PUBLIC LIBRARY P 47348 ASTOR, LENOX AND 1900. PUBLISHERS' REMARKS. IN the issue of VENNOR'S ALMANAC for 1882 we feel that we are meeting the wishes and requirements of many thousands who take a deep and lively interest in the matter of Weather-Predictions, by furnishing a work giving a full and careful analysis of a subject which has assumed vast proportions and grown to be one of international interest. In securing the services of Professor HENRY G. VENNOR we have been particularly fortunate, being thereby enabled to present the work of a writer in whom the people have learned to place great confidence, and whose former predictions have been verified to a marvellous degree. Heretofore, Professor Vennor's predictions have been confined to comparatively limited territory; we would, therefore, call the reader's attention to the boldness of these extraordinary prognostications, which cover an area of country embracing the United States and the Dominion of Canada, and give in addition a general outline of the approaching winter in Great Britain. It will be observed that the forecasts are calculated for nearly a year in advance! That these prognostications will prove a severe test of the accuracy of Professor Vennor's theory is admitted, yet we are willing to submit them with faith in their reliability. PHILADELPHIA, October, 1881. J. M. STODDART & CO. NOTE.—In reply to the many requests for photographs and autographs of the author, which, for obvious reasons, it has been impossible to comply with, we have inserted a portrait and fac-simile autograph. FOR LIST OF CONTENTS, SEE PAGE 95. THIS, though the fifth yearly volume of the Almanac, is the first that has been prepared with especial reference to the United States. That it should have become necessary, in order to satisfy the demands of the public, for its predictions to embrace the northern half of the Western Hemisphere, instead of, as previously, confining them to a comparatively small section of the Dominion of Canada, is sufficient evidence that the endeavor to forecast the seasons has been successful in some degree. An intelligent foreknowledge of the seasons is equivalent to an enormous saving in the resources of any country, permitting the land to be treated so as always to bring forth the crops appropriate to the season in abundance, and doing away with the present great danger of sowing to waste. Through its aid the world's great problem, growing more difficult of solution every year-how to provide for its inhabitants—would be simplified very much, and a key afforded to the most embarrassing political problems of the age. In my correspondence I notice with much satisfaction and encouragement numerous acknowledgments of direct benefits received from forecasts published in my Almanac and elsewhere. These, coming as they do from leading shippers, representative business-men, and editors and publishers of many of the most important newspapers of the continent, as well as from private individuals throughout the country, are speaking evidences of the value of these predictions, while, at the same time, they foreshadow the great good that in the future may be expected from an intelligent knowledge of forthcoming seasons. With such encouragement, then, I continue my humble attempts to predict the character of the seasons with a much lighter heart than heretofore, feeling assured that I am not singular in my estimation of the work, and that I may look for encouragement, assistance, and support to many of the leading men of the country, and, more encouraging stik, to the people as a whole. That all misrepresentation has been silenced and all opposition overcome I do not believe, and evil would be the day when meteorological investigations should be considered of such little importance as to be counted unworthy of opposition. I cannot conclude this brief preface without, in justice to myself, repeating in effect what I always have endeavored to make plain to my readers: I lay no claim to the discovery of an infallible system of foretelling weather. The science of practical meteorology is yet in its infancy, and is being studied by many men whose abilities are far greater than any I could endeavor to lay claim to. There will be many mistakes before a right understanding or interpretation of its principles is arrived at. Based, as any system of predictions must be, on records of weather as yet incomplete and very faulty, the results cannot be entirely satisfactory, more especially in respect to new ground; yet I believe the key to the solution of the problem has been found, and that all errors will but aid in more correctly discovering the secrets of coming months. HENRY G. VENNOR. MONTREAL, October, 1881. 5 1882. Spring begins Summer begins .................... THE SEASONS. March 20 | Autumn begins.........September 22 MORNING AND EVENING STARS. MORNING STARS: Mercury, until January 6, and from February 22 to May 2; also, from June 28 to August 14; also, from October 22 to December 17. Venus, until February 20, and after December 6 to the end of the year. EVENING STARS: Mercury, from January 6 to February 22; also, from May 2 to June 28; also, from August 14 to October 22. Venus, from February 20 to December 6. PLANETS BRIGHTEST. Venus, November 1; Mars, not this year; Jupiter, December 18; Saturn, November 14. Mercury, February 6, after sunset; March 21, before sunrise; June 1, after sunset; July 19, before sunrise; September 28, after sunset; November 7, before sunrise. GENERAL FORECAST FOR THE AUTUMN AND WINTER OF 1881. HITHERTO, my "General Forecasts" of the approaching seasons have proved successful, and where "misses" have occurred, these in the greater number of instances have been connected with later and more detailed attempts for the weeks and days. This is just as might naturally have been expected in the yet infantile science of weather-prognostication. One may grasp or foresee the character, as a whole, of an approaching seabut may waver when he comes to fill in detail this general outline. I have therefore to request the readers of this Almanac and students of meteorology generally to study carefully, first, the leading and general forecast for the approaching winter or summer season, and after this, and in a more liberal way, the monthly and weekly probabilities; bearing in mind that, as yet, greater detail must be to a great extent experimental. son, Peering into the future, then, from the date on which I am writing (Sept. 1, 1881), let us endeavor to catch, first, the probable character of the autumn of 1881 and the winter of 1882, and after these the succeeding spring and early summer months. Now, before looking forward it is essential that we should glance backward, in a very brief manner, over a period of months, and observe what has been. We see away behind us, moving off for ever into the ocean of the Past, a long and severe winter (1880-81) over the North American continent, marked in an unusual degree with its snow-storms and “cold dips;" a spring of unusual dryness (as might have been expected from the great precipitation during the winter months); and a summer of great drought, with frequent periods of intense heat up to the entering of September. Altogether, a remarkable year, as far as it has gone, has been that of 1881. It has been, however, a simple instance of "give and take," great precipitation and cold having been followed by drought and heat. Thus, as the scoring has been about even, we may be said to be starting afresh. OCTOBER, 1881. THIS month is likely to enter cold and wet, and continue so, with some few days' exception, up to its latter end. The first ten or twelve days are likely to be cold, wet, and wretched in most sections, while snow is likely to fall in northern and western sections as early as the 7th, and between this date and the 15th there will be frequent alternations of rain and snow. In Canada and Northern New York the month will probably be decidedly |