The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-06
GOOSE BONE VERY BLUE.
Elias Hartz, Aged 80, Looking for a Winte
Early Hard and Long.
lFrom The New York sum

(From The New York SUM-
Elias Hartz is 80 years of age, well
preserved and one of the best weather
prophets in Berks county, Pa. He
halls from the Conestoga valley, where
his people We're all noted weather
sharps and of the Mennonite persua-
sion. He has a long string of goose
bones, and his weather prognostica-
tions are largely governed by them
In the collection is a goose bone for
every year for the last quarter of a
century He has just dried the goose
bone for the winter of 1898. Said he
The bone is nearly all blue, with
very little white top or bottom. The
| blue is for cold weather. You see, this
| bone indicates an early and hard win
ter to continue late in the spring The
bone is much bluer than the bones Of
the past ten or fifteen years, and [ am
sure we are going to have a hard win
ter"
Mr.. Hartz was asked whether if he
Killed another goose of last spring, its
breastbone would show up the same
| blue marks.
Certainly" he replied. II have
tlled 1t often. like goose meat: pre-
fer 1t to turkey. All the geese I have
ever killed and roasted in one wear hay,e
had the same colored breastbone They
vary very little for the same year. But
Tor different years no two are alike
nave great faith in goose bones. They
never deceive me. If [ take q eoose
say about Nov. 20, can ALWAYS tell Nv
the pone what kind of winter Wen
nave When the blue marks branch
OUT III mes toward the edges of the
pone, That means an open winter. mn
u ig
solid away out to the edge. almost
mat shows no open winter, but an old
lashloned snowy and icy winter from
the start in November clear I'm Ia
March. L am sure of this, for the
goose bone never fools me. ANY ono
can make a goose bone test. Get
goose from last spring, roast it, serve
%Iiu curve II, put be careful you DON'T
break or cut into it, Then gently
serape off all the meat and let tbe bn,,s
GIy naturally. Then watch how tbe
plue covering will develop all over the
Done. There is no trick about it. Tt's
all natural. Of course. cant Az
PLAIN why it is So My forefatbers
couidn t. but they believed in it, lust
the same. - 'uss
There are many things we cannot
e sAll H. we know when the wild
geese fly south early, like a wedoe ~
the sky, that it means an early cola
winter The geese go south to get into
a warmer climate, because it is colder
IMAM they like up there where thew
come from They have the instinct X
set away from the cold, but whether a
piue breastbone is the basis for that
insllhct' l cannot tell. I was out In
me country yesterday. and the old
lolks told me they noticed that Inc
muskrat along the streams this wear
We're building their houses nucb
nlsher up on the banks of the creeks
IMAM last year. OF course thar means
enal the little animals anticipate floods
ana SHOWS, and to get away and he
saie from rising waters, they built their
WINTER homes higher up than is usual
MANY chlpmunks We're seen to buiId
tAelf nests in hollow fence rails insteaN
ol on the ground under the brush ~
course this indicates that nature baa
taught the little animals that there ii
gong TO be great deal of deep snow
TINS winter, and the chipmunks want
10 pc up and out of it, Old Weather
prophets have also noticed the Unusual
size the weeds grew this fail. This N
an unmistakable sign Of a hard win
ter, Then, again. we had a long and
not summer. 1t viii require a long
ana a cold winter to eQualize this"
=s=sss=ss-rss.sss.ss-s--s-
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