fair weather, which commonly holds on to the last of the month. On such occasions, it induces the trees to put forth their foilage. Its continuance is longer in the basins of the Hudson and St. Law- rence than it is in the interior. On the cessation of this weather, rains ensue. With us May is more wet and rainy than April. Frosts generally cease the latter part of May, and commence about the twentieth of September. The frosts are latest in spring, and earliest in fall, on the highest lands. The contrary happens on the lowest lands, and along rivers and lakes. In some river valleys, fogs retard and protract frosts. To these rules, there are, however, some exceptions. In elevated situa- tions the winds occasionally prevent frosts by driving away the vapors, and disturbing the repose of the atmosphere. Frosts now and then occur early in low moist places which are remote from rivers and lakes, where the vapors exhaled in the course of the day, or during the night, are not sufficiently copious to produce fogs, or where the superior stratum of frozen air is too high to condense the vapors.
The weather in the interior is more settled and steady than it is on the Atlantic coast, and around lakes Ontario and Erie. The snows are more copious and more lasting, and the colds more equable. Uniformity of temperature, although it have more intensity, is not so affecting to the body as sudden transi- tions from cold to heat, and vice versa.
A remarkable change ensues upon clearing the lands. The weather becomes more unsteady and unsettled, but in the main,
372
HISTORY OF THE
milder. The snows come on later and go off earlier in the spring. This has happened in all those parts of the State " where improvements have been made, and seems to be induced by the warmth which the sun communicates to the ground, and by the introduction of streams of warm air. The clearing of swamps, and the dissipation of standing waters also have an agency. Local winds are established. The warmth which the sun communicates to the earth, is imparted in autumn to the air. This warmth keeps up a higher temperature in the at- mosphere, and prolongs warm weather. The earth, while this is going on, still receives acquisitions from the sun, so that there is a furtherance given to the imparting of warmth. These communications are in the clearings, and every day the sun shines, unless the ground be frozen and covered with snow.
The change of climate, within the memory of many persons now. living, has been very considerable. The rivers, creeks and lakes do not freeze over so soon as they did formerly ; nor do they remain closed so long in the spring. The ice is no longer so thick and strong. This change has taken place every where within the State where improvements have been made ; the rivers and lakes do not freeze so soon, nor so thick as they did when the first settlements were made. But this change in the climate has not been confined to the State of New-York. Canada, New England, New-Jersey and Penn- sylvania have had their changes, and from the same causes. We shall introduce some facts in relation to these changes, which, although not exactly in place, may not be deemed irre- levant. " The Delaware, at Philadelphia, about the time (which was in the year 1681) when Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania, was commonly covered with ice about the last of November." It is not now usual for it to be covered with ice until the first week in January.
.
" As long ago as the year 1749, the ancient people of Que- bec, in Lower Canada, informed Mr. Kalm, a Swedish travel- ler, that the winters in that country were formerly much colder than they were then."
Mr. Williams, the historian of Vermont, has collected a mul- titude of facts, some of which we beg leave to introduce.
-
373
. STATE OF NEW-YORK.
" Although, says he, the general effect has been every where apparent, it is not an easy thing to ascertain the degree to which the temperature has changed in any particular place. When our ancestors first came to America, thermometers were not invented, and they have not left us any accurate meteorolo- gical remarks or observations from which we can determine the exact degree of cold which prevailed in their time. Upon looking over the most ancient writers of New England, the only account I have found, which will afford any distinct infor- mation upon this subject, is the following passage, referring to years previous to 1633."
" The extremity of this cold weather lasteth but for two . months or ten weeks, beginning in December, and breaking up the tenth day of February, old stile, (21st new stile,) which hath become a passage very remarkable, that for ten or a dozen of years, the weather hath held himself to his day, un- locking his icy bays and rivers, which are never frozen over again the same year, except there be some small frost, until the middle of March." Woods' Prospect, p. 4, Mr. Williams, then observes, that the winter is less severe now, in several respects .. " That the extremity of the cold weather does not come on so soon by several weeks-that the bays at Boston, instead of being annually covered with ice, are seldom frozen to this de- gree-and that they do not continue in this State a longer time than eight or ten days." " That in the year 1752, the harbour between Boston and Charlestown, was frozen to such a degree, that horses and sleighs passed over the ice five or six days. That this was the beginning of such an effect as that which is mentioned in the ancient account. That the ice be- came fixed on February tenth. That, during that time, he found the lowest degree of Farenheit's thermometer to be nine degrees, and the greatest degree twenty-eight." He then ob- serves " that the freezing of the bays and rivers, which Wood speaks of, could not have been under a less degree of cold. That from a series of meteorological observations which he made at Cambridge, between 1780 and 1788, he concludes, that if Woods' account be admitted, there must have been a change
374
HISTORY OF THE
in the climate at Boston, of ten or twelve degrees." Mr. Wil- liams, in our opinion, has rated the change too high-he did not take into consideration the quantity of improved land, and the ratio it bore to the uncleared which would have given a cor- recter result. His conclusion is drawn from the average of cold and heat in each month, between 1780 and 1788. To average the temperament of each month in the year, and then average the whole is a very imperfect mode of ascertaining the degrees of heat and cold. The result may not give ten hours of such weather as actually exists in a year. 'I here may be as much heat and cold, and even more in a year, as formerly, and they may not be so intense. The true rule or method would have been, to have given the maximum and minimum of heat and cold each year. There may be as much cold in a year . and the bays may not freeze. It is the intensity that freezes, not the average. In this respect, certain American and English me- teorologists have constantly been in error. It is vain to find out the state of the weather from their averages or mediums, unless we look over their tables. Their results or conclusions are mere amalgams, showing the average of heat and cold in 365 day, without showing their intensity.
The same author made a series of observations in the months of May, June, July, August, September, October and Novem- ber, in the year 1789, at Rutland, in the State of Vermont, in latitude forty-three degrees and thirty-six minutes, for the pur- pose of ascertaining whether the heat of the earth be increased or not by cultivation. On the 23d of May, he sunk a thermo- meter to the depths of ten inches below the surface of the earth. Upon repeated trials, he found that the mercury stood at fifty degrees ; this was in a level, open field, used for pasture, and fully exposed to the sun. He then made the same experiments in the woods, where the surface of the earth was covered with trees. To ascertain the gradual increase of heat at each place, he often repeated his observations. The following table ex- hibits the times, degress of heat, differences, &c. :-
.
375
STATE OF, NEW-YORK.
Time
Heat in the pas- ture.
Heat in the woods.
Differences.
May 23.
50 degrees.
46 degrees.
4 degrees.
28.
57
48
9
. June 15 ..
64
51
13
27.
62
51
11
July 16.
62
51
11
30.
65.5
55.5
10
August 15.
68
58
10
31 ..
59.5
55
4.5
Sept. 15.
59.5
55
4.5
Oct. 1.
59.5
55
4.5
15.
49
49
0
Nov. 1.
43
43
0
15.
43.5
43.5
0
Hence, he concludes, that by exposing the land to the full force of the sun, in this latitude, a heat, at the depth of ten in- ches below the surface, is induced equal to ten or eleven de- grees greater than that in the forest, and that consequently, this heat is retained so long in autumn as the rays of the sun in- crease the warmth of the earth. That this additional heat in the earth will be sufficient to produce the same alteration in the temperature in the atmosphere. That thus the earth and the air, in the cultivated parts of the country, are heated in conse- quence of cultivation, ten or eleven degrees more than they were in their uncultivated state. Rutland, where these experiments were made, is about 641 feet higher than the surface of the ocean.
From the deduction drawn by this author, he would be under- stood, that the difference is ten or eleven degrees. That he is correct as to a certain period of the year, we readily assent, but his conclusion will not hold true as to the other period, unless all the woods are cut down and the lands tilled.
Upon clearing and cultivating lands, the soils, in the course of time, undergo almost entire changes, and new ones are formed. The swamps and marshes are drained; the surface of the ground becomes drier and the soils are mixed. Evaporation is greater in a cleared country than in a woody one. The rays of the sun meeting with no obstructions, act with greater
1.
١٨
376
HISTORY OF THE
energy : the winds also sweep the surface and co-operate with the sun. The northwest wind is a powerful agent in evaporation. This is exemplified, in a striking manner, after heavy rains. The water disappears, the mud dries up, and in two or three days the ground appears as though there had been no rain. There is another cause of evaporation, and it is this : the warmth which the earth imbibes from the sun. This being imparted to the atmosphere, occasions the wet and moisture to rise in vapors. Humidity is a cause of coolness and aridity of warm- ness.
An amalgamation of soils is a better receiver and conductor of heat. That is, it receives it faster and more abundantly, and imparts it slower, and for a longer time ; all of which cir- cumstances tend to the melioration of the climate.
The rivers, creeks and brooks decrease. Many small streams totally disappear in summer. This State, and several of the other States, afford innumerable instances of the drying up of streams.
The cutting down the woods diminishes the quantity of aqueous vapors. The dews are not as copious now as they were formerly, and they are becoming less so every year. The rains are not so copious, nor are they so frequent as they were. Hence, other causes of the change of the climate.
The decrease of snows, and their having less duration, is also a cause of the change. The snows now fall later, have less permanency, and go off earlier than they did. Snow and ice chill the atmosphere. This must be apparent to every body. Our open winters are less severe, because there is not much snow or ice in the improved country to chill the air. The ab- sence of snow, is one cause of a milder temperament in the climate. In our fields, the snow cannot accumulate as it once did, because the sun is daily dissipating it.
At the first settlement of this State, and we might add, all the subsequent ones that have been made, the earth was gener- ally covered with snow for three, four or five months. It usu- ally commenced falling by the middle or latter end of Novem- ber, and continued to fall to the first or middle of April, at
377
STATE OF NEW-YORK.
which time it began to go off. The ground was seldom bare before the fifteenth of April, or the first of May. This still continues to be nearly the case in the extensive forests. The snows then accumulated to the depth of from two to four or five feet. 'This is the case at the present day in the forests. In Redfield, in the county of Oswego, the snow occasionally at- tains the depth of five feet on a level. There are many other places where it is nearly or equally deep. The snows, how- ever, at Redfield, as well as other places, have visibly declined, as improvements have been made. 'T'he decline of snow seems to be in a ratio with the improvements.
Considerable alterations have occurred in the winds. Those that are general, have, in the main, less duration. The north- west, northeast and east have declined. They are no longer so cold as they were, because there is less snow to cool and freeze them. Local winds, or currents, have been established, which have more or less effect.
Dews.
The quantity of water which annually falls in the form of dew, is considerable, but we have no way of ascertaining the amount. It varies very much in different parts, and in different years.
Dr. Hales imagines, that the quantity which annually falls in England, on moist earth, is upwards of three inches-Mr. Dalton supposes it exceeds five inches. The quantity which yearly falls with us, in all probability, exceeds that which falls ip England.
We have a greater number of fair days in a year than they have in England. Besides, more rain falls here than there. 'The forests also have a tendency to increase the quantity. Dews are composed of vegetable emanations, and evapora- tion from the earth, the surfaces of lakes, ponds and streams. These mount on high during the day, and are condensed in the course of the night. by the superior atmosphere which sinks upon them. Calmness, or something like a state of repose in VOL. I.
48 1
378
HISTORY OF THE
the atmosphere, is indispensibly necessary to the production of dews. They never occur in windy or cloudy weather. ' 'They : are most abundant after heavy rains, when the weather has be- come settled, and least towards the close of long droughits.
Rain.
We are unable to say what the mean quantity of rain falling in the State, annually is, but we think that it cannot be less than that of some of the neighbouring States.
The mean quantity which falls at Rutland, in Vermont, has been ascertained to be 41.197 inches.
At Cambridge, in Massachusetts 35.396 do.
Philadelphia
35 do.
Williamsburg
47
do
In Europe the quantity is less.
At Paris, the annual average fall is
20
do.
Lyons
37 F
do
Padua
37.50 do ..
Pisa
34.50 do.
Rome
20
do.
Berlin
19.50
do. do.
Harlem
27
Dort
40
do.
Manchester
33
do.
Lancaster
40
do.
London
22.40
do.
It is allowed that more rain falls in the northern and middle States, than does in those parts of Europe which are situated. under the same parallels of latitude. The difference is not yet known. Several have made contrasts, and thence deduced the difference, but as these are contradictory, little or no reli- ance can be placed in them.
Remarks on the difference in vegetation in some parts of the State.
Vegetation in the eastern parts of Putnam, Dutchess, Colum- bia, Rensellaer and Washington, is seven or eight days later
379
STATE OF NEW-YORK.
than it is along the river Hudson. This is the usual difference in the harvest.
This remark will apply to those places situated seven, eight, or tex miles south or north of the Mohawk river. Indeed, on the south side of that river, where the aspect is northern, it is greater. A difference of twelve days is by no means uncommon.
Eight or ten miles south of the heads of Cayuga and Seneca lakes, the difference is a week or more. The lands rise on ·leaving the heads of these lakes.
On the Highlands, in the county of Oneida, harvest is near- ly or quite two weeks later than it is at Whitestown, on the Mohawk.
, Between Sandy Hill, in the county of Washington, and the Highlands, or Matteawan mountains, on the borders of the Hudson, the harvest is earlier, by a week, than it is on the Mo- hawk between the eastern limits of Montgomery, and the west- ern limits of Herkimer, keeping in the river valley.
In Otsego and Delaware counties, to which some others might be coupled, the harvest is two weeks back of that on the Hudson.
Elevation, aspect, cultivation, soil and latitude occasion the differences.
- Improved and Unimproved Lands, &c.
The State contains upwards of twenty-nine millions of acres of land, exclusive of water. Of these about seven million one hundred and sixty-one thousand acres are cleared and cultivat- ed. The remaining twenty-two millions of acres are woods. Of the latter, we suppose about ten millions of acres may be improved. The improved lands then, at this time, comprise less than the one-fourth of the whole.
All the improved lands in the State of New-York, in the year 1775, did not surpass one million of acres, some un- der the one-twenty-ninth part. This supposes a population of about 230,000. In 1825 the population amounted to 1,616,45S, and the improved lands to 7,161,000 acres. This
---
: 380
HISTORY OF THE
1
would give four acres, and rather over one-third of an acre to each inhabitant. The quantity of improved land in 1775, it is probable, bore a similar ratio to the population then, that the improved land did to the population in 1825. Admitting such to have been the fact, the improved lands in 1825, were more than seven times greater than they were in 1775. The im- proved lands then comprised, say, the one-twenty-ninth part, aud in 1825 nearly seven-twenty-ninths, or some under the one- fourth. The surface exposed to the sun in 1825, was more than seven times as large as it was in 1775. No wonder then that the winters are shorter, the snows not so deep, and the weather more variable, but in the main not so cold. Nor is it to be wondered that the snows disappear in the clearings first, and much earlier than formerly, when we take into account the in- creased action of the sun on the surface. Before 1775 the clearings were too inconsiderable to have had any visible effect on the climate generally. The effect was confined to spots, and scarcely preceptible, being similar to those places in the depths of forests, where there are small improvements. But after all, the changes induced are not entirely owing to the clearings made in the State ; those which have been made in the neighbouring States and Provinces must be taken into the estimate, since they have extended the sphere of the sun's action. We cannot, however, determine the extent of the changes in the climate. The data are too loose. They are, however, in our opinion, not so great as some have supposed, nor are they so small as some have imagined. The European writers; in general, have been unwilling to allow of scarrely any change ; and the American, taking opposite grounds, have allowed too much. The historian of Vermont supposes a change at Boston of ten or twelve degrees. Volney supposes that no change has ensued in the United States. Both are evidently mistaken. 1
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.