The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-10-18
Weather Signs.

Every man has some way of tel
ling the changes in the weather, or
rather no way Ct telling what the
weather will be. He fixes on some
rule and agrees with himself that he
viii believe the weather to be thus
or thus, according as his rule de-
mands.
These signs do not generally re-
ceive from those who follow them
very critical investigation. When
man says, al have noticed for more
than forty years that always when,
etc, it may be quietly assumed that
he has noticed no such thing. He
has heard some one say thus and so;
he has q vague idea that once or
twice he has seen the sign come true,
but the dozens of times when it ut
terly failed, he paid no regard to.
1t is a common saying that there
Will come q change of the weather
with a change Of the moon. Now,
as the moon changes once a week, a
change Of weather must come some
where near q change of the moon.
But take a leng series of Observa-
tiOns, such as those made by the
agents for the Smithsonian Institute
Observations which give the state
of the thermOm the direction Of
/ the wind, character of the clouds
and fall of rain in a particular place
noted three times q day for years,
and by comparing the changes of
the moon, we find that there is no
traceable connection between the
two-that sometimes the weather
changes with the moon and just as
often does not.
The moon changes on the same
day all over the earth. A change of
weather moves more slowly than the
moon, so that if the moon and
weather run together on the Allan
tic coast, they would not be on the
Rocky Mountains or on the Pacific
coast. Again, when the weather is
very wet on the Atlantic slope, it
may be very dry in the Mississippi
Valley. If it changes from wet to
dry in one place, it should change
from dry to wet in the other. Peo-
pie forget that the moon changes
elsewhere than in their own town
ship.
Says some old farmer, cit will
turn warm next week, Tuesday, for
there is a change of the moon" "
"Turn warm where?" we ask him.
"Why, turn warm here" But the
moon will change up i'll Alaska-will
it turn warm there? And it has al
ready turned warm down in Texas
has the moon already changed there
or does not Texas weather go by
the moon?
Says some old observer, "I have
noticed for more than forty years
that the first frost in the Fall comes
at the time of the full of the moon. "
But the first frost does not come at
the same time in Montreal, Phila-
delphia, and Savannah and if the
first frost in Montreal comes on a
half-moon, the first in New York
could not be before the first full
moon, and Richmond would have to
wait till another moon before it
could have a frost; and the first frost
would not come in Cuba before the
next July.
Beans should be planted in the
new of the moon" says some old fell
low who has had experience. But
beans should not be planted in Mis-
souri, at the same time as in Arkan-
sas or Louisiana, and if each lati-
tude must wait for a new moon for
bean planting, the people up in Da-
kota or British America would not
get in their beans at all.
"The 2Sth CT the month" says
another, "shows what is to be the
prevailing weather for the next
month" But awhile ago the ALMA
nae was changed from old style to
new style, and now the 2Sth comes
at different time by eleven days
from what it did before. It is just
as reliable to reckon from as before?
We reckon it is.
If the new moon is tipped up 50
that you can hang Il pow der-horn on
it, the month will be a dry one-or
a wet one-the weather prophets are
not agreed which.
When the sun crosses the line On
the goth of March or September, we
shall have an equinoctial storm in
March, and one may come some
where near the Goth, but it may
have as much connection with ST.
Patrick's Day as with the sun cross
ing the line.
Let man take notes Of the mat
ter for a series of years, and set them
down on paper; he viii be able to
! test these signs. But the hap-haz-
ard recollections of an Old sailor or
an old farmer are no guide. He
thinks he has observed, when in fac
he has paid no strict attention to
the matter at all.-KaBSaS C1t,y B,H-
Ietia.