244 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



until it is perfectly dry ; afterwards, the remains 

 of the fire and the ashes must be swept away, and 

 the cocoon room constructed. 



Same Work. — Six diseases of silk worms are 

 noted in the cocoon room : 



1st. When the silk worms dirty the cocoon 

 room; 



2d. When the silk worms fall in the cocoon 

 room ; 



3d. When they move about Avithout spinning; 



4th. When they change in red chrysalis ; 



5ih. When they turn white and die; 



6th. When they turn black. 



The foulness of the cocoon room arises from 

 portions of leaves which the mature worms have 

 brought with them; they ferment and produce a 

 fatal moisture. 



The five other diseases always result from the 

 moisture of the ground, or the cold of the exterior 

 air. 



From the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine. 



OBSERVATIONS ON PROGNOSTICATIONS OF THE 

 WEATHER [in ENGLAND.] 



By the Rev. Jdam Clarke, LL. D., F. A. S. 



From my earliest childhood I was bred up on a 

 little farm, which I was taught to care for, and 

 cullivate ever since I was able to spring the rattle, 

 use the whip, manage the sickle, or handle the 

 spade ; and as I found that much of our success 

 depended on a proper knowledge and manage- 

 ment of the weather, I was led to study it ever 

 since I was eight years of age. I believe meteorolo- 

 gy is a natural science, and one of the first that is 

 studied ; and that every child in the country 

 makes, untaught, some progress in it : at least so 

 it was with me. I had actually learned, by silent 

 observation, to form good conjectures concerning 

 the cominff weather, and, on this head, to teach 

 wisdom among those who were perfect, especially 

 among such as had not been obliged like me to 

 watch earnestly, that what was so necessary to 

 the family support, should not be spoiled by the 

 weather before it was housed. Many a time, 

 even in tender youth, have I watched the heavens 

 with anxiety, examined the different appearances 

 of the morning and evening sun, the phases of the 

 moon, the scintillation of the stars, the course and 

 color of the clouds, the flight of the crow and the 

 swallow, the gambols of the colt, the fluttering of 

 the ducks, and the loud screams of the seamew — 

 not forgetting even the hue and croaking of the 

 frog. From the little knowledge 1 had''derived 

 from close observation, I often ventured to direct 

 our agricultural operations in reference to the 

 coming days, and was seldom much mistaken in 

 my reckoning. When I thoujjht I had a pretty 

 good stock of knowledge and experience in this 

 way, I ventured to give counsel to my neighbors. 

 For my kindness, or perhaps olRciousness on this 

 head, I met one day with a mortifyinsr rebufi'. J 

 was about ten years of age ; it was harvest time, 

 and ' what sort of a day to- morrow would be,' 

 was the subject of conveisafion. To a very intel- 

 ligent gentleman who was present, [ staled in op- 

 position to his own opinion, 'Mr. P. to-morrow 



will be a fovl day.'' — To which he answered 

 'Adam, how can you tell?' I answered, without 

 giving the rule on which my prognostication was 

 founded, 'O sir, I know it will be so.' 'You 

 know I how should you know7' 'Why, sir,' I 

 pleasantly replied, ' because 1 am toeatherimse.'' 

 ' Yes,' said he, ' or otherwise.'' The next day, 

 however, proved that my augurv was well drawn. 

 About twenty years ago, a Table, purporting 

 to be the work of the late Dr. Herschel, was va- 

 riously published, professing to form prognostics of 

 the weather, by the times of the change, full and 

 quarters of the moon. I have carefully consulted 

 this Table for several years, and was amazed at 

 its general accuracy : — for though long, as you 

 have seen, engaged in the study of the weather, I 

 never thought that any rules could be devised 

 liable to so few exceptions. I have made a little 

 alteration in the arrangements, illustrated it with 

 further observations, and have sent it that you 

 may insert it in the Magazine, as it has hitherto 

 been confined generally to a few almanacs. 



A Tabt^e for foretelling the weather through all 

 the lunations of each year for ever. 



This Table and the accompanying remarks, are 

 the result of many years' actual observation ; the 

 w^hole being constructed on a due consideration of 

 the attraction of the sun and moon in their several 

 positions respecting the earth ; and will, by sim- 

 ple inspection, show- the observer what kind of 

 weather will most probably follow the entrance of 

 the moon into any of its quarters, and that so 

 near the truth as to be seldom or never found to 

 fail. 



If the New Moon— the First Quarter— the Full 

 Moon — or the last Quarter happens. 



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Observations. 

 1. The nearer the time of the moon's change, 



