Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-20

Continued From First Page.)
sun with the Equator and various
planets and fixed stars.
The coming of Spring theoretically
has nothing to do with the distance Of
the sun from the earth, but only with
its position with respect to the North
ern Hemisphere. 1t actually is nearest
during the Winter months, and now the
sun is moving farther away. The differ
ence in distance, however, is relatively
so slight that the effect is not notice
able.
Heavens Are Brilliant.
Astronomical Spring comes this year
attended by a brilliant procession in
the heavens. It is within two days Of
full moon, with the planet Venus, the
next most brilliant object in the eve
ming sky. visible even before the sun
goes down. Mercury and Jupiter also
are evening stars.
There is no close relationship, the
astronomers point out, between the
mathematical advent of Spring and the
awakening of nature from its Winter
sleep. The association is that when
the sun gets into a position where its
light falls more directly on the North
ern Hemisphere, the effect of the in
creasing sunlight must within a com-
paratively short period be reflected in
increased warmth, to which vegetation
will be directly responsive. There may
even be sort Of physiological rhythm
in plant life which through countless
generations has gained a semi-fnde-
pendence Of astronomical factors.
For many years there was a for
sythia bush in front of the Weather
Bureau whose poisoning was consid-
cred a more reliable announcer of the
advent Of the season than the stars
themselves, for all practical purposes.
When its first bell-shaped yellow flow
ers appeared on the leafless branches
the Spring, recognized in the deep con-
sciousness Of nature, was said TO have
arrived.
Indian Calendars Cited.
But up to the present efforts to con-
struct a scale Of seasons based upon
the average dates when vegetation
springs into renewed life have not been
very successful. European meteorol-
ogists have made several efforts to
designate the beginning of Spring by
the mean poisoning dates of common
shrubs and plants, calculated over
many years. In Germany IS species
have been included.
pointed out at the Bureau of Ameri-
can Ethnology, had crude calendars OF
the seasons, based on the blossoping
time of various shrubs or the migra-
lions of birds, which probably were
quite reliable for all practical pur-
poses, although they would not fit into
any mathematical scheme. Early white
settlers in the East took over some Of
these ideas ana knew it was time to
think of planting when the white oak
or maple leaves were the size of squir-
rel feet or the dogwoods began to show
white in the woods. Calculations have
shown that the progress Of the phenom-
ena of Spring northward is at about
the general average of four days to
each degree.
From late February on nature Is be-
ginning to revive in the neighborhood
of Washington as a general rule, but
this year showed most a reversal Of
the customary Procedure, with for
sythias and Japanese ounce bu5hes in
full bloom in many sheltered spots in
mid-Januayy and Almost unprecedented
cold in early March. Such an upset
would have thrown out seriousl7 any
calendar based on the customary phys
biological rhythm of nature.