The daily gazette., 1878-11-15
Indian Summer.
WHAT THE CAUSE OF IT Is--THE DEyAr =
TATIoN OF FORESTS LIKELY To AZ
FEET ITS LENGTH.

WHAT THE CAUSE OF IT Is--THE DEvA1-
TATIoN OF FORESTS LIKELY To AZ
Feet ITS LENGTH.
Although every season of the year has
its charms for him who contemplates ma
ture with the mind of sage and the
plety OF believer in experimenting
Providence, yet there are periods when
subjects for admiration and thought are
more numerous and striking III at
| others. The flowers offspring, the golden
harvest of summer, the ripening fruits of
| autumn, and even the tintless snow of
winter, by their beauty, variety and
adoption TO the wants of animated nature
| afford much that calls for patient investi-
CATION and reverential gratitude. But
none OF them spreads before us a greater
number Of charms or richer display of
beauty than that part of autuEn which is
called Indian summer.
The iores's, eie they lay aside their
leaty covering, vie with the rainbow in
the beauty of their dyes, while the deep
azure of the sky, the mellow sunlight
and the balmy air lend their aid to make
this the loveliest part of the year But
while enjoying the mildness and serene
ity OF Indian summer the question arises,
TO what is it owing and why are these
varied colors in an American landscape,
and this equatorial warmth tempered by
Arctic breezes unknown in Europe and
other portions of the Eastern Continent /?
1t has been observed that Indian summer
never commences until severe frosts have
caused the leaves either of fall from the
trees or become lifeless and vege' alton in
general to cease. The decaying yerdure
not only grows dry and warm, and thus
imparts an addit onal amount of heat To
the atmosphere, but it likewise difiuses
innumerable particles through The air,
which acquire a hi gh temperature.
These, by partially decomposing the rays
OF light, cause the sky to assume deet-
er blue and distant objects to appear as
II viewed through intervening smoke.
AS is well known the red rays are the
least refrangible, or are caused to vary
less from direct course when a raw OF
white light is decomposed by passing
, through medium. Hence the reason
why red light or red signal can be
r seen at greater distance than any other
f Railway operatives avail themselves OF
, this by using red signal as a sign OF
, danger, not, as many suppose, because il
is the color of b'ood. Owing TO the rec
ray being the stronger and reaching th,
eye when the other rays do not, durin.
D Indian summer the sun towards evening
D presents red appearance and seems lik,
e a globe of fire decending in the western
sky. The greater moisture of many Dor
s tlons OF Europe prevents the same efiec
n from being produced by decaying vegeta
/, Iion there that occurs in America. and /
It is, therefore, not surprising that foreign
l. ers are enraptured by the beauty an,
n loveAness OF our Indian summer.
AS our country is denuded more An,
more OF its forests the Indian summe
becomes shorter and less distinctive. sine
the leaves Of the trees. by reason of thej
exposed position, are more highly heate
than those vegetable productions whic
4, are near the surface of the earth. India
summer, though source of pleasure an
delight to many, is far otherwise TO thos
afflicted with diseases of the lungs. as N
amount of finely-divided matter diffuse
through the atmosphere aggravates N
disease. The name Indian summer
+. said to have been given by those Eur,
peans who first made the Western wilde
ness their homes, because the hostile I,
10 dians usually took advantage of th
> period of mild weather to make their a
tacks on the settlements. If SO, what
now welcomed with pleasure they bebel
- with dread.