October On The 19th Century Farm

Oh, the joy of October – the month of apple harvest and autumn foliage.

“The farmers of this village are now gathering their apple crop. They report the crop good,” The Granville Sentinel reported on October 6th, 1876.

“Leaves are falling from the trees in the village as rapidly as snow flakes during a winter story,” the Sandy Hill correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on October 21st, 1885.

“The park is deeply carpeted with autumn souvenirs of gorgeous colors, making a flooring beautiful to look at, and the young and old girls are gathering them in.”

The October 1st, 1886 edition of The Granville Sentinel reported numerous indications of the changing of seasons.

“The ladies are procuring their winter hats and lay aside those they have worn during the summer,” reported the Greenwich correspondent.

“The first onion and cabbage peddler of the season was in town last week from South Granville,” reported the Hartford correspondent.

“Gray squirrels are renewing their annual acquaintance with the ardent sportsman,” reported the Kingsbury correspondent, who was hoping for rain.

“Rain is very much needed. Water is very scarce for watering stock.”

A week later, the Sentinel reported frost at some locations.

“The first killing frost of the season was experienced Saturday morning,” reported the Sandy Hill correspondent.

“Jack Frost visited us Saturday night, the first of the season, but did slight damage,” reported the Putnam correspondent.

The frost did not damage the apple crop.

“Apples are abundant. Buckwheat pancakes have come in fashion,” reported the Fort Ann correspondent in the Sentinel on October 15th.

“A slight flurry of snow about midnight reminded us of the near approach of winter,” The Morning Star reported on October 16th.

In 1887, there were indications of the coming of a warm winter with little snow.

“The husks on the Indian corn are firm and the golden rod is yellower than usual. ‘Open winter,’ say the wise ones,” the Sentinel reported on October 4th.

Glorious fall weather put the Sentinel editor in a poetic mood when preparing the October 21st issue.

“These are golden days. The declining sun is still high and bright, but the autumn’s haze cuts off the fierceness of the glare. The leaves are rustling from the trees, brown and crisp, and the air is full of the smell of the earth that always clings to autumn.”

In 1888, the first snow had already fallen in Washington County in late September, the Sentinel reported on October 5th.

It was the earliest on record as far back as 1874.

“The apple crop in this vicinity is large and of fine quality. The same can be said of potatoes. Help is scarce.”

There was a second “quite a snowstorm” on October 9th.

“The potato crop is large, but the weather for the past two weeks is larger. No opportunity to dig the tubers,” the Sentinel reported on October 12th.

“The buckwheat crop suffered severely this year from the September frost, and also much has been ruined by the heavy rains of the past few weeks,” the Sentinel reported on October 19th.

“The weather is enough to give the farmers the blues,” the Sentinel reported on October 26th. “It is bad for all kinds of work, unless it is that special branch of agriculture which our younger people are engaged in – sowing wild oats.”

Some blamed the poor weather on politics. “A Glens Falls prophet says there will be no settled weather before election. It certainly looks that way.”

Illustration: Clark Allis’ Medina, NY orchards ca 1910.