Evening star., 1933-02-24
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| If testing out the strength Of the sun
| Evidently it was not enough, for no
more petals appeare1.
| Alternate cold and thawing leaves the
growing things of cultivation in a guam
dairy, evidently. as to what to do next.
| Happily there is no regret here.
The plant which sends forth a test
spray of blossoms has no way of know
| ing that they are killed that very eve
ming by freezing.
Unlike its human relations, the shrub
which dares the elements with a golden
challenge has no regret, no memory,
no sorrow.
Whatever it does, it does-and that
| is the end of it.
While it may miss much, being only
a plant, 1t might be said to gain some
thing, too, as a result of its SIMPLICITY
The home gardener refuses to be-
labor the point. He is far more inter
ested In trying to detect which way
the wind blows in the seasonal line,
| He turns over old almanacs, in an
effort to determine to his own salts
faction whether their long-range pre-
| olctlons have any basis in fact.
| Certainly this idea, that mankind
ought to be able to tell the weather
long in advance, is very persistent
one.
Almost every one who becomes pay
| ticularly interested in meteorologics:
manifestations, as all gardeners, pr-'
fessional and amateur, do, harbors the
belief that maybe there is something
to the idea, after all.
| Experience!
That is the key word, in this busi-
ness
Two thousand and more years of very
well recorded history, to say nothing OF
almost as long period before. but not
so well registered, ought to have fur
nished mankind with ample observa-
tions, from which some deductions
might be drawn.
| The sorry truth Is that scientific re-
cording goes back only a comparatively
few years, in relation to that huge
total
Those who have worked with the soil
over the centuries have built I'D a long
| list of weather traditions, no doubt
based on competent observation, but
too often the work of men who did not
possess the scientific habit of mind.
| Ihey were trying to be accurate, of
| course, but they did not approach their
| job from the detached viewpoint which
alone makes observation worth while.
Hence the lore OF the almanacs (even
our favorite) must be regarded with
suspicion based on tolerance.
| Mostly this will be mixed with de-
light when the long-range prediction
hits it," as it does in a surprisingly
large number of instances.
Almanac predictions are honest at
tempts, credit must be given them for
that. Many of them could be so
Worded that they would come nearer
than they do, in some instances. Re-
Gently one well-knoGn work of this de-
scription gave as it's prediction for four
recent days, stormy, with snow" AS
matter of fact, out of a clear sky
came stormy conditions, with rain. If
they had predicted, Stormy, with rain
or snow they would have hit it
squarely. Even the weather bureau
would have been less positive, because
at times rain or snow depends upon but
few degrees of change in temperature.
Let us keep one eye on the weather
bureau, one on the almanac, and both
ears open for the subtle changes in the
bird songs, which from now on will in
crease in volume and range.
Wild animals of all sorts, and domes-
tic ones, too, feel the changes of the
seasons more than civilized human
beings do.
The gardener may do well to keen
them in mind as he looks at rose vines
IN his yard, or tries to determine from
the state of the weather" the posi-
bility OF Spring at last,