The Alaska daily empire., 1917-03-15

From clouds as black will rainy tor Not through the month their power
 these signs extend.
 But all their influence with the quar-
 ter end.
 In justice to the proverbs above cited 1t should be said that some of them are not without semblance of reason. For instance
 When the fourth day around her orb A circllaSg Ting of deep and murky
 red" etc.
 refers to a halo, which is usually a rorerunner of rainy and unsettled weather-a condition typified by the God Of Storms" However, the halo Is not due to tho moon alone, but to the refraction of the moons light by the ice crystals of cirrus clouds. It Is really the cirrus clouds that are the harbingerO of the approach Ing bad weather, the halo phenome- non being only incidental, Further, more, these clouds are just as pre- monitory on the first, second or third day as on the fourth day after a moon change.
 Among farmers of the old school there is belief that planting opera tlons should be conducted under cer. tain aspects of the moon. They ac- cordlngly plant beans at the time of full moon and potatoes in the dark of the moon (new moon). They also believe that fence posts should be set in the down" sign of the moon to prevent their being lifted out of the ground by the action of frost, and that shingles should be laid on the roof in the same lunar aspect to avoid their curling upward and caus- ing tIe roof to leak Then there is the old negro proverb that Chick ems should be picked in the dark of the moon," Q saying that may have some significance, especially when other conditions are propitious-a dark and rainy night and the hen roost not too near the owners bed room window.
 But does the moon really have any influence on our weather? If 1t does, through what channels does the in. rucnce manifest itself?
 The moon Is a dead" satellite, that is, it is not in a gaseous state, but is a solid sphere without aXIal rotation. The light that it radiates does not come from itself, but from the sun. The light is therefore re. rlected, and the quantity that reach es the earth is found to be less than one hundred-thousGndth part of the amount we receive from the sun-a quantity that is inappreciable when compared with our supply from the latter source. It is argued that the moons influence on our weather is .TWO-Weather forecasting
 exerted by gravitGdonal pull in the form of aerial tides. That there is such q pull must be admitted, but its effect is so slight that inyestiga tors have not been able to connect 1t with weather conditions, much less to use it as a factor in forecastng Is the tidal effect were such e fac tor VIC should expect it to be felt every six hours, the same as the tid al effect on the ocean. It should also have q progressive westerly movement, making the circuit of the earth in a little over 24 hours. As a matter of fact our weather types move in the opposite direction - from west to east, in accordance with the direction of the earth's TO tation on it's axis.
 It seems. however, that tho beliei that is most prevalent is connection with lunar influence on our weather is that a change in weather may be looked for at the time of the change in the moons phase. Upon andy sis it would seem that this idea is more unreasonable than the tidal theory. It should be recalled again that the moons surface is illumined by the sun; that it travels around our earth every 271h days; and that the fractional part of the moons