THE MILDER LUNACY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 173, 19 April 1937, Page 2

THE MILDER LUNACY

Moon Acts As a Weather Prophet (By D.H.L.) In 1911 I was baching and doing my own washing; a series of about 10 or 11 wet Mondays made me say: There must be a reason for this. I made a mercurial barometer and took readings twice a day -for two years and plotted the curves. Each curve was of a duration of one quarter of a lunar month. It showed up very soon that though the average height of the barometer during any one quarter might be higher or lower, yet the curves were frequently similar in shape, even to the reproduction, at times, of very slight variations. I wrote to a man in England ami asked him to do the same thing his side of the world, and, though the war and his death intervened, I did receive one letter from him saying that already, as a result of only nine months’ records, he thought there was something in it. Any self-respecting astronomer or meteorologist will say that the moon has no influence whatever upon the weather. No doubt they are right. But I think if anyone will take the trouble to observe, he, or she, will find the. moon is a good weather-clock. Weather seems to go in seven-day periods —with a small time lag in each quarter of the lunar month. The new moon in December, 1934, came in on the Bth. Here, where I write, there was in the first quarter rain on the 12th. It was certain to me that December was going to be a dry month (I’ll explain this presently) and that any further rain was to be expected on the 19th. 26th and January 2. Actually it did not rain on the 19th, but the wind went to the north-west and rain tried to come up. It did rain on December 26 and ou January 2, when we had 1.34 inch, with a much less quantity on the Ist and 3rd either side of the due date, the 2nd. It does not follow .that because it rained on December 12 of necessity it must rain on the 19th, 26th and January 2. I only go so far as to say that, if there was any rain coming, it would have arrived at those dates; and if I had had seeds to sow or hay to get in I should have borne those dates in mind and arranged my work accordingly. For 23 years now I have found the method a great help in this respect, here in New Zealand. Now where the Meteorological Department gives a broad prophecy for the whole country and cannot be expected (though it always is) to foretell everyone’s local conditions, the method I suggest (the milder lunacy) will help a man very much in his own locality —say, within a radius of five miles of his house. The General Method. Taking the lunar month already used, note this: if it rained- on December 12 (as it did) and if December 10 was a lovely day (as it was here) for a picnic, or turning and cocking hay or any other job that needed fine weather, then for this particular lunar month if I had needed another line day for any purpose I should have picked December 17, 24 and December 31. They might not be quite so line; they might be finer, these days given, but they would be “fine.” Watch then the weather in your*, own immediate locality for the ’first quarter of the lunar month. Broadly you will know what the weather will be for the next three weeks. If a change in the weather is coming, almost invariably it comes at the new moon or within 48 hours after. And if the weather .is fine and dry when a new moon comes in and it does not break within 48 hours, the lunar month is going to be a dry one, for that time of year in that locality. Five miles away things may be different. There are two periods of the year at which the thing is unreliable; the equinoctial periods-, ami of thunderstorms no man may speak with certainty. There may be a deluge on your farm and drought a quarter of a mile away. Occasionally the weather may change at the full moon as well as the new, though not often. The tendency seems to be mainly toward finer weather about the full moon. I think I am right when I say that one of the most striking features of the New Zealand weather is the quantity of rain that falls at night and before daylight. Will, bright moonlight disperses clouds, so. again broadly speaking, the tendency Is toward less raiu at the full moon. It tried to rain here on December 19, when rain was to be expected. It failed. The month was due to be a dry one and not much was needed to block rain on the due date. The moon was full on the 21st (I think it w.as). The okl “superstition” of sowing crops harvested above ground at the new moon and those harvested below ground at the full moon: I alwaj’e do this—now have a good laugh!—and I hazard a guess that this superstition has its roots in what I have just written —the tendency toward finer weather at the full moon. A Reasonable Explanation. Root crops will stand up to a lack of moisture more easily than the crops harvested above ground, with their mass of foliage and stalk all needing moisture and all losing moisture to sun and wind. Tho chances are that extra moisture is also needed for the seeds, and this moisture is more likely to be present in the first quarter of the moon than in the third quarter. AU guesswork, of course, but based on 23 years of work. Silver beet, peas, marrows, pumpkins, cucumbers, lettuces, melons, cabbage, cauliflower, these I would always sow at the new moon. Swedes, mangels, potatoes, beet, carrots, radishes, and so on, at the full moon. And, quaintly enough, if you do use the moon as your clock, and you are sowing also at the right time of year, I think you will agree with me that the ground always seems to be right for what you want to do. This is the milder (I hope you will agree) lunacy.