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retrograde, and increases in rapidity till he comes into opposition with the Sun. It then gradually diminishes again, and becomes nothing when Mars approaches within 137° of the Sun. Then the motion becomes direct, after having been retrograde for 73 days, during which interval the planet described an arch of about 16°. Continuing to approach the Sun, the planet is lost, in the evening, in the rays of that luminary. All these different phenomena are renewed after every opposition of Mars; but there are considerable differences both in the extent and duration of his retrogradations.

A spectator in Mars will see Venus about the same distance from the Sun as Mercury appears to us, and the earth, to him, will seem as large as Venus appears to us, and never more than 48° from the Sun: and when the earth is found in conjunction with and very near the Sun, he will see the earth appear horned, or falcated, and its attendant the Moon of the same figure, and, at its utmost distance from the earth, not above 15 m. of a degree, though they are 240,000 miles asunder. Mars being not more than a fifth part as large as the earth, if any Moon attends him, she must be very small, and it has not yet been discovered by the best telescopes of our most illustrious astro

nomers.

The telescopic appearance of Mars is very variable; but the predominant brightness of the polar regions leads to the supposition that its poles, like those of the earth, are covered with an everlasting snow; and Dr. Herschel imagines that the changes in brightness are connected with the summer and winter seasons on that planet. This astronomer published, in vol. lxxiv of the Transactions of the Royal Society, an account of a very laborious investigation of all the circumstances relating to the telescopic phenomena of this planet, and concludes by giving the following results:

(1) The axis of Mars is inclined to the ecliptic in an angle of 59° 42'.

(2) The obliquity of the ecliptic on the globe of Mars is 28° 42'.

(3) The figure of Mars is an oblate spheroid whose equatorial diameter is to the polar one as 1355 to 1272, or as 16 to 15 nearly.

(4) The equatorial diameter of Mars, reduced to the mean distance of the earth from the Sun, is little more than 9".

(5) This planet has a considerable atmosphere, so that its inhabitants probably enjoy a situation in many respects similar to ours.

The disk of Mars changes its form, and becomes sensibly oval according to the relative position of the Sun. These phases show that it is from the Sun it receives its light. From the observation of spots distinctly seen on its surface, it is inferred that it moves on its axis from west to east in a period of little more than 24 hours. The mean diameter is about 4000 miles, or rather more than half that of the earth. Its mean distance from the Sun is about 145,000,000 miles. Its proportion of light is to that enjoyed by the earth as 43 to 100.

In the acronical rising of this planet, that is, when it is in opposition to the Sun, it is found to be five times nearer to us than when in conjunction with him; and, therefore, he appears so much bigger and brighter at one time than another. Mars, having his light from the Sun, and revolving round it, has an increase and decrease like the Moon. It may also be observed almost bisected, when in its quadratures with the Sun, but is never seen horned as the inferior planets; which shows that his orbit includes the earth's within it, and that he shines not by his own light.The phases of Mars were first discovered by Galileo.

The Naturalist's Diary.

Now jocund Summer, with her honied breath,
Sweetening the golden grain and blithesome gale,
Displays her sun-burnt-face
Beneath her hat of straw.

THE powerful influence of the solar rays now contributes to ripen the various sorts of grain, which are benevolently given for the food of man and cattle. Fine weather is very desirable, that the principal source of the farmer's wealth may be safely housed; for sudden storms beat down the nearly ripe corn, and materially injure it. The time of commencing the harvest varies greatly in different districts. It is usually begun in the southern and midland parts of the kingdom towards the end of July, but principally at the beginning of this month: in the northern districts of Scotland, the harvest does not commence until the first or second week in September; and it is but rarely that, in these parts of England, it is finished, even in the most favourable situations, before the end of October; and not unfrequently this time is protracted till the middle of November.

The manner of taking the harvest is not more va rious than the periods at which it begins. In some cases, it is the custom to reap or cut the corn with a sickle, and bind it up into sheaves of a moderate size; in others, the cutting of the grain is executed by the scythe in some particular method, and often left, without being bound up, or bound into a sort of bundles. A toothed sickle is employed by some farmers; while others use a sickle with a cutting edge. The grain, when reaped or mown, is, in some counties, set up into a sort of hattock, and capped or covered with sheaves of the same; but, in others, the practice is widely different. Some cut the grain high, so as to

leave a rough stubble; while others cut it quite close to the land. In Surrey and Kent, women may be seen wielding the sickle. Rye and oats usually become ripe first; but this depends upon the time of sowing, though grain of every species may, sometimes, be seen at once, fit for the sickle.

The utmost diligence is now exerted, and labourers from all parts are eagerly engaged to give their assistance in this delightful occupation; all is bustle and activity. The labours of the sickle completed, those who have toiled in securing the wealth of their employer, now receive the welcome reward of a Harvest Supper, or festival. Many curious ceremonies were formerly practised by rustics at the celebration of Harvest Home. Images made of straw, or stubble, were carried home from the harvest-field, followed by a piper or a drum, the men and women singing round it. Some sixty years ago, in the north, a figure like this was dressed up, at harvest time, and was called the kern-baby. In the Hebrides, the strokes of the sickle are timed by the modulation of the harvest song, in which all the voices of the reapers are united. Herrick, in his Hesperides, gives a lively description of this festival, in his Hock-cart, or Harvest Home: Come, sons of Summer, by whose toile We are the lords of wine and oile,

By whose tough labours, and rough hands,
We rip up first, then reap our lands,
Crowned with the eares of corne, now come,
And to the pipe sing Harvest home.
Come forth, my lord, and see the cart,
Drest up with all the country art.
See here a maukin, there a sheet
As spotlesse pure as it is sweet :
The horses, mares, and frisking fillies,
(Clad, all, in linnen, white as lillies,)
The harvest swaines and wenches bound
For joy, to see the hock-cart crowned.
About the cart, heare, how the rout
Of rural younglings raise the shout;
Pressing before, some coming after,
Those with a shout, and these with laughter.

Some blesse, the cart; some kisse the sheaves;
Some prank them up with oaken leaves :
Some crosse the fill-horse; some, with great
Devotion, stroak the home-borne wheat:
While other rusticks, less attent
Το prayers than to merryment,

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Run after with their garments rent.
Well on, brave boyes, to your lord's hearth
Glitt❜ring with fire; where, for your mirth,
You shall see, first, the large and cheefe
Foundation of your feast-fat beefe;
With upper stories, mutton, veale,
And bacon, (which makes full the meale)
With sev'rall dishes standing by,

And here a custard, there a pie,

And here all-tempting Frumentie.

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About the 11th of August, the Puffin (alca arctica) migrates. Priestholme, or Puffin's Island, about three quarters of a mile from the Isle of Anglesea, abounds with these birds; and their flocks, for multitude, may be compared to swarms of bees.. "After climbing up the rocks, and walking to the other side of the island, I had a sight,' says Mr. Bingley, of upwards of fifty acres of land literally covered with puffins; and my calculation is much within compass, when I declare that the numbers here must have been more than 50,000. Their bite, from the shape and strength of the bill, is severe in the birds full grown, it has four oblique transverse. furrows, and, when caught, they will seize on any. thing that is near them. Puffins are migratory, first. arrive from the 5th to the 10th of April, quit it (almost to a bird), and return twice or thrice before they settle to burrow and prepare for laying their eggs. They begin to burrow the first week in May, and are at that time so intent on the business as to suffer themselves to be taken by the hand. This task falls chiefly to the share of the males, for, on dissection, ten out of twelve so employed, proved of that sex; the males also insist in incubation. The first young are hatched the beginning of July, and the old birds show much Y

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