60 POPULAR ERRORS. 



vigor should be planted, grafted, and pruned dur- 

 ing the increase of the moon. This increase of 

 vigor, however, may be at the expense of the fruit, 

 and in such a case it should be checked by planting 

 in the old of the moon. Peas, beans, squashes, 

 etc., therefore, which are liable to run too much to 

 vines, should be planted in the old of the moon. 

 Thomas Tusser, in his " Five Hundred Points of 

 Good Husbandry," expresses this belief when he 

 says: 



" Sow peason and beans in the wane of the moon, 

 Who soweth them sooner he soweth too soon; 

 That they with the planet may rise, 

 And flourish with bearing most plentiful wise." 



Let us now briefly consider what effect, if any, 

 the moon really does have on the affairs of our 

 planet, especially on the growth of vegetation. 



The most important influence of the moon is in 

 the production of tides. The moon, by its nearness 

 to the earth exerts a greater attractive force upon 

 it than any other heavenly body. Every day, as 

 the earth in its revolution turns first one side and 

 then another toward the moon, the water and the 

 atmosphere upon this side are drawn toward that 

 body. This, in the case of the waters, produces 

 the diurnal rise of the tides. Twelve hours later, 

 when the same side is turned away from the moon, 

 the attraction of the moon being in the opposite 



