WEATHER. 
she changes seems to have little influence; if in 
the north-west or north-west by west, it is often 
succeeded by boisterous weather. When her 
horns are sharp and well defined, we look for 
frost; when she is whitish and not very clear, 
for rain or snow. Ifthe new moon seems to em- 
brace the old, very stormy weather is likely to 
follow. When the wind shifts to the west, after 
rain from the south or south-west, it generally 
fairs up, or there are but a few showers. Frost 
and snow from the south-west are forerunners of 
bad weather. If the wind turn suddenly from 
the south-west or south to the north-north-east, 
while this is accompanied with a smell resem- 
bling that of coal smoke, a severe storm will fol- 
low.—The lower animals, but such especially as 
are in a state of nature, or exposed to the open 
fields, are very anemone of atmospheric changes. 
Sheep eat greedily before a storm, and sparingly 
before a thaw; when they leave the high parts 
of their range,—when they bleat much in the 
evening or during the night, we may expect se- 
vere weather. Goats seek a place of shelter, 
while swine carry litter and cover themselves 
better than ordinary, before a storm. Wind is 
foretold by the cat scratching a post or wall; 
and a thaw, when she washes her face, or when 
frogs come from their winter concealment. The 
gathering of grouse into large flocks, the diving 
of sparrows in dry dust, the fluttering of wild- 
ducks as they flap their wings, the dismal length- 
ened howl of sea-gulls in an inland place or 
around lakes, the mournful note of the curlew, 
the shrill whew of the plover, the whet-whet-whet 
of the chaffinch perched upon a tree, the crow- 
ing of the cock at unusual times,—all prognosti- 
cate rain or snow. When the field-fare, redwing, 
starling, swan, snowfleck, and other birds of pas- 
sage, arrive soon from the north, it indicates an 
early and severe winter. When gnats bite keen- 
ly, when flies keep near the ground (shown by 
swallows, who feed upon the wing, flying low), 
we look for wind and rain. But the most won- 
derful instance of atmospherical changes is up- 
on those creatures that burrow in the ground. 
The earth-worm appearing in abundance indi- 
cates rain. In like manner, the mole seems to 
feel its approach, as, a day or two before, he 
raises more hillocks than usual; and when, after 
a long severe frost, he begins again to wane it 
will soon become fresh.” 
“ When the wind turns to the north-east and 
it continues two days without rain, and does not 
turn south the third day, nor rains the third 
day,” says Shepherd of Banbury, “it is likely to 
continue north-east for 8 or 9 days all fair, and 
then to come to the south again. If it turn 
again out of the south to the north-east with 
rain, and continues in the north-east two days 
without rain, and neither turns south nor rains 
the third day, it is likely to continue north- 
east for two or three months. 
finish these turns in three weeks. 
The wind will 
After a north 
Te Gnria eee 645. 
wind, for the most part two months or more, 
and then coming south, there are usually three 
or four fair days at fice, and then, on the fourth 
or fifth day, comes rain, or else the wind turns 
north again, and continues dry. If it return to 
the south in a day or two without rain, and turn 
north with rain, and return to the sary ° in one 
or two days as before, two or three turns together 
after this sort, then it is like to be in the south 
or south-west two or three months together, as 
it was in the north before. The wind will finish 
these turns in a fortnight. Fair weather for a 
week, with a south wind, is likely to produce a 
great drought, if there has been much rain out 
of the south before. The wind usually turns 
from north to south, with a quiet wind without 
rain, but returns to the north with a strong wind 
and rain. The strongest winds are when it turns 
from south to north by west. When the north 
wind first clears the air (which is usually once 
a-week), be sure of a fair day or two.” 
WEATHER-VANE. An instrument for show- 
ing the direction of the wind. See the article 
Anrmoscopr. One should be mounted on a 
conspicuous part of every farmery; and, if 
of a simple form, it cannot have a neater or 
more efficient indicator than an arrow, whose 
dart most readily pierces the wind, and whose 
butt most facilely and powerfully streams before 
the wind, and compels the dart to point to the 
wind’s eye. A good contrivance would be four 
bells of different tones at the four cardinal points 
of the compass, and a hammer suspended from 
the dart by a supple spring to strike them ; so 
that a person within any neighbouring house 
might be apprised by the bell-strokes of every 
wide veering of wind, and of its direction. The 
director of almost all the vanes of former ages 
was a figure of a cock,—an emblem of clerical 
vigilance; and this has occasioned all sorts of 
weather-vanes and anemoscopes down to the 
present day to be popularly called weather-cocks. 
WEBERA. A small genus of ornamental, tro- 
pical, evergreen, ligneous plants, of the madder 
family. The corymbose species, W. corymbosa, is 
a native of the upland districts of India, and was 
introduced to the hothouses of Britain in 1759. 
It has a height of about 6 or 8 feet, and carries 
white flowers, and small, black esculent berries. 
—The tetrandrous species, W. tetrandra, is an- 
other shrub of the waste lands of India, and, be- 
sides producing esculent foliage and esculent 
fruit, possesses considerable medicinal reputa- 
tion. Its root is supposed to be anthelmintic; 
and both its young shoots and its leaves are used 
as a remedy for bowel complaints. 
WECHT, A hand implement for lifting grain. 
If well made, with a broad slip of ash, and capa- 
cious enough to hold at least half a bushel, it is 
much lighter and handier than any basket; and 
it may be regarded as an indispensable piece of 
furniture in all good and extensive barn manage- 
ment. See the article Bann Management. 
