Oct. 7, Monday — Cornell University welcomed its first students, 1868. Singer Vaughn Monroe born, 1911.
Oct. 8, Tuesday — Conjunction of Venus and Moon. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson born, 1941. Great Chicago Fire, 1871.
Oct. 9, Wednesday — The calliope patented by Joshua C. Stoddard, 1855. Puritan leader Roger Williams banned from Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1635.
Oct. 10, Thursday — Spiro Agnew resigned as U.S. vice president, 1973.
Oct. 11, Friday — Humanitarian and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt born, 1884. Daughters of the American Republic (D.A.R.) founded, 1890.
Oct. 12, Saturday — Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti born, 1935. Boston Hospital hosted first demonstration of the "iron lung" artificial respirator, 1928.
Oct. 13, Sunday — First quarter Moon. Boston Red Sox won the first World Series, 1903. U.S. Navy organized, 1775.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Is there any truth to the folksong about Mrs. O'Leary's barn and the cow knocking over the lantern that started the Great Chicago Fire? — P.J., Chicago, Ill.
Answer: Some. It's not known how the fire actually started, but it DID start in Patrick and Katherine O'Leary's barn on DeKoven Street (on the southwest side of town), with a good southwesterly wind to spur it on.
Legend says that a cow knocked over a kerosene lantern. It was 1871 and the city was almost completely built of wood in the "balloon frame" style of architecture begun in Chicago. Property damages reached about $200 million, about 250 people died, and about a third of the city was left homeless — as many as 100,000 people. A water tower built about three years before the fire survived and became a monument to the flames.
Besides the O'Leary's barn, the $3.5-million Palmer House also burned to the ground. It was a hotel built by Potter Palmer as a wedding present for his wife, Bertha. The young Bertha evidently persuaded Potter to stay in Chicago and rebuild the Palmer House in an even grander style. She's reputed to have had a lot to do with inspiring the city's women to donate their voluntary efforts and money to various civic causes. She later supported Chicago's famous Hull House as well, and took part in the Women's Trade Union league.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: We've just moved into a new house, and the ground is completely bare. Are there any autumn landscaping chores that we can begin now? — H.M., Pittsfield, Mass.
Answer: The primary one would be the lawn. Fall is a good time to start a new lawn, or repair an old one. Since your house is new, you may need to bring in good topsoil to cover the builder's gravel.
Existing weeds, fallen leaves or other debris can be shredded and composted to help build up an enriched base. Plan where you'll want garden beds, ground covers or shrubbery. If you've got time, start a bed with some spring-flowering bulbs, then water well and add mulch.
Shrubs such as lilacs, leucothoe and virtually all the evergreens can be planted now, if you've got good soil ready for them. Consider your roof line, and don't place shrubs where heavy snowfalls or spring rain runoff will damage them. Plan ahead, too, so that windows, electric or phone lines, oil or gas refills, or meter readings won't be blocked when the plants reach full size.
If you know you'll be planting fruit trees in the spring, you might consider digging the holes now, to get an earlier start on the growing season. Fill the holes with mulch and cover, to keep it from freezing too solidly. You can also dig trenches for berries and vines. Now all you have to do is order the gardening catalogs and wait for warm weather!
For more gardening advice, read "The Old Farmer's Almanac Gardener's Companion" quarterly. To subscribe, call 800-895-9265, ext. 220, or visit www.almanac.com/store/gcsubscribe.html.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: "Keep your nose to the grindstone" is a well-known adage, and there must be a reason for it, but why would anyone want to do that? — T.K., Sarasota, Fla.
Answer: Sounds gruesome, doesn't it? The reference is to the sense of smell, however, rather than to any sort of applied friction to the nose itself.
A good miller could detect the smell of granite if the runner stone and bed stone of the gristmill were too close together during grinding. Millers were constantly adjusting the gap between the two huge, wheel-shaped stones, to best accommodate the size of kernels of the particular batch of corn being milled.
The phrase, of course, has come to indicate a steady and hard worker, one who keeps up a good pace and is mindful of his work. It's often applied to students as they push to complete their studies over the course of a semester.
It's more voluntary than being "led by the nose" and not as grim as "paying through the nose." Someone who is "keeping their nose to the grindstone" is probably not "keeping good hours" (going to bed early), but they are apt to be "keeping body and soul together" (maintaining life).
Send your questions to: Ask the Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Main St., Dublin, NH 03444; Web site: www.almanac.com; © Yankee Publishing