Jones studied the variation in sunspot cycles that had been discovered by Eduard Bruckner, and came to the conclusion that anomalies were caused by the interaction of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. This became the basis of his long-range weather forecasts, although he never claimed to be able to make day-to-day predictions. Although Jones failed to have his methods recognised as soundly based by any substantial body of accredited scientific opinion, he was widely recognised for his successes, especially by farmers.[https://web.archive.org/web/20051130232326/http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/scripts/fam-dynindex.php3?EID=P001087][http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0008.html#8085]