The Farmer And His Almanac

Here is another interesting article from my 1914 almanac. We farmers enjoy the help that comes from the present day almanacs. What ever we may be doing there is always some help that we can glean from these almanacs. whether we are making maple syrup, working the soil, or just farming our farms, its a tradition. I hope you enjoy this segment.

The Geographic and Magnetic Poles

THE geographic and magnetic poles of the earth should not be confounded. There is a difference of some 1,200 miles between them. The geographical poles are the terminal points of the earth's axis, and owing to the way the earth revolves around the sun—at an angle of 66% degrees to the plane of its own orbit —these points never receive the direct rays of light and heat and consequently their locations are the coldest parts of the earth at sea level.

From the dawn of geographical knowledge the northern and southern extremities of the earth excited much speculation. Hardy sea-rovers from an early time tried to penetrate into the frozen waters, and as exploration progressed attempt after attempt was made to wrest the secrets from the ice-bound wastes of sea and land both in the north and south, but especially in the north. These attempts were attended with great physical suffering and most of them resulted in loss of life. It remained for twentieth century science, backed by almost superhuman daring, to unlock the gates of the poles and look upon the places which so long concealed themselves from human eyes amid their eternal surroundings of snow arid ice.

On April 6, 1909, Commander Robert E. Peary "nailed the Stars and Stripes to the North Pole," and on December 16,1911, Captain Roald Amund­sen planted the flag of Norway on the site of the South Pole. The North Pole is in the midst of a frozen sea, the South Pole is the center of a vast ice-bound continent.

The magnetic poles may be defined as the points on the earth's surface where the dipping needle stands precisely vertical; in other words, where the dip is 90 degrees, at the North Magnetic Pole, the north end of the dipping needle points vertically downwards; and at the South Magnetic Pole the south end of the same needle points vertically downwards.

The divergence of the compass from true north is called tear seamen the variation of the needle, but otherwise is known as magnetic declination. The reason of the variation of the needle is that the earth itself is a great magnet, but irregularly magnetized. Were the earth composed of a uni­form material, it would be regularly magnetized and as a consequence the compass would every­where point truly north arid south and the mag­netic poles 'would then correspond with the geo­graphical poles. As it is, a straight line drawn through the earth connecting the two magnetic poles would miss the earth's center by about 750 miles, which shows plainly how irregularly the earth is magnetized. The magnetic poles are not, diametrically opposite each other. In consequence of the heterogeneous magnetization of the earth, a magnetic meridian line is not a straight line leading to the magnetic .poles, but a very irregular one. A great circle passed through the direction pointed out by a compass needle at any given place will not pass through the magnetic poles, and the opposite intersections of two of such cir­cles will not coincide' with the magnetic poles.

The North Magnetic Pole was first located by Captain Boss in 1831, who in latitude 70 degrees 5 minutes north, and longitude 96 degrees 46 min­utes west found the dip of the needle almost 90 degrees. At this point the needle lost its directive force, and when suspended would remain in any position in which it had been placed. Captain Amundsen made magnetic observations in this same locality a few years ago, but has not as yet published the results.

The South Magnetic Pole was located in latitude 72 degrees 23 minutes south and longitude 154 degrees east by Shackleton's expedition in 1908. Observations made late in 1912 by Dr. Douglas Mawson in charge of the Australian expedition confirmed those of Shackleton's party.


Farmers have over the years relied on the signs of the moon and stars to do everything from planting to harvesting and about everything else to boot. They relied heavily on the signs in their every day lives. The previous article dealing with the poles with its magnetic field had an impact in the daily routine on the farm. I would suggest that the magnetic fields still have an effect on us even today.

Sleep sound, sleep save, for all is well down on the farm.

The Old Farmer