It began to rain hard on the first of March, and continued raining two days and a half, which nearly carried off an immense body of snow which enveloped the ground. Our rivers, which were more firmly locked with ice than they had been before known for many years to be, rose above their usual bounds, and swept the ice with such rapidity down their channels as to destroy most of the bridges on Connecticut river, besides doing immense damage in other respects. Our meadows were nearly all under ice and water; and at that time a great explosion was heard in the north meadows, two miles from the street, similar to the noise of a cannon. It was occasioned by the throwing up of an immense quantity of frozen ground, which is a great curiosity. The cause is not yet satisfactorily explained. The weather was very warm and pleasant from the 4th to the 22d. What snow the rain did not carry off was melted by the sun during the pleasant weather. Vegetation had begun to put forth rapidly, and many of our birds of passage had arrived. A storm, which commenced on the 22d, as rapidly retarded the progress of vegetation as it was before accelerated, and the remainder of the month was gloomy and uncomfortable. Mud mid-leg deep in the streets. _April_ 7. Flower-buds of the elm (_Ulmus americana_) beginning to swell. _April_ 8. Leaf-buds of the lilac (_Syring. vulg._) beginning to swell. 10. Leaf-buds of the soft or meadow maple (_Acer rubrum_) beginning to swell. Black alder (_Alnus serrulata_) in flower. American hazel (_Corylus americana_) in flower, and its catkins appearing. 11. Fair and pleasant, after a long storm. It has rained sixteen days in succession. Frogs begin to sing. Leaf-buds of the English cherry (_Prunus cerasus_) black heart beginning to swell. Garden peas sown. 12. Flies in myriads arrived in our streets. Catkins of the butternut (_Juglans cinerea_) beginning to swell. Saxifrage (_Saxifraga virginiensis_) in flower. 13. Skylarks arrived. 14. Sweet fern (_Comptonia asplenifolia_) in flower. White birch (_Betula populifolia_) in flower. 16. Our farmers beginning to plough for spring wheat. 18. Bank swallows arrived. 19. Leaf-buds of the currant, the gooseberry, and the apple, considerably swoln. 20. Dandelion (_Leon. tarax._) beginning to flower. _Viola cucullata_ beginning to blossom. 22. Our farmers ploughing for peas and oats. The snow upon the hills 20 miles north and west from Deerfield is two feet and a half deep, and the winds from those quarters are so chilly as to retard the progress of vegetation. Icicles scarcely melted upon the south side of buildings in Halifax, Vermont; and it is too cold for making sugar.