drought, or of nipping frost, may disappoint his most sanguine and
best founded expectations. His daily comfort, his yearly profit, and
the general welfare of his family, all depend upon the weather, or
upon his _skill in foreseeing its changes_, and availing himself of
every moment which is favourable to his purposes. Hence, with
agricultural writers, from the most early times, the varied
appearances of the clouds, the nature of the winds, and the changing
aspects of the sun and moon, and their several significations, have
formed a favourite subject of description and discussion. Thus of
the sun Virgil says--

"Sol quoque, et exoriens et quum se condet in undas,
Signa dabit; solem certissima signa sequuntir.
Et quae mane refert, et quae surgentibus astris."

And then he gives the following _prognostics_, as unerring guides to
the Latian farmer:--

"Ille ubi nascentem maculis variaverit ortum,
Conditus in nubem, medioque refugerit orbe;
Suspecti tibi sint imbres....
Caeruleus pluviam denuntiat, igneus Euros.
At si quum referetque diem condit que relatum
Lucidus orbis erit: frustra terrebere nimbis
Et claro silvas cernes aquilone moveri."

Mr. Stephens recognises similar solar indications in the following
rhymes:--

"If the sun in red should set,
The next day surely will be wet;
If the sun should set in grey,
The next will be a rainy day."

And again--

"An evening red, or a morning grey,
Doth betoken a bonnie day;
In an evening grey and a morning red,
Put on your hat, or ye'll weet your head."

In his next edition we recommend to Mr. Stephens's notice the Border
version of the latter:--

"An evening red and a morning grey,
Send the shepherd on his way;
An evening grey and a morning red
Send the shepherd wet to bed."

The most learned meteorologists of the present day believe the moon
to influence the weather--the practical farmer is sure of it--and we
have known the result of the hay crop, in adjoining farms, to be
strikingly different, when upon the one the supposed influence of
the time of change was taken into account and acted upon, while in
the other it was neglected. Mr. Stephens gives as true proverbs--

* * * * *

"In the wane of the moon,
A cloudy morning bodes a fair afternoon."

And

"New moon's mist
Never dies of thirst."

But Virgil is more specific--

"Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna