Spring had been late before. As the Times pointed out, there had been snow as late as mid-May in 1569 and at the end of April in 1782, yet the chronicles recorded bumper crops for both years. Agricultural experts advised closer pruning of fruit trees to speed budding, and an American firm of Artificial Fertilizer Manufacturers brought out a new product called 'Shoot-boost'. But the correspondence columns of the newspapers carried letters pointing out that, while spring might have been late before, this time the weather was entirely spring-like, yet still there was no sign of shoot, blossom or bud. Excessive radiation resulting from nuclear tests was blamed.
It was mid-May before the people and their governments became seriously alarmed. Trees still stood bare as in the depth of winter, lawns bore the bruising of last season's mowing but no new growth, flower beds showed the unbroken rills of after-seed raking. Farmers walked their fields day after day and crouched down to silhouette the furrows against the sky, the better to see the green whiskers when they sprouted. They prodded their heifers and ewes and went down to the villages to consult the vet. Their wives searched the hen-houses and put down extra grain and bricks of chalk.
The Pope's call to world-wide prayer and the British Government's announcement of the introduction of rationing fell on the same day. In most countries, the Pope's call found little response because the people were too busy lining up at food stores trying to lay in stocks. There were bread riots in Teheran.
Rumors of a cattle disease began to circulate several days before official news of the full extent of the additional catastrophe was released. That night, the British Prime Minister spoke on the BBC. "With Her Majesty's consent," he said after reviewing the 'grave and disquieting situation', "I have given instructions for all available ships of the Royal Navy to put to sea immediately as an emergency fishing fleet." Meanwhile, he continued, divers and frogmen were asked to place their services at the disposal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. They would be required to "glean nourishment for the nation from the laden larders of the deep." "Human ingenuity, skill and tenacity will conquer yet," he concluded. The Prime Minister's broadcast was followed by the announcement of emergency regulations for the disposal of dead cattle.
On 16th June, the President of the United States informed an Emergency Meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations that Professor Braunweiler of Columbia University had perfected a method of extracting carbon sugar from wood. All suitable industrial plants throughout America were to be geared to the mass-production of the necessary equipment. The United States was prepared to supply the whole world with this equipment and with power-operated tree-felling implements on a lend-lease basis. Teams of instructors in the use of the equipment would be available to proceed to all parts of the world by the end of the month. The offer, which became known as USASAW, (USA SUGAR AID TO THE WORLD), was accepted with gratitude by all but the Soviet delegation.
Shortly after Sugar-Aid started, a Frenchman named Dr. Muller discovered, (in desperation, vineyards stood barren), that tree-sugar caused a fermentation in the still-plentiful needles of coniferous trees which, when distilled, resulted in a drink rich in alcohol and vitamins. He gave the drink the name 'BOIGNAC' in melancholy memory of happier days. Within six weeks, France had a surplus in the World Bank, and a French admiral was appointed to command the NATO Mediterranean fleet. Undoubtedly, boignac helped; yet, by the end of August, even that could not arrest the death rate.
On 3rd September, a Soviet Task Force landed troops and armor at sixteen places along the East-African coast. Moscow Radio informed the world that 'the glorious forces of the USSR have taken this step under the personal command of Mr. Khrushchev to safeguard Africa's rich resources in animal life against the depredations of the Capitalist Warmongers'. Thus, the world was told, all peaceloving peoples would be assured an equitable and adequate supply of meat in the hard months to come.