Northern Hemisphere zs a period of erie This time of year is known throughout ti When rains descend and winter's snow and ice melt, filling the rivers and often causing floods. The Sun has just entered the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes, leaving that of Aquarius, the Men with the Water Pot, both of which are symbolical of, wetness February 19, was the day of Rain Water interestingly enough, last Wednesday, Vu Shui, the first day of the fortnightly period of thet name in the Chinese farmer's Nature calendar. Actually it was the same day that the Sun entered the constellation of Pisces. There is, however, no connection to be traced between the Chinese naming of this date es the beginning of a period of humidity and the Water-symbolical constellations of the West. The Chinese associate the constellations with the days of the month, not with the months of the veers.
Be that as it may, it should here be noted that once again the Chinese Nature calendar has been vindicated, since it rained most of the day on February 19. As a matter of fact this early spring rain came somewhat prematurely this year, for it commenced on February 10.
An unexpected fall of snow occurred on February 12 in the Shanghai area, following widespread snow falls in the northern, northeastern and control provinces of China. As is usual when snow blankets North China, cold north or northwest winds swept our area, turning the rain that was falling on that date first to light snow in the early after noon, then to hail and sleet, and finally, as clerkness came on, to heavy snow. By 8 o'clock my garden was a picture, every twig on every bush and tree being leden with delicate white crystals that sparkled like gerbs in the light from the drawing-room windows, Next morning everything was blanketed with a fairly thick covering of snow, which, however. soon began to melt.
The birds, particularly the doves, that came for their daily ration of unhusked rice and kaoliang, looked very bedraggled. The tail feathers of one dove were missing, while several of these birds showed difficulty in flying as their wing end tail feathers had evidently got wet in the sleet of the preceding day and then frozen during the night. One had several feathers that had been torn out by the roots frozen fast to the rest of its tail and sticking out zt all angles. The birds generally must heve had a most uncomfortable night, what with the bitterly cold wind that accompanied the sleet and snow and froze the latter on to the windward sides of houses, electric cable poles and tree trunks. They all seemed very glad of the food which I scattered on the snow-covered lawn, and were greedily picking it up before I had finished distributing it. I felt that I was doing something really worth while, for, with the whole countryside buried in snow, they would certainly have had to go hungry that day but for the food I gave them.
Since that fall of snow it has been somewhat warmer as well as more humid, and this hes resulted in my garden looking much greener. Everywhere plant life is burgeoning as the poets say. I was surprised to find some Temple-of-Heaven in bloom. This seems to me unusually eerly for these lovely mauve-blue flowers, but I am open to correction, since I have no records concerning them to go upon. Many people look upon this plant as a weed, and, indeed, it grows like one. It needs no care whatsoever, being self-seeding and sprezding all over the garden if left alone. But it is wonderfully florescent, and, in my opinion, is one of our most attractive spring flowers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.