APRIL 14, MONDAY: First quarter moon. First edition of Noah Webster's dictionary published, 1828.
APRIL 15, TUESDAY: "The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf." Bessie Smith born, 1894.APRIL 16, WEDNESDAY: Lighthouse at Minot Point, Mass., swept away in gale, 1851. Wilbur Wright born, 1867. Singer Lily Pons born, 1904.
APRIL 17, THURSDAY: J.P. Morgan born, 1837. Ben Franklin died, 1790.
APRIL 18, FRIDAY: "Midnight Ride" of Paul Revere, 1775. Einstein died, 1955.
APRIL 19, SATURDAY: Confederate ports blocked, 1861. Daphne du Maurier died, 1989.
APRIL 20, SUNDAY: Moon on the equator. Hitler born, 1889.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Is a thistle the same as a nettle, and do they all sting?
- C.T., Detroit, Mich.
Answer: No. Both thistles and nettles have been called the Devil's plant or Devil's vegetable because of their thorns, and both are considered prickly weeds, although they're often used medicinally, but that's where the resemblance ends. Nettles are commonly of the genus Urtica (family Urticaceae), and their tiny hairs release an irritant that gives them their name, "stinging nettle." Sometimes the stinging effect is used as a counterirritant to produce warmth on arthritic joints or sore muscles. In Germany, the nettle seed was considered an aphrodisiac because of its association with stimulating the blood. Aaron Hill (1685-1750) in "Verses Written on a Window" advised, "Tender-handed stroke a nettle, and it stings you for your pains; grasp it like a man of mettle, and it soft as silk remains." From this comes the concept of "grasping the nettle" in times of necessary confrontation.
The thistle, on the other hand, is of the family Asteraceae, species of Carduus or Cirsium. It sports purple flowers and prickly leaves and has become the national emblem of Scotland - legend has it that in the 10th century the invading Danes gave themselves away by their screams when they tried to steal away barefoot through a dry moat full of thistles. Carduus benedictus is associated with the Virgin Mary through another legend, which says it grew when she planted a nail from Christ's cross. Like nettles, thistles have been prescribed for toothache, as a restorative tonic and to impart warmth through their counterirritant action.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: I think I've got a barn owl living in a recessed part of an old woodshed. I'm wondering if it eats snakes. Once, when I was near the nest, I heard a hissing sound such as a rattlesnake might make.
- D.C., Jackson, Miss.
Answer: Owls are more apt to eat mice and other such rodents than snakes, although they certainly could and do capture snakes when they're available.
The hissing sound you heard was most likely the owl itself, however, which can produce a rattlesnake-like warning hiss when its nest is threatened.
Various species of owl produce a wide range of sounds, from the stereotypical hoot of a "hoot owl" (usually a barred owl) and the screech of the screech owl (it's actually more of a quavering trill) to various barks, clucks, and all-out stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks screams in the night.
Tyto alba, the North American barn owl, is the only one of about 17 species of barn owl that is found in America. Its white heart-shaped face distinguishes it from other owls. Ornithologists at the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis have been raising and releasing barn owls for over a decade, in an effort to restore declining barn-owl populations.
According to some reports, a single barn owl can consume 2,000 mice a year, which makes them powerful rodent-control agents. Despite any hissing or screeching, owls are not aggressive, and as long as you protect any young chicks or other smallish creatures you might be raising, the owls won't bother you.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Was chewing spruce gum just a woodsman's habit? It's hard to imagine much demand for such bitter-tasting stuff.
- F.L., Provo, Utah
Answer: We take it you've tried the real thing. Collecting a rocklike plug of spruce gum from the base of the tree and chewing it was an oddity that certainly began in the woods, and lumberjacks were big consumers of the stuff but, indeed, its popularity did expand well beyond the boundaries of the camp-fires and logging camps. At one time, the state of Maine was shipping over 250,000 pounds of the stuff to destinations all over the country. The mid- to late 1800s were probably the heyday, unless you count the many years of Native American use before that. Spruce gum was originally used as a thirst quencher, as well as for the pleasure of the chew, and some tribes attributed medicinal properties to it, as well. For most chewers, though, it was simply a relaxing way to exercise the jaws and maybe ruminate a bit in the process.
We might still be chewing spruce gum today (and some still do) if it weren't for the commercial production of sweeter, more varied alternatives, which manufacturers found they could readily market. The raw spruce gum took some searching out and refining before it could be marketed, while the commercial substitutes could be produced and controlled for quality and purity much more readily.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This Week With The Old Farmer's Almanac
April 14-20, 1997
Tax Day, April 15.
Notable Notebooks
Forget your taxes and celebrate the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, born on April 15, 1452. Besides the Mona Lisa and other major works of art, daVinci left some of the most prolific literary notebooks of any of our great genius minds. There were notebooks on human anatomy, the science of painting, architecture, and mechanics. He also studied and depicted his knowledge in drawings and text on the subjects of hydraulic engineering, botany, geology, and other subjects. The key to all this, according to Leonardo, was simply in "knowing how to see."
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
- Leonardo daVinci
Tip of the Week
If lightning is near, drop your golf clubs and get off the course.
SAVORY MUSTARD SOLE
6 fillets of sole
1/4 cup butter, melted
juice of 1 lemon
5 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white whine
7/8 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons dijon-style mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
6 scallions, sliced, including green parts
Arrange fish fillets full-length in baking dish. Combine butter and lemon juice and pour over fish. Place shallots and wine in a saucepan and boil gently until wine has evaporated. Mix together cream, mustard, salt, and pepper and add to shallots. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Cool; pour over fish. Sprinkle with scallions. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
Makes 6 servings.
The Old Farmer's Weather Proverbs
Better April showers than the breadth of the ocean in gold.
- Irish proverb
Rain from the south prevents a drouth, but rain from the west is always best.
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.