And now, having concluded his domestic arrangements, [3] he must learn to know something of the weather which prevails in the district in which he has settled, before he can properly plan out or direct the execution of the various labours which are to be undertaken upon his farm during the winter. A chapter of some length, therefore, is devoted to the "weather in winter," in which the principles by which the weather is regulated in the different parts of our islands, and the methods of foreseeing or predicting changes, are described and illustrated _as far as they are known_. This is the first of those chapters of _The Book of the Farm_ which illustrates in a way not to be mistaken, the truth announced at the head of this article, that _skilful practice is applied science_. [Footnote 3: Hesiod considered one other appendage to the homestead indispensable, to which Mr. Stephens does not allude, perhaps from feeling himself incompetent to advise.] To some it may appear at first sight that our author has indulged in too much detail upon this subject; but he is not a true practical farmer who says so. The weather has always been a most interesting subject to the agriculturist--he is every day, in nearly all his movements, dependant upon it. A week of rain, or of extraordinary 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:--