Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-05-12

guilty of the elliptic, the suns and moons
pa-aliax. alteration, &C., at the different |
times 1t supplies the necessary data for
the determination OF the real or apparent |
size, position and motion of the planets |
and their satellites. II fixes accurately |
the places of about $50 fixed stars, and
gives full details concerning eclipses, &C.
citations, transits, and other celestial phe-
nomena occurring during the year Ali
this information is for the meridian of
Greenwich. So it is necessary for me to
calculate it all over again for the meridian
Of New London, and that takes me, the
way work, about year.
The Farmers Friend" has all Of the
astronomical calculations needed on land
or sea, as we'll as a daily forecast of the
weather for the entire year. The forecasts,
however represent the almanac makers
personal opinion; but to the farmers they
are worth great deal. He believes that
the sun and the moon have gerat deal to
do with the weather. He reached that
conclusion forty years ago, and ever since
then has kept daily journal of the wealth
er, with the exact position of the sun and
moon. Once In nineteen years the con-
junction of TIE moon and the sun are
nearly the same, he says. When he de.
slres TO know what the weather year In
advance is to be, ne argues out the exact
position of the sun and the moon and then
searches his journal until he finds them in
similar positions. If frosts or rain or snow
prevailed on that day, he calculates that
there will be frost, or rain, or snow on the
one in question. His father, he says,
guessed at it.
David A. Daboll is the third gentleman
of the family that published the Farm
er's Friend" His grandfather, Nathan
DabolI, conceived the idea and produced
the first number in 1872. He was
professor of mathematics of P.ainfeld
Academy, and the author of the famous
old Daboll arithmetic, or 'Schoolaster' S
Assistant" and work on navigation.
He made the calculations until 1919
From then until 1854 his sor, also
named Nathan, was the almanac
maker, and from that time down David
A, enc of six sons of Nathan the second
has figured out Astronomical problems
Every one of David's brothers was capable
of taking up the work at moment S
notice, but it was never necessary All
were mathematicians. One of them in
vented the fog horn, which warns the
mariner of danger when the weather on
the coast is thick and keeps the seaside
summer boarder awake on fogy nights.
The present almanac maker has four sons.
all mathematjcians. Two of them are in
New York. David A. DabolI, Jr., lives in
Centre Groton, and expects to be his
father successor.
The house which the almanac maker oc-
cupies was built by an old Nathan more
than a century ago, and it has been the
bone of a Daboll always. The fist mum,
Der o. the almanac was prepared under its
low oaken roof, ann each succeeding num-
Der has been prepared there also There
NAthan arranged his "Schooluaster'
Assistant" The book on navigation was
written there. Afterward the little house
was used for a nauticll school, although
four miles from the water, and for years
father and son taught navigation. Boys
came from many towns of New England
to receive instructions, men for the navy
Some of the we'll known captains of the
Of the present day received their first in
structions in navigation in Centre
GrotOn.
The Farmers Friend for the Year of
Our Lord Christ, 1892: Being Blssextile
or Leap Year, and the One Hundred and
Sixteenth of American Independence, :
contains, the old almanac maker says
besides the astronomical calculations, a
variety OF matter both useful and enter
tanning He predicts that on June IS
the weather will grow dry. By the 23d,
he says, rain will be very much needed.
There will not be anything but flying
clouds and distant thunder until July l,
however On that day he promises light
showers. On the 18th and 18th should be
rain such as we read about. From then
until Aug. "a nothing remarkable. speak
ing meteorolocically, is in sight as far as
the almanac maker has seen. But on that
day we will be assailed by h Oh winds which
will whistle about the chimney tops for
two days. After that the weather will be-
have Itself fairly well until Sept. IA, when
we can expect frosts. The first snow of
the season, in the almanac makers opin-
ion, will fly on Nov IT, Although he has
searched the heavens carefully and Gelved
deeply in his journal for weather in the
past, the old almanac maker has not dis
covered even a baby blizzard FOR 1872
Exchange.