WEATHER SUPERSTITIONS 



GARDENER says that he is sure we shall have May 

 frosts this year. He has read in his favourite 

 almanac, written last August, the very days that are 

 to have frosty nights. He admits that, judging by 

 past years, his favourite almanac may be incorrect 

 to the extent of a day or two ; he cannot quite see 

 how this matter was to be known nearly a year ago, 

 but that there will be frosts in May he does not 

 doubt. We have been considering the advisability 

 of making sure of the apple-blossom by putting little 

 oil-stoves about the garden to raise the temperature 

 on frosty nights, just above the point where the 

 damage is done. Gardener, with the aid of his 

 almanac, can say which is the week wherein the 

 lamps would meet and defeat the May frosts, which 

 this year are to be our portion. We should waste 

 oil no doubt for a night or two, but on two or three 

 nights we should do a work that would greatly 

 redound to our wealth and pleasure when apple- 

 harvest comes. 



Our climate is a wonderfully good one for the 

 almanac-makers. Changes in the weather are so 

 frequent and sudden that we place little reliance on 

 the twenty-four hours' forecast of the Meteorological 

 Bureau. Something far more wonderful than a 

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