Food for If there be a general mist before sunrise near the full of the moon, the 



Plants weather will be fine for some days. 



156 



Farmers' Barometers. 



If chickweed and scarlet pimpernel expand their tiny petals, rain need 

 not be expected for a few hours, says a writer. 



Bees work with redoubled energy just before a rain. 



If flies are unusually persistent either in the house or around the stock, 

 there is rain in the air. 



The cricket sings at the approach of cold weather. 



Squirrels store a large supply of nuts, the husks of corn are usually thick, 

 and the buds of deciduous trees have a firmer protecting coat if a severe 

 winter is at hand. 



Corn fodder is extremely sensitive to hygrometric changes. When dry and 

 crisp, it indicates fair weather; when damp and limp, look out for rain. 



A bee was never caught in a shower; therefore when his bees leave their 

 hive in search of honey, the farmer knows that the weather is going to be good. 



How to See the Wind. 



Few persons know that it is possible actually to see the wind, but it can 

 be done as follows: 



Take a polished metal surface of two feet or more, with a straight edge; 

 a large hand-saw will answer the purpose. Choose a windy day for the ex- 

 periment, whether hot or cold, clear or cloudy; only let it not be in murky, 

 rainy weather. 



Hold your metallic surface at right angles to the direction of the 

 wind i. e., if the wind is north hold your surface east and west, but instead 

 of holding it vertical incline it about forty-two degrees to the horizon, so 

 that the wind, striking, glances and flows over the edge as the water flows 

 over a dam. Now sight carefully along the edge some minutes at a sharply 

 defined object, and you will see the wind pouring over the edge in grace- 

 ful curves. Make your observations carefully and you will hardly ever fail 

 in the experiment. The results are better if the sun is obscured. 



Philosophical Facts. 



The greatest height at which visible clouds ever exist does not exceed 

 ten miles. 



Air is about eight hundred and fifteen times lighter than water. 



The pressure of the atmosphere upon every square foot of the earth 

 amounts to two thousand one hundred and sixty pounds. An ordinary sized 

 man, supposing his surface to be fourteen square feet, sustains the enormous 

 pressure of thirty thousand, two hundred and forty pounds. 



The barometer falls one-tenth of an inch for every seventy-eight feet of 

 elevation. 



The violence of the expansion of water when freezing is sufficient to cleave 

 a globe of copper of such thickness as to require a force of 27,000 pounds to 

 produce the same effect. 



