1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



143 



powerful as the sun. The commissioners of the 

 French forests require such timber to be cut in the 

 old of the moon, and such has been the standing 

 regulation from the year 1669. 



Mr. Staples, of Turner, in the County of Oxford 

 and State of Maine, in a communication in the 

 New England Farmer, describes himself as above 

 the age of seventy years, and during the greater 

 part of that time has been a practical farmer. He 

 removed to this place at the age of twenty-two, 

 when the country was new, and was among the 

 five first settlers, and has given particular attention 

 to the moon's influence on timber, vegetation, &c. 

 He says, that it is a truth, that the moon operates 

 upon the earth and every thing which grows upon 

 it, much more powerfully than is generally ima- 

 gined. It is also true, that the effects of her op- 

 eration vary regularly, as she passes through her 

 orbit or monthly course. Timber, cut in the wane 

 of the moon, will be much more durable than it 

 would be if cut between the new and full moon. 

 Her operations are so great and different in the 

 various parts of her orbit, that by cutting one tree 

 three hours before the new moon, and another of 

 the same kind six hours afterwards, and preserv- 

 ing them one year, a very striking difference in the 

 soundness of them will be discovered. If I had 

 known, says Mr. Staples, as much at the age of 

 twenty-two years, as I now do, relative to this sub- 

 ject, I am satisfied it would have benefited me 

 more than a thousand dollars, particularly in clear- 

 ing hard wood land and in getting durable tim- 

 ber tor buildings of all kinds, and for sleds, carts, 

 &c. 



He says, I have found by experience that fruit 

 trees set out in the wane of the moon, and partic- 

 ularly on the last day of the last quarter, are more 

 likely to live and bs flourishing, than when set out 

 at any other time. I have proved by experiments 

 for ten years in succession, that an apple tree limb 

 or graft, cut off in the month of May, about three 

 hours belbre the moon changes, and carefully set 

 out, will grow and do well. 



Another writer says, that in the months of May, 

 June, and July, oak trees, in the new of the moon, 

 will readily part with the bark, when, in the old of 

 the same moon, the bark will adhere closely. 



Such are some of the opinions and facts to sup- 

 port the affirmative of this question; but opposed 

 to these opinions may probably be found most of 

 the scientific and practical agriculturists of the 

 present day. Doctor Dean and Colonel Picker- 

 ing, men of great experience, practical knowledge 

 and accurate observation, consider these notions of 

 the moon's influence as visionary. There are cer- 

 tain operations of the moon upon the earth, which 

 are obvious and admitted by all. It aflbrds us light 

 by night, it turns the earth in some degree from its 

 elliptical orbit, it occasions a small oscillation in 

 the earth's axis, it causes the ebbing and flowing 

 of the sea, and a like effect upon the atmosphere. 

 But heat, which is the cause of vegetation, has 

 never yet been discovered in the collected rays of 

 light from the moon. Experiments, made at the 

 Royal Observatory in Paris, have proved, that the 

 light of the moon condensed by a powerful lens, 

 had no effect whatever in altering chemical pro- 

 ducts, though very sensibly and easily affected by 

 the light of the sun. Another fact is, that the 

 most opposite weather in different parts, take place 



at the same instant of time, and of course under 

 the same phases of the moon. 



It was probably from opinions prevalent in the 

 days of Solomon of certain influences in the hea- 

 vens, that he was led to make the mild rebuke 

 — "He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and 

 he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." 



From the National Intelligencer. 



UNION" GOLD MINING COMPANY OF VIR- 

 GINIA. 



A party of Cornish miners arrived at New 

 York, a lew days since, in the ship Boston, of 

 London, and passed through Philadelphia on their 

 way to the Company's Mines. We are informed 

 also, that a large amount of machinery, of the 

 most approved construction, is expected daily. It 

 is gratifying to perceive that the attention of Bri- 

 tish capitalists has been at length awakened to the 

 great mineral resources of the southern states. It 

 is natural to suppose that native American enter- 

 prize will derive much advantage and information 

 from the well-directed operations of the London 

 Company, whom it may be presumed have been 

 very choice in their selection of men and machi- 

 nery, and from the known success of the Brazi- 

 lian Mining Company, whose profits amounted to 

 $250,000 per annum. These foreign capitalists 

 may reasonably calculate on a largely profitable 

 return. We now confidently anticipate some fixed 

 results, which will more completely develope and 

 satisfactorily determine the character of the gold 

 region of the southern states. The future conduct 

 of similar operations must be much modified and 

 directed by the successful results of the present 

 undertaking. The skill and science which will be 

 here evinced, cannot fail to save many engaged in 

 similar enterprises from much useless expense and 

 disappointment. 



From the New Monthly Magazine. 

 CAUSE OF FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP. 



Mr. Hickley has communicated to the "Irish 

 Farmer's Journal" a very singular and successful 

 experiment tried upon the potato in the county of 

 Dublin. A gentleman who holds a farm of 150 

 acres, planted in the usual manner 34 acres under 

 potatoes in 1832; the result was, a complete failure 

 of the crop. This induced him to try many ex- 

 periments upon the root, all of which failed except 

 ihe following: he took six potatoes and divided 

 them into twenty cuts; he then got a large basin 

 of water, into which he put a cupful of salt and a 

 piece of blue stone about the size of a walnut. 

 He put len of the cuts into the basin, and let them 

 remain there one entire night. On the following 

 day he procured a very strong microscope, through 

 which he examined the entire twenty cuts. On 

 the ten cuts which were not immersed in the ba- 

 sin he could distinctly perceive many small while 

 particles like eggs; and those cuts which were not 

 immersed presented no such appearance whatso- 

 ever. This discovery urged him to follow up the 

 examination attentively; and every day for a short 

 period, he continued to watch the. appearance of 

 the aforesaid matter. The result was, that those 

 white globular particles were animalculae, for in 

 a few days they became quite visible to the na- 



