58 POPULAR EERORS. 



the increase of the moon causes the sap to ascend in 

 the timber, and, on the other hand, that its decrease 

 causes the sap to descend. Timber, therefore, which 

 is cut in the decrease of the moon will contain less 

 sap, and hence will keep longer, than if cut in the 

 increase of the moon. It is not easy to see, even 

 on the supposition that this theory is correct, why 

 a tree should contain less sap, as a rule, during the 

 period of its descent than during its ascent. It is 

 not strange, therefore, that the people of Cuba 

 should have become confused and adopted the 

 opposite idea that wood to resist the decay should 

 be cut in the waxing moon. It is said to be com- 

 monly held in that island that the palm leaf thatch 

 used for houses will last many years if cut during 

 the increase of the moon, but only as many months 

 if cut at any other time. One inhabitant, however, 

 being induced by a traveler to make a trial of 

 thatch cut at the two opposite phases of the moon 

 confessed that he could see no difference in the 

 result. Duhaniel of France carefully tested the 



m 



duration of timber cut in different stages of the 

 moon and observed no material difference in the 

 time of decay. 



Another curious belief, which is perhaps more 

 widely held than anv other concerning the influence 



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of the moon on plants, is that those plants which 

 bear their edible portion above ground should be 



