The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-06-28
Weather Signs.
From the Kansas City Bulletiu.l

! Aoin sAc hauSdS lily bullet1n.l
Every man has some way of telling
The changes of the weather, or rather
having no way of telling what the
will be. He fixes on some
rule andagrees within himself that he
will believe the weather to be thus or
thus according as his rule demands.
These signs do not generally receive
from those who follow them a verv.
critical investigation. When a mon
says 81 have noticed for more than
forty years that always when,n etc,
etc, it may be quietly assumed that he
has noticed no such thing. He has
heard some one say this or so; he has
vague idea that once or twice he has
seen the sign come true, but the dozens
of times when it utterly failed he paid
no regard to 1t.
Ut is a common saying that there
will come change of the weather
with the change of the moon. Now,
as the moon changes once a week, q
change of weather must come some
where near change of the moon.
But take, aseries of observations, such
as those made by the agents for the
Smithsonian Institute observations
SlNc Sldlt vi
ter direction of the wind, character of
the clouds and fall of rain in particu-
lar place noted three times a day for
years, and by comparing the changes
of weather with changes of the moon,
we find there is no traceable connec-
ton 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 the weather ran
together on the Atlantic coast they
would not be on the Rocky Mountains
or the Pacific coast. Again, when the
weather is very wet on the Atlantic
slope it may be very dry in the Missis-
sippi Valley. If it changes from wet
TO dry in one place it should change
from dry to wet in the other. People
forget that the moon changes else
where than in their own township.
Says some old farmer, at 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 in Alaska-will it turn warm there?
And il has already turned warm down
in Texas the moon already
changed there, or does not Texas
weather go by the moon?
Says one old observer, ~ have no
ticed for more than forty years that
the first frost in the fall comes at the
time of the full moon." But the first
frost does not come at the same time
in Montreal, Philadelphia and Savan-
nah; and if the first frost in Montreal
comes on 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 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 Arkansas
or Louisiana, and if each latitude must
wait for new moon for bean planting
the people up in Dakota or British
America would not get their beans at
all.
1.-The 2Sth of the month, saws
another, "shows what is to be the pre-
vailing weather for the next month"
But while ago the almanac was
changed from old style to new style,
and now the 18th comes at a different
time by eleven days from what it did
before. Is it just as reliable to reckon
from as it was before? We reckon il
is.
If the new moon is tipped up so that
you can hang powder-horn on it, the
month will be dry one-or a wet one
the weather prophets are not agreed
which.
When the sun crosses the line, on the
Goth of March OF September, we shall
have an equinoXial storm, it is said.
Now we are apt to have storms in
March, and one may come somewhere
near the Goth, but it may have as much
connection with st. Patrick's day as
with the SUMS crossing the line.
Let man take notes of the matter
for series of years and set them down
on paper; he will be able to test these
signs. But the hap-hazard recollec-
tions of an old sailor or an old farmer
are no guide. He thinks he has OBJ.
served, when in fact he has paid 10 at
entiOn to the matter at all