COUNTRY LIFE
ON no single theme in the prognostics of weather are more prophecies in existence than the warmth of January. They all, so far as I remember, aver that warm days in the opening year portend cold days in spring, even up to May. For example:—
March in Janiveer,
Janiveer in March, I fear.
Or:— A January spring Is worth naething.
A similar welcome to unseasonable warmth is given by country people. The warmth is to be deprecated as hardly less unwhole- some than the east wind of a "black Janiveer." There is, I believe, no statistical evidence for the theory that a cold spring follows a warm winter ; and as to health there is little doubt that warmth, however unseasonable, is good for, at any rate, elderly humanity and for all stock. The exception is among hibernating insects and possibly mammals as well. Very large numbers perish from a too early awakening, especially, I think, queen wasps, which seem to be more easily stirred by untimely warmth than the wiser bumble-bees. As for hive bees, bee-keepers hate to see an early emergence. Winter food is consumed more freely and the actual deaths may be many. As to prognostics, is there any evidence that anyone, in England at any rate, has ever been able to anticipate by so little as, say, a fortnight, the coming weather ?
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