THE HEAVENS IN JUNE 



37 



dar" feature, inaugurated in this num- 

 ber of the magazine. Here will be 

 found, month by month, and day by 

 day, the data necessary for planting 

 according to the phases of the moon, 

 and for such other garden operations 

 as are supposed to be under the influ- 

 ence of Diana. 



This information is made with the 

 hope that many will be sufficiently in- 

 terested to keep a record of their gar- 

 dening operations so timed, and to 

 make reports of these at intervals dur- 

 ing the summer, or a complete report 

 at the end of the season, to the editor. 

 In this way we may arrive at valuable 

 conclusions and add something to the 

 sum of useful human knowledge — al- 

 ways a consummation devoutly to be 

 wished. To this end the directions of 

 the "Calendar" will not be simply 

 "bumcombe" reprints, but will be 

 compiled, so far as may be possible, 

 from sources as trustworthy and scien- 

 tific as exist ; and among these, folk- 

 lore shall have the high place which 

 alone is consistent with its importance. 

 As with all experimental work, com- 

 parative plantings are of course neces- 

 sary to definite conclusions. Probably 

 the fairest test is a pair of rows al- 

 ways, planted side by side, rather than 

 in two portions of one row. This in- 

 sures the same soil, moisture and light 

 conditions for those things planted 

 during the favorable, and the indiffer- 

 ent or unfavorable, periods ; the two 

 ends of a row very often differ materi- 

 ally in one or two or even all three of 

 these. 



Of the moon's influence on the 

 waters of the earth, there is no longer 

 any doubt in any one's mind. That it 

 influences the atmosphere and the 

 gases enveloping our planet similarly 

 with the waters, must be perfectly ob- 

 vious ; and that it exerts a mighty 

 physical pull upon the solid portions as 

 well as upon the fluidic subterranean 

 matter, cannot rationally be denied. In- 

 deed, subterranean tides are accepted 

 by many scientists, if not by science 

 generally. Why should not all this 

 great influence and this tremendously 

 powerful pull — powerful even though 

 it is infinitesimal ; it is calculated to 

 be one sixteen-millionth of a given 

 weight — affect vegetation, and indeed 

 all life upon the globe? This is not to 

 say, beyond scientific question of 

 course, that it does — but the question 



is at least admissible ; and the affirma- 

 tive answer seems, to say the least, the 

 more probable. 



When white men first came to this 

 continent, they found the red men here 

 firmly fixed in the belief of the moon's 

 great influence upon crops ; and no one 

 has ever questioned the American 

 aborigine's acumen in matters pertain- 

 ing to the great outdoors generally. 

 And every race of men, everywhere on 

 the globe, cherish these moon beliefs, 

 &nd are governed accordingly, except 

 as science has shamed and frightened 

 them out of being. And now even 

 science, in the persons of some of its 

 most eminent followers, is willing to 

 admit the possibility of 'a hidden, mys- 

 terious bond of a magnetic nature' be- 

 tween the moon and the earth. 'Noth- 

 ing proves or contradicts such a hy- 

 pothesis, and it is possible that study 

 in this direction mi^ht lead to inter- 

 esting results.' —House and Garden. 



A Correction in Auditing Statement. 



^ In the auditing statement of Mr. H. 

 E. Deats, published last month, the ex- 

 pression, "of the right size," should 

 have read, "on the right side." 



The Vastness of Nature. 



Nature is so vast and overwhelming 

 that we are bewildered by the very 

 wealth of beauty poured out. We 

 need to study consciously this beauty, 

 to isolate from the multitude of forms, 

 mastering one fragment after another, 

 for the sake of deepening subsequent 

 spontaneous appreciation. - - Edward 

 Howard Griggs in "The Philosophy of 

 Art." 



The Fragrance of the Old Days. 



Oh, the old farm days ! How the 

 fragrance of them still lingers in my 

 heart! The spring with its sugar- 

 making and the general awakening 

 about the farm, the returning birds,, 

 and the full, lucid trout-streams ; the 

 summer with its wild berries, its hay- 

 ing, its cool, fragrant woods; the fall 

 with its nuts, its game, its apple-gath- 

 ering, its holidays ; the winter with its 

 school, its sport on ice and snow, its 

 ?pple-bins in the cellar, its long nights 

 by the fireside, its voice of fox-hounds 

 on the mountains, its sound of flails in 

 the barn — how much I still dream 

 about these things! — "Our Friend 

 John Burroughs," by Clara Barrus. 



