Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-03
SIGNS OF EARLY SPRING
WOODSMEN's TOKENS THAT WE
SHALL BE FAVORED THIS YEAR
Swelling Of the Buds on Some Hard
wood Trees-Herald Of APP
preaching Warmth.
From the New York Sun.


Caudlemas day, the I'd of February is
usually considered to be midwinter day IN
the Province Of Quebec. They say that IL
tho weather is bright then the heaviest part
of the winter has still to be looked forward
TO If It is overcast and stormy. as 1t was
this year. then the worst of the coio
weather has gone.
Hunters and trappers are also accus-
toned at this season to forecast the COM
ing of spring The logic of their reasoning Is
not always easily followed. but they argue
shrewdly enough from such signs as their
woodland experiences have shown to be re-
liable.
The swelling of the buds on some OF the
hardwood or deciduous leaved trees, the
tightness of the bark to the WOOD, the
loosening of the needles of the pine, tne
beginning of the springIfg of sap IN the
birch the brightness of the wild sarsapd-
rilla roots-all these standard signs are de-
rived from ancient belief that spring
begins underground. .
According to this idea, the warmth OF
the interior of the earth, in obedience 10
some great law, advances toward the sur
face from winter to summer ana fecedes
in a similar manner toward winter Be
levers in the notion usually refer to the
pull of the moon upon the water or the
earth, as seen in the tides, to illustrate the
influence exercised by the sun upon the Ia
tent heat of the earth.
Roots and Sap.
The roots and sap of trees are therefore
more to be relied on as giving an mixing
of the real advance of the seasons than
are things directly influenced by preva-
lent winds and frosts. Springs Of water
are supposed to be especially susceptible
to the action of the approaching heat and
when chopping water holes or fishing places
in the lakes from this time of year on the
Woodsman has a keen eye for signs OF
wear and incipient honeycombing on the
underside from the warmth of the water.
Red squirrels are of assistance to the
seers who adopt the internal heat theory
When enc of these restless little creatures
is seen lying fiat along a slender branch,
with his nose close to the bark, the OBJ
server judges that its sharp teeth have
made cut into the sapwood of the tree,
and that II is sucking out the Slightly sweet
sap which has sprung from the roots. 1t is
not improbable that the aborigines learned
that the maple sap contained sugar from
this rodent habit.
The same sharp-eyed foresters may be
trusted also to detect the symptoms of
the swelling of the terminal buds before
any one else, and the fragments scattered
by them on the snow, as they seek out the
embryonic vegetable life just developing,
are joyfully noted by the men who are
anxious to see the last of the winter.
The White Birch.
Birch cartridges are also very clever in
noticing the beginnings of the quickening
of the twigs. One Of the first of the reli-
able signals of the approach of the warm
season is the big bird swinging up aloft
pluclking the buds of the white birch tree
The trapper can usually give one a good
idea of the probable length of the winter
taking his information from the hair upon
his pelts. If the inside of the skin is pimply
and rough to the touch, showing that the
roots OF the hairs are almost protruding
through the hide, warm weather Is near,
and he will soon have to take up his traps.
The presence of the beavers and muskrats
upon the mounds of their houses or play
ing about near by in the day time, is in
dicative also of an early spring.
But all woodsmen put most confidence IN
the saw whet," as the harbinger of a
sists of a sound, and nothing more. Heard
in the evening, it is a doleful reiterated
combination of two unmelodious notes. One
note corresponds to the upward thrust the
other to the downward pull of big fife
across tooth of a crosscut saw. The aT
whetting goes on for hours at a time, with
maddening persistency.
Many old hunters persist In believing
that 1t is the song of some particular hare.
Others think it the ticking of some gigantic
beetle. Very few are to be met with who
ever saw the sound produced, so it Is per-
hapS not to- be wondered at that supersti-
ton has laid hold upon it and declared it
to bring bad luck upon any one rash
enough to attempt to probe the mystery.
The fact is that it is a tiny OWL a pretty
little thing not big as a mans fist that
thus lets it be known to all within reach
of his unmelodiOus voice that winter is
passing and the warm weather near.