Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1886 — The Pigs and the Weather. [ARTICLE]

The Pigs and the Weather.

Of pigs, I have heard it said, very frequently: When swine carry sticks, Tho clouds will play tricks ; but that— When thoy lie in the mud, No fears of a flood. The first of these couplets is of twofold interest. I have watched them for years, to see what purport this carrying of sticks and bunches of grass might have, and have only learned that it has nothing whatever to do with the weather, or at least with coming rainstorms. The drouth of summer is so far a convenience as to throw light upon this habit, as it did upon the uneasy cows. Pigs carry sticks as frequently then as during wet weather, or just preceding a shower. Furthermore, these gathered twigs are not brought together as though to make a nest, but are scattered about in a perfectly aimless manner. For some cause, the animal is uneasy, and takes this curious method of relieving itself. The probabilities are that it is a survival of some habit common to swine in their feral condition, just as we see a dog turn about half a dozen times before lying down. In an interesting paper on local weather-lore, read by Mr. Amos W. Butler before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, during the Philadelphia meeting of 1884, the author has another version of this saying: “When the hogs gather up, sticks and carry them about, expect cold weather.” This is wholly at variance with what I have observed, for my memoranda record shows this habit almost wholly during the hot weather, and this must necessarily be the rule with New Jersey swine, or the local weather-prophets would not have coined the verse as I have given it. As to the other couplet, it is about as near meaningless as any saying can well be. Some rustic rhymer, a century ago, may have added it as a piece of fun, but it has stuck most persistently. As it stands now, it has stood for quite 100 years. — Dr. C. C. Abbott, in Popular Science Monthly.