A Century Old Almanac

Sometime ago I came into possession of a "100 years Almanac" for farmers and housekeepers from 1876 to 1976. It was written or published by O. Swinsley of Baltimore. The price was ten cents.

Page 3 contained a table of the seven planets and the years they ruled from 1778 to 1882. The next dozen pages were devoted to each of the planets for the years up to 1974. I was surprised to find that Mercury was the ruling planet when I was born. The year was supposed to have been dry and colder than warm, (no wonder my mother first clothed me in long dresses). Five or six pages are devoted to the descriptions of each planet. I am certain that those who read and studied these pages had a very good background of astrology, particularly the size of each one, where they might be found at various times of the year and the approximate distance from the earth, as they surmised a hundred years ago.

Page 18 was devoted to sowing and planting. The farmer’s wife usually followed her almanac faithfully. She followed the "up " and "down" signs. We noted that March 16 and 17 between the hours of 5:25 and 6:35 a.m. was the time to plant seeds for roots. This must have meant carrots and radishes. Other plant seeds were to be sown between 7:50 and 9:10 and 11:10 and 1:20. If the garden soil was not ready on these days, the gardener planted her seeds on the 21st or 22nd between the hours of 5 and 6:05 a.m. or 7:25 and 8:50p.m for the roots, or, 11:05 to 1:10 for the other seeds. If neither of these days were suitable, the 27th was the last time to plant her seeds. She had to wait until April 12th or 13th between the hours of 6 and 7:20a.m. or 9:20 and 11:30 a.m. These dates and hours were good for garden, truck, grain, vines, and other things for top growth. April 24 from 10:30 to 10:45 was the last time for roots whose growth was below the surface. September 7th and 8th from 7:10 to 9:40a.m. and 5:50 and 7 were the best times for sowing fall grain.

Two pages were devoted to the "Signs of the weather" it was amusing to find here the various signs copied from "The Shepherd’s Calendar 1683". First are the signs of rain, from birds, swallows flying low, birds forsaking their food and flying to their nests, poultry going to rest or pigeons to their dovehouse, tame fouls grubbing in the dust and flapping their wings, the early chirping of sparrows, the dull appearance of the robin red-breast near houses.

Signs of wind, from birds, water fowl gathering in flocks on the banks of streams and ponds, wild geese flying high and in flocks, the kingfisher taking to land.

Fair weather, from birds, water fowl leaving the shoreline, swallows flying high, robin red-breasts mounted high and loud in his song, bats appearing early in the evening.

The almanac also had weather signs for the animals, predictions of rain- asses baying more frequently than usual, hogs playing and scattering their food, or carrying straw in their mouths, cattle sniffing the air, looking to the south on their right side, calves running violently, deer, sheep or goats leaping, prancing, or fighting, cats washing their faces, dogs scratching up the earth, rats, and mice more restless than usual.

The next was the sign of rain from insects: Worms crawling out of the earth in great numbers, spiders falling from their web, flies dull and restless, ants hastening to their nests, bees hastening home and keeping closed hives, hornets, wasp and glow worms appearing plentiful in the evening.

If spider webs are seen in the air or on the grass, these all denote fair and warm weather.

Forecasting rain from the sun: The sun rising dim or waterish, rising red with blackish beams mixed with its rays, or setting under a thick cloud or setting red sky in the east.

Sudden rains never lasts long, but when the air seems to go thick by degrees, and the sun, moon, and stars shine dimmer and dimmer it is likely to rain six hours, usually.

The sun rising pale and sitting red, with an iris, rising in a red sky in the north, setting of a blood red color, or, setting pale with one or more dark circles accompanied with red streaks, are good indications of a windy day.

As a rule, a circle around the moon indicates rain and wind. When it is seen while a north or northeast wind if blowing, we can look for stormy weather, especially if the circle is large. With the wind in any quarter we can expect rain, so also when the ring is small and the moon seems covered with mist. If one observes the moon rise after the sunset and a circle is soon after formed around it, no rain if forecast. All these weather signs were observed a hundred years ago, yes three hundred years or more.

To all of you who were born in the nineteenth century you might be interested in the following discoveries that happened in the first half of that century.

In 1802 the first public application to practical use of gas for illumination was made. In 1803 steel pens were introduced. In 1807, wooden clocks commenced to be made by machinery. This ushered in the era of cheap clocks. In 1813, the streets of London were lit for the first time with gas. Also in 1813, a mill was built in Waltham, Mass., believed to have been the first mill in the world that combined all the requirements of making finished cloth from raw cotton. In 1790, there were only twenty-five post offices in the whole country, and up to 1837 the rates of postage were .25 cents for a letter over 400 miles.

In 1809, Fulton took out the first patent for the invention of the steam boat. The anthracite coal business started about 1820. The first steamboats that made regular trips across the Atlantic Ocean were the Sirius and Great Western in 1830. About the year of 1833, the first railroad of any considerable length in the USA was constructed, and in 1836, the first patent for the invention of matches was granted.

In 1840, the first express business was established and the first experimental test in photography was made by Daguerre. It was in 1845 that the first telegram was sent.

Can you think of any inventions or great events which happened in the second part of the past century?

All this and more appeared in an almanac that was sold in this county for the year 1876.