Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-06-21
HAS the CLIMATE cAANoso,

cOpteO intO tue sunday tribune, Int.
mates, II Il does not explicitly assert
that those who talk OF the climate hav
Ing changed are fOrgetful. They am
usually oldish men, II seems from thii
(meteorologically) erudite magazinist
ard they remember the abnormal seasons
Of their youth. not the ordinary.
Thomas jefferson, according to thi!
(meteorologically) learned essayist
tumbled into this puerile mistake once
on time. Aud, Of course, be "hadn',
ou9hter." 1t was very weak of him
Now, i am not called upon tn defend the
meteorological or the political opinions
Of the late lamented Thomas jefferson
| sincerely doubt whether the (meteOro
logically learned msgazinist's pooh
pooling OF him or my (meteorolos sicAllyl
unlesrned defence Of him Is Of the slight.
est interest to the one-time Jefferson
He IL where he either knows more about
climate than we do or cares less, and, on
the whole, II may be that he was lucky
10 escaping some Of the climate which
has intervened between his day and this
For example that of the last nineteen
months In Esstern New York.
in debating whether or not the climate
has changed IL Is necessary, first Of all,
TO know what IL meant by "climste.' y
Am | far out Of the way when say that
IL seems to me "climste" IL Just weather
become chronics
How long does 1t take thing to be-
come chronic! II man had the yellow
fever for nineteen months IL would be
apt to be called chronic, ehs II he had
the jumping toothache for 6O4 DAYS and
nights, the neighbors within Immediate
juxtaposi,ion would be justified 10 con-
Guiding from his language and other
things that IL, too, had become ''chronic, IS
wouldn't they,
am not ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS plain
farmer man, working the soil for what
can get out Of it. In this part of the
we farmer men have TO work
out doors. This necessitstes at least
tolersble weather. II also leads US to
notice when II rains or SHOWS or halls or
otherwise elementslly disgorges damp
ness upon us.
And right here let me say, parentheti-
cally, that too close addiction to barom-
eters and thermometers and anemometers
and other thingometers tends TO an ap-
parent dulling Of the faculty OF personal
and practical observation OF the real
westher-the thing that wets you or
blows through you. I've known highly
scientific meteorologists, sitting sur
rounded with all sorts Of maps and
sstisfedly reckon up that they
had correctly foretold the weather Of the
last month In the proportion OF Sc 40
per cent of success To IL $40 per cent Of
failure, when, as matter of simple, out
door fact. thev had "hit f." about half
the time, and s'missed it" the other half,
just as any guesser might be expected to
under the the laws OF chance.
Not being meteorologist and not
an thermometer or a rain
meter or any other paraphernslia OF that
sort, simply know when Il rains or
when IL Is fair. When IL rains | can't
work out doors; when II Ia fair can
For some little time I have
kept daily record OF the weather on
this unbecomingly crude and unscienti-
hcally practical plan.
And know, not only from nv own
but from the daily jottings Of
this record-put down every night at the
close Of the DAYS work-that sudden
and marked change came over the mani
festatious OF the weather. with the open
Ing OF October, 1896, which change has
now become chronic, after nineteen
days, TO be exact-of
pluvisl and pestiferous persistence.
MY record tells me whether each day
was fair or cloudy or foul with rain or
snow.
l find that OF the 604 DAYS between
October /, 1896, and the writing Of this,
2i3 have been fair, 27l have been stormy
and 100 have been cloudy all the dsy,
but without rain or snow-just dark,
gloomy, dissgreesble, depressing, dump
ish days. That is, ignoring the merely
cloudy DAYS OF the last 604 days, IS per
cent have been fair and 45 per cent have
been actually stormy.
the Coz days which Immediately preced-
ed this period ending where II began,
with October l. 1896, 3il were fair, l73
stormy and 30 cloudy. That Is, again
ignoring the merely cloudy dsys, SO per
cent OF the time was fair aud - per cent
was stormy. Put the record In tabu-
lar form, II you please, just to let the
items sit beside each other for compari-
son:
Fair PC. Stormy PC.
Firs, 90. days. SI IS lis =
withhold mention Of the practical
stoppsge of farming In this vicinity CON-
PEELED by this change OF weather." or
climate" Merely two facts, illustrs-
tive, can be tersely stated: Good farmers
among nv neighbors usually finish hay
ing by July 20, July 30 being the very
latest permissible. Last season I could
see from my windows several hundred
acres Of grass unknown September 10,
because at no time between July 10 aud
that date had the freshet-soaked soil
been capable Of bearing up q moving
machine. That Is one fact. The second
is this: Since the thswing Of the ground,
about April 10, this spring, sufficiently
to admit cultivation, there have been up
to this 27th day Of May just eight days
on which it was fair enough to plow or
plant or "seed down." And 1t
is raining now, for the seventh consecu-
tive day.
IL may be that the .'climste" has not
changed. But il Ii hasn't l wish some
(meteorologically) learned msgnate
would kindly inform one dispirited
farmer what on earth has happened to
the "weather."-New York Tribune.