WEATHER PROVERBS 429 



It can be argued, of course, and apparently with good reason, that, 

 in spite of its scientific interest, such a study can not now have any 

 practical use, since nearly every country has a national weather service 

 whose forecasts, for any given time and place, are reliably based upon 

 tbe known immediately previous conditions all over a continent — con- 

 ditions that are followed from hour to hour arid day to day; that are 

 minutely recorded and carefully studied. 



It is true that when one is supplied with such information his hori- 

 zon becomes world wide ; that he sees -the weather as it is everywhere ; 

 knows in what directions the storms are moving and how fast, and that, 

 therefore, he can predict the approximate weather conditions for a day 

 or more ahead. But in general it is not practicable officially to forecast 

 for definite hours, nor for particular farms and villages. In the ma- 

 king, then, of hour-to-hour and village-to-village forecasts, though 

 often of great value, one must rely upon his own interpretation of the 

 signs before him. Besides, in many places it is impossible to get, in 

 time for use, either the official forecast or the weather map upon which 

 to base one's own opinions, and under these conditions certain weather 

 signs are of especial value — signs which every one uses to a greater or 

 less extent, but with an understanding of their significance that, ac- 

 cording to such experience as only real necessity can give, varies from 

 the well nigh full and complete to the vague and evanescent. 



Thus the fisherman to-day, as in the past, will weigh anchor and 

 flee from the gathering storm when to the uninitiated there is no indi- 

 cation of anything other than continued fair weather; and the woods- 

 man, as did his remotest ancestors, will note significant changes and 

 understand their warning messages when the average man would see no 

 change at all, or, if he did, would fail to comprehend its meaning. 



The prescience of these men is phenomenal, and it is with some of 

 the useful weather proverbs they know so well, the causes of the phe- 

 nomena they describe and the relation of these phenomena to others 

 they precede, that the following is concerned. 



Seasons 

 ' ' A good year is always welcome. ' ' 



Naturally every one asks : " What of the coming season ? " And 

 especially is this an important question for the farmer, for a correct 

 answer to it would tell him what crops to plant and where; whether 

 upon hill or lowland, in light or heavy soil, and how best to cultvate 

 them — vital points, every one, for his success. But whatever we may 

 hope ultimately to accomplish, seasonal forecasting to-day is bevond the 

 pale of scientific meteorology, though proverb meteorology is full of it. 

 However, a few of the seasonal proverbs that deal with results rather 

 than types of weather are rationally founded. 



