548 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



clouded, their temperature is maintaiued for the 

 reasons above stated. 



The moon, therefore, has no connection what- 

 •ever with this effect ; and it is certain that plants 

 would suffer under the same circumstances, 

 whether the moon is above or belov\" the hori- 

 zon. It equally is quite true that if the moon be 

 above the horizon, the plants cannot suffer un- 

 less it be visible : because a clear sky is indis- 

 pensable as much to the production of the in- 

 jurj- to the plants as to the visibilitj- of the moon ; 

 and, on the other hand, the same clouds which 

 ■veil the moon and intercept her light give back 

 to the plants that warmth which prevents the 

 injurj- here adverted to. The popular opinion 

 is therefore right as to the fffect, but wrong as 

 to the cause ; and its error will be at once dis- 

 covered by showing that on a clear night, when 

 the moon is new, and, therefore, not visible, the 

 plants maj' nevertheless suf3t;r. 



Time for fell 171 g Timber. — There is an opin- 

 ion generally entertained that timber should be 

 felled only during the decline of the moon : for 

 if it be cut down during its increase, it will not 

 be of a good or durable quality. This impression 

 prevails in various countries. U is acted upon 

 in England, and is made the ground of legisla- 

 tion in France. The forest laws of the latter 

 country- interdict the cutting of timber during the 

 increase of the moon. M. Auguste de Saint Hi- 

 laire states that he found the same opinion preva- 

 lent in Brazil. Signor Francisco Pinto, an emi- 

 nent agriculturist in the province of Espirito 

 Santo, assured him as the result of his experi- 

 ence, that the wood which was not felled at the 

 full of the moon was immediately attacked by 

 ■worms and very soon rotted. 



In the extensive forests of Germany, the same 

 opinion is entertained and acted upon with the 

 most undoubting confidence in its truth. Sauer, 

 a superintendent of some of these districts, as- 

 signs w-hat he believes to be its physical cause. 

 According to him the increase of the moon 

 causes the sap to ascend in the timber : and, on 

 the other hand, the decrease of the moon causes 

 its descent. If the timber, therefore, be cut 

 daring the decrease of the moon it will be cut in 

 a dry state, the sap having retired ; and the wood, 

 therefore, will be compact, solid and durable. 

 But if it be cut during the increa.se of the moon, 

 it will be felled with the sap in it. and will 

 therefore be more spongy, more easily attacked 

 •-by "worms, more difficult to season, and more 

 Teadily spht and warped by changes of tem- 

 perature. 



Admitting for a moment the realitj- of this 

 supposition concerning the motion of the sap, it 

 would follow that the proper time for felling 

 the timber would be the new moon, that beine; 

 the epoch at which the descent of the sap would 

 bave been made, and the ascent not yet com- 

 menced. But can there be imagined in the 

 wbole range of natural science, a physical rela 

 tion more extraordinan,' and unaccountable than 

 this suppo.sedcoiTespondence between the move- 

 ment of the sap and the phases of the moon ? 

 Assuredly theory affords not the .slightest coun- 

 tenance to such a supposition; but let us in- 

 quire as to the fact whether it be really the case 

 that the quality of the timber depends upon the 

 state of the moon at the time it is felled. 



M. Dubamel Monceau, a celebrated French 

 arricultiirist, has made direct and positive ex- 

 periments for the purpose of testing this ques- 

 tion ; and has clearly and conclusively shown 

 tliat the qualities of timber felled in different 



parts of the lunar month are the same. M. Du- 

 hamel felled a great many trees of the same 

 age, growing from the same soil, and exposed 

 to the same aspect, and never found any differ- 

 ence in the quadtj' of the timber when he com- 

 pared those which were felled in the decline of 

 the moon with those which were felled during 

 its increase ; in general they have afiorded tim- 

 ber of the same quality. He adds, however, 

 that by a circumstance which was doubtless for- 

 tuitous, a slight diflerence v.as mauiiested in fa- 

 vor of timber which had been felled between the 

 new and full moon — contrarj- to popular opinion. 



Supposed Lunar Iiijhience on Vegetables. — It 

 is an aphiOrism received by all gardeners and 

 agriculturi.sts in Europe, that vegetables, plants 

 and trees, which are expected to flourish and 

 grow with vigor, should be planted, grafted, and 

 pruned, during the increase of the moon. This 

 opinion is altogether eiToneous. The increase 

 or decrease of the moon has no appreciable in- 

 fluence on the phenomena of vegetation ; and 

 the experiments and observations of several 

 French aericulturisiv. and especially of M. Du- 

 hamel du Monceau (already alluded to) have 

 clearly established this. 



Montanari has attempted, like M. Sauer, to 

 assign the physical cause for this imaginary ef- 

 i'ect. During the day. he says, the solar heat 

 augments the quantity of sap which circulates 

 in plants by increasing the magnitude of the 

 tube through which the sap moves ; while the 

 cold of the night produces the opposite eflect by 

 contracting these tubes. Now, at the moment 

 of sunset, if the moon be increasing, it wiil be 

 above the horizon, and the waiT.ith of its light 

 would prolong the circulation of the sap ; but, 

 during its decline, it will not rise for a consid- 

 erable time after sunset, and the plants will be 

 suddenly exposed to the unmitigated cold of the 

 night, by which a sudden contraction of leaves 

 and tubes will be produced, and the circulation 

 of the sap as suddenly obstructed. 



If we admit the lunar rays to pos.sess any 

 sensible caloriflc power, this reasoning might be 

 allowed ; but it w ill have very little force when 

 it is considered that the extreme change of tem- 

 perature which can be produced by the lunar 

 light, does not amount to the thousandth part of 

 a degree of the thermometer. 



It is a curious circum.stauce that this erroneous 

 prejudice prevails on the American continent. 

 M. Auguste de Saint Hilaire states that, in Bra- 

 zil, cultivators plant during the decline of the 

 moon ail vegetables whose roots are used as 

 food ; and, on the contrarj-. they plant during 

 the increasing moon the .sugar-cane, maize, rice, 

 beans, &c. and those which bear the food upon 

 their stocks and branches. Experiments, how- 

 ever, were made and reported by M. de Chau- 

 valon, at Martinique, on vegetables of both kinds 

 planted at different times in the lunar month, 

 and no appreciable difference in their qualities 

 was discovered. 



There are .some traces of a principle in the 

 rule adopted by the South American agronomes, 

 according to which they treat the two cla.sses of 

 plants, distinguished by the production of fruit 

 on their roots or on their branches, differently; 

 but there are none in the European ajihorisms. 

 The directions of Pliny are still more specific : 

 he prescribes the time of the full moon for sow- 

 ing beans, and that of the new moon for lentils. 

 " Truly," says M. Arago, •' we have need of a 

 robust faith to admit, without proof, that the 

 moon, at the distance of 240,000 miles, shall in 



