The Effect of the Moon's Phases on the Period 

 of Felling Bamboos. 



BY 



A. M. SMITH. 



IN the " Indian Forester" for November, 1906, Mr. E. P. 

 Stebbing, in a paper on " The Effect of the Moon's 

 Phases on the Period of Felhng Bamboos," calls attention to a 

 belief apparently very widespread in India that the time of 

 full moon is to be avoided in felling bamboos. This beUef 

 extends also to the felling of timber of other sorts, but is appa- 

 rently not so stronglj' held in the other cases. The idea is also 

 held in Ceylon, and appears to be a commonplace in forest 

 practice in Columbia, South America (see paper by E. R. 

 Woakes before American Institute of Mining Engmeers), 

 being there applied to all timber. It is necessary before dis- 

 missing such a widespread belief as a superstition to attempt 

 to find some scientific explanation for it, and work which the 

 writer has recently done on the Growth of Giant Bamboos may 

 perhaps afford a clue to whatever basis of truth Hes below the 

 idea. 



The native foresters themselves attribute the supposed effect 

 to the greater or smaller quantity of sap present in the stems 

 at the time of felling. It is, they say, more abundant at full 

 moon, and therefore this time should be avoided. The evil 

 effects of feUing when full of sap have reference to the attacks 

 of boring beetles {Dinoderus pilifrons and D. min%tus), which 

 are sujpposed to five largely on the sap, and therefore the attacks 

 of the beetle are more extensive if the bamboos are felled when 

 full of sap. 



[Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol. IV., Part II, October, 1907. J 



