The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-07-25


| morrow and he will probably turn to
one of the upper corners of the first
page of his paper and read you the
weather bureaus prediction, possibly
with the addition of a phrase to the
effect that You can believe that il
you want to-"
Ask the dweller in the open coun-i
try the same question and he will
cock his weather eye" heayenwards,
observing the color of the sky, the
cloud formations, the direction of
the wind and the quarter OF the
moon He will then probably answer
you with a proverb which has come
down to him from generations Of
farmer ancestors. a proverb apt to be
despised by those not versed in the
fluctuations of the weather and the
causes therefor.
1t can be argued, apparently with
good reason, that weather proverbs
cannot have any practical use in this
enlightened age, since almost every
country maintains its own weather
service and supplies scientific" fore
casts to it's farmers, sometimes by
wireless. But the value of num-
Der of the proverbs, when used in
dividual cases and for Immediate
forecast of weather conditions, is
sufficient to have been officially rec
ognized by the weather bureau in
Washington, the governments stamp
of approval having been placed on a
score or more of them.
Some Hit 1t Right.
Scientific interchangeable is
the long name applied to the science
of weather-forecastin by those
who participate therein-is not yeti
sufficiently advanced to prophesy
whether an entire season will be
warm or cold, good for crops or bad.
Not SO proverbial meteorology. There
are a number of proverbs that rush
In where the angels of science fear
to tread and, according to the gov
eminent experts, not few of these
homely sayings hit the nail of truth
fairly on the head.
Frost year-fruit year." or year
of snow. fruit will grow is one OF
the proverbs which farmers haveI
found to be quite as reliable as the
majority of the forecasts sent outI
by the weather bureau at Washing-l
ton. This proverb, known in still
another form as "A year of snow, a
year of plenty" has its scientific bas-
is on the fact that more or less con-
tlnuous covering of snow, incident
to cold winter, not only delays theI
poisoning of fruit trees until after
the season Of killing frosts, but also
prevents that alternate thawing and
freezing which is so injurious to the
wheat and other grains. In short,
as another proverb has it, "A late
spring never decefves."
Another class Of proverbs dealing
with practically the same condition.
illustrated by the following exam
pies:
January warm. the Lord have
mercy
eff you see grass in January,
Lock your grain in the granary."
January or February
Do not fill or empty the granary."
Our forefathers appear to have
been long on weather philosophy,
but short on the spirit of poetry
Scientific prophesies concerning
the immediate weather are usually
based largely upon the appearance of
the sky and sun, the moon and stars.
So also the proverbs which have been
accorded the official sanction OF the
weather bureau.
Rain Forecast.
"A red sun has water in his eye, -
is usually faithful forecast of rain,
because the redness of the sun is in
duced for the most part by moisture
in the atmosphere which holds in
suspension the particles of dust and
smoke causing the peculiar color of
the setting sun. The blue and other
short wave length colors of sunlight
are both scattered and absorbed by
a greater amount of water vap6r than
are the longer red waves. This eff
feet becomes more marked as the
atmosphere is heavily charged with
dust particles which have become
water laden-in other words, when
rain is imminent-we see the sun as
fiery ball.
Next to the color OF the sun the
appearance of the sky is a favorfte
medium in the hands of prophets to
foretell the coming weather. From
Shakespeare we have:
"a red morn that ever yet betok-
Wreck to the seaman. tempest to the
field.
Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto
the birds,
Gusts and foul flaws to herdsmen
and to herds"
In many ways the most interest
ing of the proverbs that deal with
the connection between the weather
and the color of the sky is the one
which, according to Matthew, Christ
used to answer the Pharisees when
they asked that He show them a sign
from heaven: He answered and
said to them: When it is evening
you say. it Will be fair weather. for
the sky is red. And III the morning,
it will be foul weather today. for the
sky is red and lowering"
Approved by Government.
The cause for the fair weather
which follows a red sunset and the
foul which comes after q crimson
sunrise are well known to scientific
meteorologists, and, because they are
as nearly infallible as any general
forecasts can be, proverbs of this ma
ture have been officially approved by
the government.