TRUE RELATION OF SCIENCE TO INDUSTRIES 287 



nomena, discloses the laws which govern them, and 

 foretells their occurrence, is called meteorology. The 

 weather not only makes crops, but it may also ruin them. 

 To be able to know the state of the weather forty-eight, 

 or even twenty-four, hours in advance would save many 

 a dollar annually to every farmer. It is true that an 

 ancient writer has said, " In the morning sow thy seed, 

 and in the evening withhold not thy hand." But we 

 must remember this was written before the days of 

 the signal service and modern science. The farmer, 

 warned of an approaching storm, would not cut down 

 six acres of grass in the morning to have it soaked with 

 rain in the afternoon. With forty-eight hours' warn- 

 ing he could complete the planting of a field before the 

 rain, instead of having to leave off in the middle of 

 the work and then leave the other half without the 

 benefit of the rain. With such a warning he could se- 

 cure a field of ripened wheat and save it from being 

 prostrated by the wind or torn in shreds by the hail. 

 In fact there is scarcely a farm process that would not 

 be better done or more timely done could the state of 

 the weather be known in advance. The ancients fully 

 realized the importance of this matter. That agricul- 

 tural poet, Virgil, thus advised the Roman farmers: 

 " But before we cut up the unknown plain with the 

 plow, let us be careful to foretell the winds and the 

 varied manner of the weather." 



As in ancient times so still do we gain a good idea 

 of the coming weather by observing the moon and sun, 

 wind and cloud. Farmers now as then " pray for moist 

 summers and dry winters. Corn is made joyous and 

 the field glad in the wintry dust." A circle round 

 the sun " betokens a great storm for farmers and for 

 the sea." Before sunrise rays shooting up through the 



