Why Does the "Old Farmer's Almanac" Have a Hole in It?

It may seems quaint in these days of smartphones and e-tablets, but back in the day, the Old Farmer's Almanac was the go-to source for all the information you needed to run a household or a farm. You might have found a copy of the Old Farmer's Almanac hanging in the kitchen, the barn, or even the outhouse. Rural folks would use a nail to punch a hole in their favorite reading material, run a string through the hole, and hang the book close by so they would always know where to find it.

The first edition of the Almanac was published in 1792. At some point in the early 1900s, its publishers began selling the publication with a hole already drilled in the upper left corner. Of course, you can find the Almanac online now, but the content is pretty much the same -- recipes, planting charts, home and garden advice, informative articles, and those uncanny long range weather forecasts. The print edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac still has that hole in the upper left corner.

More about the Old Farmer's Almanac:

• The Old Farmer's Almanac has thousands of followers on Twitter and more than a million people "like" the publication's Facebook page.
• Not to be confused with the competing Farmers' Almanac, the Old Farmer's Almanac claims to be North America's oldest continuously published periodical, coming out every year in September.
• Janice Stillman became the first female editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac in 2000.