Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-05-28


round the moon, with a north or north
east wind, predicates stormy weather;
the wind comes from any other quarter,
there will be rain, but less of it. If, how
ever. the moon rises after sunset, the APP
pearance of a ring round her is not SO
significant as the Dutch rhyme put it:
A ring round the moon
May passtaway soon;
But a ring round the
Gives water in the tun.
An old Spanish proverb says the circle Of
the moon never filled pond, but the
circle of the sun vets a shepherd; while
an English rhyme pronounces-
If round the moon circles seen
Of white and all the sky's serene,
The following day, you may divine,
Will surely prove exceeding fine.
Whene'er, in autumn or in spring,
A mist the moon doth with it bring,
At noon the sun will bright appear,
The evening be serene and clear.
The turning up of the horns of the new
moon is another sign of fair weather:
"There's no likelihood of drop now, an
the moon lies like a boat there" says
somebody in "Adam Bede" Southey no
tees this notion in one of his letters:
"Poor Littledale has this day explained
the cause of the rains which have pre-
vailed for the last five weeks, by a theory
which will probably be as new to you as
it is to me. I have Observed he says,
that when the moon is turned upwards,
we have fine weather after it, but when it is
turned down, then we have wet season;
and the reason [ think is, that when 1t is
turned down, it holds no water, like a
basin, you know, and down it comes p"
It is a very common belief that the wealth
er depends upon the moon changing be-
fore or after midnight; belief absurd on
the face Of it, since, as has been well OBJ
served, the moon may change before
twelve at Westminster, and after twelve at
St. Paul's Dr. Adam Clarke was oblivi
Gus of this fact when he put forth GA
Weather Prognosticator, through all the
lunations of each year forever; showing
the observer what kind of weather will
most probably follow the entrance of the
moon into any one of her quarters, and
that SO near the truth as to seldom
or never be found to fail" Our
readers can easily decide as to the worth
of the reverend doctors weather guide;
they have only to note the time OF the
moons entrance upon new quarter, ana
compare the actual result with that ant1c1-
pated by the "Prognosticator." 1t would
| be useless to quote his formulated obser-
vations-for, like all other prophecies
concerning the lunar phenomena, there is
total neglect of the fact, that weather is
local, and not universal. In other words,
the change in the moon that is supposed
to have given good weather in the south
of England, has probably been attended
with exceedingly bad weather in Scotland.
There is time for ali things the diff
Guilty lies in hitting on the right time. No
such difficulty disturbed the minds of the
farmers of bygone days, who took my
lady moon as their guide. They had only
to ask themselves was she waxing or wan
ing, and they knew what to do, and what
to leave un0one. An increasing moon
was favorable to increase; a waning moon
Just the reverse. So, under the first, grain
was cut, CRAFTS inserted, eggs put under the
hen, sheep sheared, and manure spread
upon the land. Seeds were sown under
waning moon, in order that the young
plants might have the advantage of grow
ing with the moon.
Sow peason and beans in the wane of the moon,
Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soon;
That they with the planet may rest and arise,
And flourish with bearing most plentlIul-W wise.
When the moon was at the full was the
proper time to make bitches, tread out
grapes, and cover up the roots Of trees
grubbing up such as were to be removed
Timber, however, was not to be touched
until the end of the second quarter, and
then only when the moon was upon the
change. The state of the moon, says
Pliny, is a1l-important when the telling Of
timber is in question, the very best time
for the operation being during the moons
silence, or when she is in conjunction with
the sun. Some, however, averred she
ought to be below the horizon as well,
and that if the conjunction happened to fall
upon the day of the winter solstice, timber
then felledwould be ofeverlasting duration.
Even now, Devonshire apple growers pre-
fer gathering their fruit at the shrinking
of the moon, believing then it does not
matter though the apples get bruised in the
gathering, which is otherwise fatal to their
preservation Peat-cutters aver that if peat
be cut under a waning moon it will re-
main moist, and not burn clearly. The
Brazilian mat-makers of Petropolis &C
count for some of their mats wearing out
too quickly, by reason of the canes hav-
ing been cut at the wrong time of the
moon. It is foolish according to Suffolk
notions, to kill a pig when the moon is
waning; for if a pig be converted into pork
at that time, the meat will invariably
waste excessively Wnen IL comes TO DE
cooked In Burray and South Ronaldsay
they carry the waxing and waning theory
still further, holding it unlucky to marry
except under growing moon. A skepti-
cal writer, sneering at one of those who
might have boosted, like Falstaff, eve be
men of good government, being governed
as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mis-
tress, the moon,'' says: "When the moon
is in Taurus, he can never be persuaded
to take physic; lest that animal, which
chews the cud, should make him cast up
again. If at any time he has mind to be
admitted into the presence of prince, he
will wait till the moon is in conjunction
with the sun, for It's then the society of
an inferior with superior is salutary and
successful
It was once, and still may be, the Gus
tom of Highland DANES to salute
the new moon with solemn courtesy
English country DANES were wont to sit
astride style or gate, waiting the new
moons appearance, to welcome her with,
CA fine moon, God bless her!" Bachelors
were privileged to claim kiss and pair
of gloves upon announcing the advent OF
new moon to the first maiden they met.