438 
JUNE 39 
THE BUBAL N£W-Y$fSKER. 
“WEATHER-WISE.” 
How People Foresee the Weather. 
RAIN INDICATIONS. 
THE WEATHER ON LAKE MEMPHREMAGOG. 
Evert locality has its special weather 
signs, depending on the prevailing winds, the 
trend of mountain ranges and river valleys, 
and, much as regards their usefulness, upon 
the stored experience of those who have been 
interested, pecuniarily, in studying the as¬ 
pects of the clouds, and the atmospheric con¬ 
ditions. 
Westerly or southwesterly winds, in our 
section, always mean fine, dry weather, when 
settled in that quarter. Variable winds, in 
summer, especially if gusty, or very hot, still 
weather, portend sudden showers, or thunder 
storms. “A southerly wind and a cloudy 
sky” mean warm rain of more or less dura¬ 
tion. “All signs fail in a dry time,” but the 
longer we wait for rain the more we get 
when it comes, and with a south wind the 
more difficult it seems to get steady, dry 
weather again. Easterly winds are rare with 
us, as the trend of the long Connecticut val¬ 
ley, with its bordering mountains, tends to 
make the easterly winds of Southern New 
England assume a southerly course. If strong 
enough to reach us decidedly easterly, they 
bring cold rains of moderate duration, which 
clear off fair, and the weather stays so. As 
to moon signs, though still often quoted, and 
though no amount of failure is sufficient to 
cause them to be forgotten, the only one I 
have ever found worth anything to me as a 
farmer, is the fact that a full or nearly full 
moon tends to disperse the clouds so that 
though in its lesser phases we may not see the 
moon for a week, we are very sure to see it 
during the week of approximate fullness. 
The agricultural consequence is, that when 
the moon fulls the last of May,or thereabouts, 
and also at the full in September, we are 
pretty sure to get frosts, especially in frosty 
localities. As for plans, experienced farmers 
take advantage of those signs as above stated, 
which show the least prospect for wet weath¬ 
er, for those operations which require dry 
weather for their success. T. H. hoskins. 
Orleans County, Vt. 
NEW JERSEY INDICATIONS. 
It is very difficult to tell what the weather 
will be 24 hours Hence. The atmospheric 
changes are often so sudden as to baffle our 
best calculations, yet there are certain signs 
that seldom fail us. 1. If the sun rises clear 
iu the morning and then goes under the 
clouds, as we call it, within half an hour, in 
nine cases out of 10 it will rain before 12 
o’clock. 2. If the sun sets in a heavy bank of 
clouds it is about certain to rain before morn¬ 
ing. 3. If the wind veers suddenly to the 
southwest with a damp atmosphere, it is 
very apt to rain within 24 hours; but if the 
rain is withheld for 36 hours it is not likely 
to rain until the wind changes to another 
quarter, and if one is engaged in work that 
requires dry weather, such as harvesting hay, 
he should pusn the work vigorously as long 
as the wind holds in the southerly quarter. 4. 
Sun-dogs, so-called, are indicative of rain with¬ 
in 18 hours, and seldom fail. 5. Tne feathered 
trines calculate very accurately as to what 
the weather will be 12 to 24 hours ahead. If 
one sees the fowls go about picking up food, 
and they are late in going to roost, it is very 
likely to storm before morning. The cooing 
or mourning of the dove indicates rain soon. 
These are the principal signs by which my ac¬ 
tions in regard to my work are governed, and 
I find them about as correct as anything that 
comes under my observation. J. p. 
Princeton. 
CENTRAL NEW YORK. 
A “ weather prophet ” is without honor at 
home or abroad. The man who claims to 
foretell the weather for next week or next 
mouth is justly ridiculed whenever his name 
is mentioned in connection with such pre¬ 
dictions. That an experienced observer can 
usually discern the approach of a rain storm 
in time to avoid serious loss through misdi¬ 
rected labor, is true. Reliance may be placed 
on indications of fair weather for to-day 
and to-morrow, and work may be so planned 
from day to day as to profit by this fact. 
With comparative certainty of the weather 
for this short period, very little damage to 
hay or grain vr ill be sustained by the careful 
manager. 
While some of the indications of rain are 
easily described and understood, others can 
hardly be made plain by words alone. If the 
farmer says that it “ feels like rain,” he 
mentions an important sign when taken in 
connection with other indications. But just 
what is meant by “feeling like rain” it is 
difficult to tell. Humidity, denseness, and 
temperature are involved in this condition of 
the atmosphere, that usually precedes raiu. 
Again, the farmer says that it looks like rain, 
and in an hour aftei says the appearances of 
rain have passed away, but the change is 
hardly perceptible except to careful obser¬ 
vation. 
“All signs fail in dry times,” but except in 
continued drought the absence of dew in the 
morning is a fine warning to look out for rain. 
If the wind is in the east and veers to the 
southeast or south and continues there, it will 
raiD. Sometimes the wind will be in the south 
through the day with indications of rain, aud 
toward night these appearances will pass 
away. This may occur for two or three days 
in succession, and usually terminates in a 
heavy rain. Look out for rain as long as 
these daily threatenings continue. 
When signs of rain have been noticed for 
some time and the sky is generally cloudy, if 
small, dark, scudding clouds are seen it will 
rain very soon. Two sets of clouds,one above 
the other, moving in different directions, in¬ 
dicate catching weather. If, with a partially 
cloudy or hazy sky,the sun shines at intervals 
with what is termed scalding heat, rain may 
be expected. This scalding sun is different 
from the ordinary hot sun of fair weather 
and is readily recognized by the observer of 
rain indications. 
Most of our regular rain-storms begin with 
the wind in the south or southeast, afterwards 
changing to west or northwest. After such a 
rain if it clears in the night, the weather is 
not to be trusted until proved. Often after 
such clearing, clouds will return and light 
showers may be expected. Sometimes rain¬ 
storms come from the West. After several 
clear days, if with a light wind, a continuous 
bank of cloud appears in the west, extending 
well north and increasing towards evening 
bay or grain should be well secured, as it will 
probably rain. 
The moon has no appreciable influence on 
the weather or the growth of crops. The idea 
that certain days, known as “almanac days,” 
have any connection with the weather for 
future weeks or months is too absurd to re¬ 
ceive intelligent notice. Instinctive unrest 
may be noticed among animals as the pre¬ 
cursor of a storm, but these appearances are 
not reliable, as such animals really know no 
more about the weather than their owners. 
Where bees are kept, a regular cloud of work¬ 
ers may be seen hurrying home on the near 
approach of a storm. Their warning is of no 
use, however, as they do not start for home 
until the danger of immediate rain is plain to 
everybody. 
After a day or two of rain, if the clouds 
disappear and mist or fog drifts from the low¬ 
lands and streams to higher points, and the 
wind comes from any point between west and 
northwest, and there is neither haziness nor 
scalding sun, two or three days of fair weath¬ 
er may be confidently expected. The wind is 
often in the east in the morning, changing to 
the west by nine o’clock; but this is no sign of 
rain. Unexpected showers will sometimes 
overtake a careful observer, but attention to 
the few weather indications above noticed 
will usually enable the farmer to secure his 
hay and grain without serious damage. 
Lewis County. c. s. rice. 
FARM HELP. 
W. L. DEVEREAUX. 
L ABORERS on the farm engaged by the 
month are mostly of American birth, 
in Wayne as well as iu surrounding counties. 
A large share, however, are the sons of Irish 
and German immigrants. If these are count¬ 
ed in together with the direct immigrants 
hired by the month, not more than half the 
number of monthly hands will be natives or 
long-resident Americans. Men employed by 
the month are very often the sous of small 
farmers of the afore-mentioned nationalities, 
who are working hard to pay for farms on 
shares, and having the proverbial large fami¬ 
lies, can spare some of the boys as they grow 
up. These boys usually make good help for 
the farmer who hires. Their wages common¬ 
ly begin with the same number of dollars per 
month as there are years in their lives, but 
their monthly wages very soon increase 
though they never get above $23. 
Very many more than would at first sight 
appear are born of American families, and 
are well educated young men, reliable, and 
really valuable assistants, competent to take 
the lead iD the farming operations of their 
employers. After working in the capacity of 
monthly hands for several years, the majority 
from every nationality, without any excep¬ 
tions, drift to the West, or to the railroads. 
A few lay up money and establish themselves 
in farming by renting farms, or by sticking 
to some piece of land by making a “ first pay¬ 
ment” and tilling the soil into paying for it¬ 
self. If of German parentage, they are sure 
to lift the mortgage. If of Irish, they are 
not quite so sure, and if of an old American 
family, they are still less sure of doing so. 
In a circumscribed locality where there 
are 100 monthly hands, I estimate that after 
a half generation, there will remain only 15. 
Of these four will be Irish or close descendants 
of Irish parents, who have taken up farming 
on their own account; three will be German 
who have adopted the same calling; and three 
books of reference for those who may desire tc 
pursue the subject further. Would thuti we 
might see such a book as this in every home, 
especially where there are young people. 
“Up and Down the Brooks,” by Mary E. 
Bramford,describes,m a bright, chatty,inter¬ 
esting way, a great many insects she has 
found in the brooks of Alameda county, Cali¬ 
fornia. She says, however, that members of 
the same families of insects will be found in 
or beside almost any brook, East or West. 
She says also that the various types of boy 
encountered probably exist in both sections. 
These books are both profusely illustrated, 
and in their neat, handy form and attractive 
style, should meet with a large sale. 
PiswttattMUjJ ^ dvnftetnfl. 
INFANTILE 
Skir) 8c Scalp 
DISEASES 
-.••cured by*.'•.• 
.CUticIi r/\ 
F^/v\^di^s. 
will be Americans who have done likewise. 
Five will have settled down as day farm- 
laborers in tenements, or else they will be 
owners of small lots, nationality proportioned 
as before. Although the above ratio is against 
the prospect that a majority of Americans 
will in the future own farms, it is a fact in 
this region that American owners greatly pre¬ 
dominate now, and will always do so; for the 
American or Yankee farmers’ sons, or some 
of their sons, buy most of the farms or di¬ 
visions offered for sale. 
In some localities numerous Italian day 
laborers are employed at extra work and as 
extra laborers in busy seasons, but for our 
constant and chief reliance, a monthly hand 
is secured by almost every farmer, and he is 
usually engaged to begin on April first for 
seven months, under a few simple, unwritten 
conditions, boarding with his employer, or 
with his foreman. He attends to the chores 
in the morning before the day laborer begins 
for his 10 hours’ work. He again do93 the 
chores at night after the 10 hours’ work is 
over, and he also does them on Sundays, but 
less stringently, though some farmers employ 
men who are willing to follow their lead and 
management in working from sun to sun, or 
rather from twilight to twilight, chores in¬ 
cluded. Very many, however, regulate the 
work, chores and all, quite close to the 10- 
hour system. 
I think farmers are a unit on the plan of se¬ 
curing the best man possible, and paying him 
his price; but the man who demands the very 
highest price is rarely the best. Activity is 
the great requirement, and with this, a stur¬ 
dy boy at work with the manifold horse¬ 
power implements used now in farming will 
accomplish more than a strong man. Farm¬ 
ers complain that hired men accomplish less 
than formerly, while wages continue to tend 
upwards, which arouses them to the employ¬ 
ment of more labor-saving machinery, and 
improved systematic labor-saving plans. A 
few farmers employ men by the year, and 
most of these have families and reside in ten¬ 
ements on the farms. Here are the wages or 
rather allowances demanded of a farmer here ( 
the other day, by one of this class of laborers: 
“$17 per month, house rent, cow pasture and 
feed, fire wood, the use of one acre of land 
and time to work it.” It calls for a very 
nicely drawn contract. 
Wayne County, N. Y. 
F OR CLEANSING, PURIFYING. AND BEAUTIFY- 
true the skin of children and infants aud curing 
torturing, disfiguring, itching, scaly and pimply 
dlsea es of rh • skin, »calp and blood, with loss of 
hair, from infancy to old age, the Cuticura Remedies 
are infallible. 
OcTicimv the great Skin Cure, and Cuticura SoAr, 
an CTquisite Skin Reautlfler.pxternallv, and Cuticura 
R"S 0 Lvhnt, the new Blood Purifier, internally, cure 
every form of skiu and blood disease, from pimples to 
scrofula. 
Sold everywhere. Price, Cuticura, 50c. ; SoAr. 25c. 
Resolvent, $i. Prepared by the Potter Drco and 
Chemical Co., Boston. Mass. 
Send for “ How to Cure Skin Diseases.” 
r IT Baby’s Skin and «calp preserved and beautl- 
{jr fled by Cuticura Soap. -Ml 
Kidney Pains, Backache and weakness cured 
by cuticura anti-Pain Plaster, an instanta¬ 
neous pain-subduing plaster. 25e. 
Practical Hints 
TO BUILDERS. 
A LITTLE BOOK of 
11)0 pages containing 
solid facts that every 
man contemplating 
BUILDING should 
know before letting 
his contracts. Short chapters on the kitchen.chimueys, 
cistern, foundation.brickwork.mortar, eelhc . heating, 
ventilation, the roof, and many items of Interest to 
builders. Mailed free on receipt of :0c. In postal stamps 
Address National !»licet Hein I Hooting Co.. 
5lu Ea»t Twentieth street, New York City. 
The Worcester Buckeye Mower 
Has Patented Self-Oiling Pitman, In¬ 
suring Safety and Perfect Working. 
as n Scythe which Cannot be Rrokcn; 
Hum an Inside Shoe which Cannot be 
Clogged; Huh Patented Chafe Plutt'N. 
Always maintaining the Shear Cut. 
No other Machine has these improvement 
Don’t fall to see It. Send for 1S89 Circulars. Wo 
refer to Thirty-five Thousand farmers in New 
England who use the Worcester lliickeye. 
Agents Wanted iu Unoccupied Territory. 
TIIK RICHARDSON MANIJF’G CO., 
Worcester, Mush. 
STOCK FARM FOR SALE. 
3-000 ACRE'S, excellent soil, close to depot, 
well watered; fairly Improved. Will be sold with or 
without 75 head of nigh grade Percheron Horses De¬ 
sirable unincumbered property will be accepted as 
part payment. For full particulars, address 
tt. H. 1* R i#l)l)FOOT, Hast Pierre, So. Dakota. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
W E are in receipt of volumes III and IV 
of The Riverside Library for Young 
People, published by Houghton, Mifflin & 
Co., Boston and New York. They are de¬ 
voted to different branches of natural history 
are both written by women who have evident¬ 
ly studied their subjects with an interest 
born of love for the study. They are such 
books as we are glad to see put upon the mar¬ 
ket at a reasonable price. “Birds Through an 
Opera G’ass,” by Florence A. Merriam, 
treats of a large number of our common 
birds, iu a charming style, with all technical 
terms omitted. The author has studied the 
subjects in a praiseworthy way, by observiug 
them while at home in their native haunts, 
instead of, as is generally the case, after they 
have been cruelly murdered. Under “ Hints 
to Observers,” the author gives a few simple 
rules for studying the habits of our na¬ 
tive songstors to the best advantage. Iu 
an appendix is given an arrangement 
for classifying birds as they are named; 
the general characteristics of birds; clas¬ 
sifications of birds described, and a list of 
J 7IARMKRS’ TWENTY-YEAR RECORD.-Compilcl 
to meet the wantR of every praetleal farmer.wlih 
accounts so arranged and itemized ns to last the aver¬ 
age farmer 20 years. Unis forming a complete history 
of every farmei’s business transactions. Send for cir¬ 
cular and terms. CHARLES H. HII.LICK 
14 & 16 South Tioga Street, Ithaca, N.Y. 
AUTOMATIC MILK AERATOR. 
Removes the taste of GARLIC, CLOVER ami NOX¬ 
IOUS WEEDS. K. W. COFFIN, 
Send for Circular. Ashland, Camden Co.. >, J. 
ROAD CARTS 
BUGGIES and 
HARNESS. 
BARGAIN every PO. 
1ST ltd not ousr.il. 
Remember only one person at every P. O gets it Send 
C cents stamps for information Biid printed matter. 
UNION MACHINE CO., Philadelphia, Pa. 
