The Old Farmer's Almanac 2015 (34 page)

According to this age-old practice, cycles of the Moon affect plant growth.

• Plant flowers and vegetables that bear crops above ground during the light, or waxing, of the Moon: from the day the Moon is new to the day it is full.
  
• Plant flowering bulbs and vegetables that bear crops below ground during the dark, or waning, of the Moon: from the day after it is full to the day before it is new again.
  

The Moon Favorable columns give the best planting days based on the Moon’s phases for 2015. (See the
Left-Hand Calendar Pages
[>]
for the exact days of the new and full Moons.) The Planting Dates columns give the safe periods for planting in areas that receive frost. See
Frosts and Growing Seasons
[>]
for first/last frost dates and the average length of the growing season in your area.

Get local seed-sowing dates at
Almanac.com/Planting-Table
.

• Aboveground crops are marked *.
  
• (E) means early; (L) means late.
  
• Map shades correspond to shades of date columns.
  

Many factors affect the times and heights of the tides: the shoreline, the time of the Moon’s southing (crossing the meridian), and the Moon’s phase. The High Tide column on the
Left-Hand Calendar Pages
[>]
lists the times of high tide at Commonwealth Pier in Boston Harbor. The heights of some of these tides, reckoned from Mean Lower Low Water, are given on the
Right-Hand Calendar Pages
[>]
. Use the table below to calculate the approximate times and heights of high tide at the places shown. Apply the time difference to the times of high tide at Boston and the height difference to the heights at Boston. A tide calculator can be found at
Almanac.com/Tides
.

Estimations derived from this table are not meant to be used for navigation.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac
accepts no responsibility for errors or any consequences ensuing from the use of this table.

Astronomical data for Boston is given in
Bright Stars
[>]
, in
The Visible Planets
[>]
, and on the
Calendar
[>]
pages. Use the Key letter shown to the right of each time on those pages with this table to find the number of minutes that you must add to or subtract from Boston time to get the correct time for your city. (Because of complex calculations for different locales, times are approximate.) For more information on the use of Key letters and this table, see
How to Use This Almanac
[>]
.

Get times simply and specifically: Download astronomical times calculated for your zip code and presented like a Left-Hand Calendar Page at
Almanac.com/Access.

TIME ZONES:
Codes represent standard time. Atlantic is −1, Eastern is 0, Central is 1, Mountain is 2, Pacific is 3, Alaska is 4, and Hawaii-Aleutian is 5.

1.    g.
Manganese, used in some glass produced from the 1860s to about 1915, oxidizes when exposed to ultraviolet rays, turning the glass purple. Some collectors find the color attractive and thus create this “sun-purple” glass using sunlight or black light. Others consider sun-purple glass to be damaged, placing less value on it than its original, clear form.

2.    f.
As chlorophyll in banana skin decomposes, it fluoresces in the ultraviolet range. This makes it easier for insects and animals that can see ultraviolet light, such as fruit bats, to find ripe fruit, which appears indigo to them.

3.    e.
The blue coloring on a lobster is the result of a genetic variation. (The odds of finding another rare form, the yellow lobster, are 1 in 30 million.)

4.    a.
In China, red is traditionally the dominant color in a wedding dress. It is a symbol of good luck, love, and prosperity.