Sky Study 909 



The Relation Between Comets and Meteors 

 It has been discovered that many of the shooting stars are gathered in 

 great flocks and move about the sun in elongated paths, like the comets. 

 We have learned the times of year when the path our earth follows comes 

 close to these flocks of meteors which are flying around the sun like birds. 

 One of these flocks is straggling, and we begin to meet it about the end of 

 July and reach the center of the crowd on August loth, and then continue 

 to take stragglers until the last of August. We can see the point where we 

 meet this flock of meteors, if we look for it in the direction of the constella- 

 tion Perseus (see planisphere). On November 13th, we meet another flock 

 which we find in the direction of the constellation Leo, of which the great 

 star Regulus is the heart (see chart) ; but this flock is usually all in a bunch 

 and we pass it in two days. Once there was a splendid flock which our 

 world met every thirty- three years, and we took so many stragglers from it 

 that our skies were filled with shooting stars, and ignorant people were 

 greatly frightened ; but for some reason, this flock has changed its path and 

 we looked in vain for the great display of fireworks which was due to occur 

 in 1899. 



While we know from observation that the flocks of shooting stars, which 

 make our star showers, are just broken pieces of comets which once traveled 

 the same path, yet it does not follow that all our shooting stars are comet 

 fragments. Prof. Elkins has shown by photographing meteors that some 

 of them must be wanderers in the vast spaces which lie between the stars. 



*THE RELATION BETWEEN THE TROPIC OF CANCER AND 

 THE PLANTING OF THE GARDEN 

 By John W. Spencer 

 A story to be read to the pupils 

 In years gone by, many farmers had a favorite phase of the moon when 

 they planted certain crops, usually spoken of as the "dark" or the "Hght" of 

 the moon. I once knew a woman who picked her geese by the "sign of the 

 moon." Hogs were butchered in the "Kght" of the moon, and then the pork 

 would not "fry away" so much in the skillet. It is true some pork from 

 some hogs wastes faster than that of others, but the difference is due to the 

 kind of food given the hogs. Many farmers hold to those old superstitions 

 yet, but the number is much less now than twenty-five years ago. I wish I 

 might impress on you young agriculturists that the moon has no influence 

 on plant life, or pork, or geese, but the position of the sun most decidedly 

 has. We have some plants that had best be planted when the sun's rays 

 strike the state of New York slantingly, which means in early spring or late 

 fall. We have other plants that should not be put in the open ground until 

 the rays of the sun strike the state more direct blows, which means the hotter 

 weather of summer. If I were in close touch with you pupils, I should be 

 glad to tell some things that happen to three young friends of mine, hoping 

 that thereby my statement might give the boys and girls an interest in three 

 geographical lines concerning the tropics, and lead them to find their loca- 

 tion on the map, particularly when later they learn what happens to my 



*A portion of a letter to apprentice gardeners from Uncle John, published as a supplement to the 

 Home Nature-Study Course Leaflet, for April-May, 1907. 



