The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-03-24


ton Of phenology to agriculture is
among the most important"
You see, this system that the old
fogies followed was the science Of
phenoloEy only 1t was not scientific
cally gotten together. "Phenology''
means the science Of phenomena. No
human being has ever yet known it in
its completeness. Many hundreds Of
years ago a wise man, though prob
ably an unlettered one, picked up a
bit Of it here and there and practiced
1t and told 1t to his children, and they
practiced 1t and in turn told 1t to their
children. So it came down by word OF
mouth through many generations,
with accretions here and there, every
generation adding little, but each
generation likely to confuse and
wrongly apply what 1t had inherited
from the preceding generation. Some
of its results may have been wrong,
because men failed to remember ac-
curately or to apply properly what
their grandfathers had told them OF
what they had learned for themselves,
but, on the whole, it doubtless has
worked beneficially, and now be.
ginning is made toward converting 1t
into an exact science.
You can have no idea of just how
scientific the thing is. 1t is all full OF
such terms as chronological meridl-
ans" "bio-climatic law" 'isophanes,"
theoretical time constant" 1t abounds
in such quations as "isophane Alb
34S equal 10 isophanes-4 equal 40
days later" 1t invoices plated curves,
graduated diagrams, and world maps
with zigzag lines running through
them. 1t is the most mathematical,
geographical, and biological "supersti-
ton" you could imagine.
Practical With Hessian Fly.
The Hessiau fly may be said to have
started it all. Its depredations were
such that it was necessary to SOW
wheat so late that the Hessian fly
would not ruin it and yet early enough
that it would get start before very
cold weather The Department of AS
riculture undertook to establish sys.
TEN of planting dates for every section
of the United States in which wheat is
grown. 1t was not possible to make
Investigations in every field to deter
mine the right time for planting
What had to be done was to establish
one correct time and work out the
others from it. The rule was laid
down that the season, in general, var
les four days for each degree of lati-
tude, 5 degrees OF longitude, and 400
feet of altitude. That is a perfectly
and other mechanical devices have
been gotten out to aid the farmer in
good, workable rule. A disk calendar
applying it. By it any farmer can de.
termine about what time he should
SOW his wheat. But he can not deter
mine by it exactly what time he
should SOW his wheat. And it would
work out the same way for planting
any other crop. No two seasons are
just the same. The date that is right
this year may not be right next year.
But If, on the day that was right for
planting cotton this year, the locust
trees were just coming into bloom, the
is that the right day next
year will be the day on which the 10.
Gust trees are beginning to bloom.
though it may be 10 days later or 10
days earlier than the year before. If,
for 8 or 10 or any number of yearsNt
is determined that the best day foRj
planting cotton seed is the day onN
which the locust trees are beginning
to bloom, the blooming becomes pref
ty reliable index as to when to begin
planting. That, of course, is a sup
posititious case. Locust blooms are
not known to have any relation to cot.
time. But the timePsian
sowing winter wheat has been deter
mined upon as the period between the
time when the tall late goldenrod is in
full bloom and the time when the
white Japanese Clematis flowers are
nearly all gone or the leaves are dis
tinctly colored on the dogwood and
At least, this is the verdict
Of DR.. A. D. Hopkins, the scientist of
the Department Of Agriculture who
has been quoted several times before.
Prof. Hopkins is native of Wood
county, W. Va. For many years he
was a professor at the State Normal
school at Fairmont and at the State
He has a summer home
in wood county and an experiment
farm.
Applying the New Science.
And that is what the application of
the science of phenology to agricuI
ture will be when it is worked out
a definite something in nature that
will indicate the right time for doing