Show SIGNS OF A SEVERE SEVER P WINTER the washington post post says that since last ast summer there have boea plenty of indications likewise ets to to show that the united states la Is to be treated to lo an early winter and a lon ion one no with the weather unusually usually nn severe sov ore the spring was early summer followed fast upon its heels and the autumn season came fully three weeks before its us u aj time usually ripened toward the last of september made choir appearance in august chestnuts began to drop before the first of october and paw paws seldom ripe afi V e in ii this I 1 latitude a pae until novem ae ii t 1 t 1 bon berj vero were gone b before ear t the he leaves began to to crimson wild grapes persimmons and hickory nuts which are supposed to require a series of heavy frosts frosta to mature them have all dropped from the boughs and been garnered by the squirrels into their winter storerooms store rooms orn before the first real touch of cold weather moro more than the earl early y e maturing of these theao wild crops Is their abundance nature is a wonderful provider she never forgets her tiny feathered and an d furred creatures sho never falls to provide them with a sufficient store of food hut but she seldom lavishes lavished lavis hes upon them more than they need perhaps slie she fears they might become negligent and careless at any rate careful observation has provided that a scarcity of nuts in the woods invariably invariably y precedes odes a mild winter vinter anu and great abundance Is the sure promise of ion long continued bitter weather in years when walnuts hickory nuts and chestnuts ar are e faw it is not unusual for the watching naturalist in tho the woods to see the squirrels spurn most of them and d pick only the best beet ones here and there with which to fill their larders in the hollow trace instinct has taught the cunning little gray scamps scalps that ih there or e will be many bright days in midwinter r when they can forage among the tree tops and on the edges of fields for far fresh food but in october when tho the nuta he thickly among the dead leaves leave 3 tho the squirrels are very busy all day do y they ran hither and thither thor pouches full bright eyes active wits nimble as their feet searching out wory every nut and ready to scold or fight any an and d all comers for its possession they seem to know well that chat when the fee and snow now come they will stay a long while I 1 aside front froni the sure instinct of tile the wild things the laws chuman oh uman c com 0 m invite tile the expectation of a severe winter with tho the exception of march 1906 1006 and april and may of 1907 washington has hag seen no really bitter weather since tho winter of 1901 1905 but these months belonged to a belated spring rather rathe r than to the winter preceding them now A Is a good time then for folks to follow tho example odthe squirrels and got their winters winter s supply of coal in tie bin vegetables in the cellar and preserves in the pantry while there Is yet plenty in the land and alid before I 1 tho the snow come |