Copyright, 1907, by
Doubleday, Page & Company

All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian

TO G. W. R.
I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK, AS AN EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION AND ESTEEM

NOTE

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Wilson A. Bentley for valuable assistance in the arrangement of this book, and particularly for permission to reproduce the microphotographs. Jean M. Thompson.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. When the Dew Falls 5

II. The Coming of the Hoar Frost 37

III. Etchings by Jack Frost 65

IV. Mysteries and Beauties of the Snow 97

V. Ice and Its Formation 169

VI. The Beneficent Rain 205

ILLUSTRATIONS

A Winter Scene Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

3. Grass blade with dew deposit 5

4. Showing how sharp-pointed grasses collect and retain the dewdrops 5

5. Grass blade holding two drops 5

6. Dewdrop on grass blade 5

7. Spider’s web entire 9

8. Detail section of spider’s web dew-laden 9

9. A dew-laden strawberry leaf 13

10. Dewdrop caught on vegetable hairs 13

11. The sleeping caterpillar was a good subject 13

12. The surface of a leaf dew-covered 13

13. Dew caught and held upon the down of plant stem 14

14. Dew upon the down of a leaf 14

17. Hoar-frost deposit upon a stick 18

18. Dainty lace-like formation of hoar frost 18

19. Winter tabular hoar frost resembling a group of butterflies 18

20. Like a piece of bleached coral 22

21. Tabular hoar frost 22

22. Tree form tabular hoar frost which grew in zero weather 22

23. A winter type of hoar frost 26

24. Columnar hoar frost upon a decaying log 26

25. Striking arrangement of hoar-frost crystals 26

26. Showing hoar-frost elaboration 33

27. Hoar-frost deposit upon grass blades 33

28. Moss-like hoar frost deposited upon surface of pond 37

29. Columnar hoar frost scattered over brook ice 37

30. An odd hoar-frost formation 41

31. Detail tabular hoar frost 41

32. Detail tabular hoar-frost crystals 41

33. Cup-form hoar frost 41

34a. Columnar hoar-frost crystals 45

34b. Columnar hoar frost 45

35. Linear-type window-pane frost 46

36. Showing initials crudely scratched upon glass 46

37. An exquisite lace pattern in frost 50

38. A beautiful example of two distinct types 54

39. Fern-like scrolls, delicate background 54

40. A perfect fern leaf 58

41. Raised fern-like arrangement 58

42. Showing in detail granular frost 58

43. Graceful feathers with curling ends 62

44. Strikingly beautiful example 62

45. One of Jack Frost’s masterpieces 69

46. A mass of feathers scattered upon glass 69

47. Sometimes Jack Frost sketches oak leaves 73

48. Detail of frost crystals largely magnified 73

49. Twigs and leaves 77

50. Branch-like arrangement of twigs 77

51. Moss-like arrangement of frost 78

52. Twin freaks 78

53. An unusual design 82

54. A powdering of small flowers 82

55. A maple-leaf etching 86

56. Find the frost spider 86

57. Two distinct types of window-pane frost 90

58. Curious design suggesting a spider web 90

59. One of the choicest designs of window frost 97

60. A design of frost work from “the land of the pointed firs” 97

61. Blizzard type 101

62. Exquisite jewelled type 101

63. Solid, big-storm type 105

64. A very symmetrical crystal 105

65. High-altitude crystal 105

66. Freak crystal formed by broken sections uniting 105

68. Air inclusions unusually clear 109

69. Low-altitude type 109

70. Local-storm crystal 110

71. Freak trigonal crystal 110

72. Elaborately etched 110

73. The cuff-button crystals 114

74. Low-cloud crystal 114

75. A beautifully marked high-altitude crystal 114

76. Crystal coated with granular snow 118

77. Having flower-like petals 118

78. Very intricate design 122

79. Showing a perfect star 122

80. Frigid-altitude crystal 126

81. High- and low-altitude type combined 126

82. Having beautifully etched center 126

83. A diamond pendant 126

84. Clean-cut prism-like crystal from high altitude 133

85. Suggesting a Masonic emblem 133

86. The Egyptian crystal 133

87. Unusually symmetrical and clearly defined 137

88. Singular detail 137

89. Trigonal crystal 137

90. Young germ crystals 141

91. Granular pellet crystals 141

92. Columnar six-sided type 141

93. Sleet, sharp and stinging 142

94. Old snow, re-crystallised 146

95. Freak crystal 146

96. Snow rollers 150

97. Scattered like huge muffs over large tracts of land 150

98. A freak crystal 154

99. Two broken crystals united 154

100. A society emblem 154

101. A twin crystal 154

102. A feathery type 161

103. Leaf-like terminations 161

104. Delicately etched centre 165

105. High-altitude crystal 165

106. Solid type 169

107. Star type 169

108. Very unusual centre formation 169

109. Mosaic like 169

110. Feathery type 173

111. Clear prism-like branches 173

112. Solid type 173

113. Low-altitude crystal 173

114. Having notably elaborate centre 174

115. Very elaborate design 174

116. The arrow crystal 174

117. Low-altitude type 174

118. High-altitude crystal 178

119. A daintily etched centre design 178

120. Branchy trigonal crystal 182

121. An uncommon type 182

122. One of the most elaborate crystals shown 186

123. A rare design because of its open petal-like formation 186

124. Very frigid altitude crystal having remarkably etched centre 186

125. A snow crystal covered with granular deposit of frost 186

126. Local-storm type 190

127. Cold high altitude 190

128. Germ or birth of ice crystal 197

129. Second stage in which crimps begin to appear 197

130. Third stage of development 197

131. Fourth stage flower-like shape beginning to show 201

132. Ice flower completed 201

133. Flower-like shape fully formed 201

134. Ice flower beginning to show shadings 201

135. Ice crystals growing downward into the brook 205

136. Group of ice crystals 205

137. Lance-like form seen pushing out from banks of brooks 205

138. Second stage of lance-like ice crystals 206

139. Lance-like form completed 206

140a. Freak ice crystals 206

140b. Group of ice crystals containing germs 206

141a. Coral-like branch showing the “feather type” in detail 210

141b. Window-pane ice 210

142. Beautiful type of window-ice growing like delicate seaweed 214

143. Window-pane ice 214

144. Another type of window-pane ice 214

145. An example of columnar ice 218

146. Columnar ice 218

147. Columnar ice, section shown in detail 218

148. Very great thunder-storm drops 222

149. Rain from cirro-stratus high clouds 222

150. Rain from low nimbus clouds 222

151. Thunder- and hail-storm type 226

152. From a great rain storm which lasted 15 hours 226

153. Thunder cloud 230

154. Nimbus or low stratus clouds 230

WHEN THE DEW FALLS

CHAPTER I
WHEN THE DEW FALLS

One of the most interesting and instructive phenomena in the lessons of nature is the falling of the dew—a seeming miracle which begins with the setting of the sun, and goes on mysteriously, collecting and distributing its countless exquisite water jewels, all through the long stillness of the night, only to be dispelled again by the heat of the rising sun.

We are more or less familiar, through casual observation, with the varied beauties of the dew. A walk in the country or park, in the early midsummer morning, just after the sun has risen, if possible, will enable you fully to appreciate its charms; especially if the dewfall during the preceding night has been a copious one. Every bit of plant-life and vegetation will sparkle and twinkle in the early sunshine, hung and embellished with millions of glittering jewels. The very smallest grass blade, you will discover, has not been neglected by the Dew Fairy. And even the delicate, gossamer-like spider’s web swung from twig to twig or caught among the grasses, is dew laden, and an object of beauty well worthy of consideration.

Happy indeed are you, if you have enjoyed a stroll in an old-fashioned country flower garden in the early morning. No need to dwell upon its charms if you have enjoyed that pleasure, for you will long remember the refreshment and peace which came to you with the close companionship of the great pink, damask roses, their petals still heavy with the night dews; the tall, sentinel-like lilies, cool and fragrant, their cups filled with dewy nectar, which great blundering bees were eagerly plundering; clean-smelling phlox, waist-high, each velvet cluster moist and bent with its weight of dew. Then the beds of gray-green mignonette; and best of all, down in an out-of-the-way corner, a tangle of unobtrusive old-fashioned pinks, where you knelt and buried your face for a moment to inhale their spicy fragrance, and found them doubly sweet and satisfying after their drenching dew bath. While the beds of simples and humbler things, the sage and wormwood, with their silvery leaves heavy with dew, exhaled a pungent, aromatic odour as you brushed them in passing. For the dew had refreshed them and enhanced their dormant spiciness tenfold.

The phenomenon of the dew is simply explained, and well worthy of a short study as it is really a most important factor in nature’s laws. Simply explained, the dew is really an actual deposit of water from the atmosphere upon the surface of the earth, and is formed when the earth is sufficiently cooled during the night by radiation.

Upon a pleasant day during summer, especially if the sun shines brightly, much aqueous vapour or mist is held suspended in the air, and if the temperature at sunset falls below the dew point, that vapour can no longer be retained in suspension in the air, and falls to the earth. The dew is the vapour of the air. Sometimes it can readily be seen falling in a fine mist resembling rain. It is the humidity of the air deposited upon all surfaces of the earth with which it comes in contact. When the temperature falls below the dew point, or 32°, the dew then becomes converted into frost, and we have a deposit of hoar frost, instead of the dew. It has been remarked that horizontal and flat surfaces exposed to the dew receive a greater deposit than sheltered or oblique surfaces.

Dew has frequently been quoted as “A shower from heaven,” but this is not literally correct. True, it appears rather mysteriously from a clear sky, and upon a still, cloudless night covers thickly every blade of grass and plant life with seeming raindrops, and that frequently where rain clouds rarely appear, and the rain seldom falls. In such climates, where a rainfall is rare, it is certainly a most beneficial and wise provision, for it gathers upon all herbage and vegetation, in sparkling, refreshing profusion; while it avoids instinctively all barren rocky formations and all things which could not be benefited by its grateful cooling, moisture. Also, in cold, damp climates, where the air is continually saturated with moisture, and where an additional amount is not required, the gathering clouds and the dampness of the chilly atmosphere prevent a radiation of heat from the earth, and the dew never falls in such climates.

There are three requisites which appear to be essential for the formation of the dew: First, that the air should be moist; second, that the surface upon which it falls shall be cold, and third, that the sky be clear.

Of course the atmosphere always contains a greater amount of moisture after a rainfall, when the air has been greatly cooled. Evaporation is then continually going on among all objects lying near the surface of the earth. Blades of grass and all plants near the ground gradually cool and assume a lower temperature after sunset; they are preparing for the fall of the dew.

It has been remarked that certain plants possess greater powers of radiating heat and of expelling moisture through evaporative process than others; upon such plants the dew deposit is always more profuse, while those plants possessing less powers of radiation and evaporation, collect little dew.

There are very many plants whose leaves are downy, with a thick growth of tiny vegetable hairs; the mullein leaf is a good example, its thick velvety leaves are thickly covered with this growth of vegetable down, and present a velvety surface; these leaves always collect a fine display of dew jewels. One has been caught by the camera, perched upon the down of a mullein leaf, as shown in the photographic illustration.

During still nights in early spring and fall, when there are no disturbing winds, the water molecules or dewdrops in countless numbers form one upon another, all night long, and settle upon blades of grass and all growing plants, and in the morning sunshine dance and sparkle in strings of scintillating diamonds from every pasture and hedge row.

The sharp-pointed grasses collect the dew very copiously and in a most interesting manner. Dewdrops formed upon the grass blades, it will be observed, are arranged in a truly wonderful symmetrical fashion, and one marvels at the orderly arrangement. Frequently one large dewdrop, clear as a diamond, is deposited upon the very tip of the little grass blade, sometimes two and even three large drops are held in suspension thus, while upon the extreme sharp edge of one or both sides of the blade a collection of small, bead-like drops cling in orderly, precise fashion, strung from tip to root of the grass blade. A broken or blunted blade of grass collects no dew, or very little. When the large dewdrop perched upon the tip of the grass blade decides to fall, it descends rather slowly at first, following the extreme edge of the blade in its course, and thus meets and collects all the other dewdrops which it encounters strung along the edge of the blade, until forming at last one heavy drop, it suddenly falls to earth, where it is instantly absorbed, and goes to give life and strength to the very roots of the plant.

Cobwebs attract the dew in a rather singular manner. It is yet to be discovered why the dew forms only upon the horizontal threads of a spider’s web, while the vertical threads, though smaller, collect no dew deposit. This curious fact is well shown in the photograph of the entire spider’s web, also in the section of a web, showing the dew deposit in detail. Wonderfully beautiful are these dew-laden webs. It will be observed that each drop is similar in size, and closely resembles several strings of well-matched pearls, although in the sunshine they appear as clear, flashing diamonds. Certain leaves collect the dew drops in a novel manner, notably the strawberry leaf, and similar plants having serrate edges. The strawberry leaf, besides being plentifully decorated upon its surface with water beads, holds in each tiny serration about its edge a large, clear, sparkling dewdrop, which gives the leaf a wonderful jewelled effect.

We are all familiar with the so-called “sweating” of a glass or pitcher, or a metal pipe containing cold water; this is another phase of the dew, and may be observed in the daytime.

A cool night in spring or autumn, after a hot day, we usually receive a more copious fall of dew, which gradually increases as the night becomes cooler. Should clouds gather, the precipitation of the dew at once ceases. Wherever a bush or bit of vegetation overhangs a spot, it has a similar effect to that of a cloud, and the dew does not collect at all, or not as copiously, in that spot.

In the tropics, and in certain countries where there are no rain clouds; where they rarely have rain for many months at a time, the dewfall is so heavy that it quite supplies the lack of rainfall. If it were not for this providential visitation of the dew all vegetable life must certainly perish, scorched and withered by the torrid heat.

In the East, in the region of Palestine, the dew frequently is so heavy that it closely resembles rain. Upon the great burning deserts alone the dew never falls; for the moment the dew vapours or molecules encounter the scorching breath which arises from the face of these barren seas of sand, they evaporate and are redissolved, dissipated and consumed by the heat. So it will be seen that the fixed molecules which compose vegetation alone have the power to attract and arrest the water molecules of the air with which they come in contact, and thus form, in combination, the dew.

When the temperature is below 32°, the tiny particles which go to form the dew become hoar frost. It is often of great value to the farmer or vegetable grower to be able to know just the temperature of the dew point, because, if he discovers it in time, he is enabled to save his garden from a sudden blighting visitation of the frost.

Another interesting fact, and one which is known to few of us, but which may readily be seen, if we take time to study the dewdrop minutely is; that each tiny drop of dew is in itself a miniature mirror, for upon its clear, crystal-like surface it holds and faithfully portrays upon its rounded form the image of any near-by object. The picture is, of course, naturally inverted. But you will find it; a bit of blue sky holding a scrap of fleecy cloud, or a pigmy forest of trees caught and mirrored in the dewdrop. Often sleeping and dormant insects when caught out in the open during the night, receive a copious deposit of dew. The caterpillar shown in the photograph was a good subject, and quite a collection of dew was deposited upon his furry coat.

Nature in all her moods, and they are many, is always entertaining and instructive, and perhaps one of her greatest marvels is that which takes place in the silence of the brooding night—the falling of the gentle dew.

THE COMING OF THE HOAR FROST

CHAPTER II
THE COMING OF THE HOAR FROST

When autumn has reached the zenith of perfection, when the milkweeds and thistles which grow thick in the hedges have cast their gossamer, fairy-like seeds to the winds, and the goldenrod which flaunted its yellow banners so brightly through those last long, perfect days of dying autumn, has at last begun to fade, the first warning which we have of the approach of the frost is all at once seen in certain mysterious changes of colour which have taken place in the foliage of the trees. Then we know that upon that last still night, when the stars snapped and sparkled so brilliantly, and the air felt unusually keen and crisp, that the Hoar-frost Spirit must have been abroad, and in passing, touched all the trees and plants very lightly with his magic wand. Out in the garden the sturdy sunflowers droop their seed-filled crowns a trifle, while the hollyhocks seem to stand less primly and firmly, and lean together as though for support. They have felt the blighting touch of that magic wand. He touched also the tips of the maple leaves upon the hillside, and left upon some of them just a little dab of his crimson brushwork; they form a touch of brilliant colour against the darkly massed pines and hemlocks in the background. But shortly they will flame forth upon every hillside, one vast torch, lighted to do honour to the passing of autumn; and all the work of the Frost Spirit.