18 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



Jan. 



ASTRONOMY AND AGHICULTURE. 



ET US look into the heavens 

 on one of these clear, cold 

 nights. We see the moon 

 movinp: on in her grand course, 

 with her horns half filled, or, 

 perhaps, with borrowed light 

 sufficient to round her up into 

 ample fullness ; or the Aurora 

 streaming up from the arctic re- 

 gions and spanning the arch of heaven ; or the 

 countless stars, twinkling at each other, and 

 sparkling, as if to outdo their neighbors in 

 brilliancy and glory ; and the stars, some 

 of whose light, though travelling with al- 

 most incomprehensible velocity, was years 

 in reaching our earth, — and we are lost in 

 wonder, admiration and gratitude and led 

 to exclaim with the Psalmist, "Many, O 

 Lord my (iod, are thj- wonderful works 

 which thou hast done, and thy thoughts 

 which are to us-ward : they cannot be reck- 

 oned up in order unto thee : if I would de- 

 clare and speak of them, they are more than 

 can be numbered." 



We are not left, however, without some cer- 

 tain knowledge in relation to them. If we 

 know that beings, created as we are, could not 

 live in the moon, which is without an atmos- 

 phere, we do not know but He who created all 

 things has fitted them — if they are there — for 

 euch a condition of things. 



We have much undoubted knowledge in 

 relation to the movements of the heavenly 

 bodies, as the appearance and disappearance 

 of very many of them are foretold with un- 

 erring accuracy for a great number of years 

 in advance. The appearance of the vast num- 

 ber of meteors which have recently burst upon 

 our Avorld, was foretold a great many years 

 ago, and so of obscur.ations of the sun. moon 

 and oth< r bodies. "The heavens declare the 

 glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his 

 handiwork. "Day unto day uttcreth speech, 

 and niglit unto night showcth knowledge. 

 "Tlierc is no speech nor language where their 

 voice is not heard." 



T\w cpririoiis firm.amcnt on high, 



■NS'ilh ■11 til • liluo < Ihereal nky, 



And rpanj^lcd honvctis, .1 shining frame, 



'I'hcir grc.-ii Oriuiu.il proclaim. 



'J'lu' unwtMrifd Fun, tVom d ly to day, 



Doth his tV.alor's powiT di^plily ; 



And puMinhes to ovcry land 



Tlir work of ail Almighty hand. 



We find by the books that astronomy is 

 among the most ancient of the sciences, as it 



can be traced back as far as authentic history 

 reaches, and its origin seems lost in the night 

 of time. The periods of th-- lieaveidy bodies 

 were made use of to measure the parts of the 

 year. Almanacs, and calendars of all kinds, 

 are founded on this science, and witliout it we 

 should be destitute of the means of safe nav- 

 igation, be incapable of making a correct 

 geography of our planet, and should have but 

 a very imperfect knowledge of the seasons of 

 the year, and the appropriate occupations of 

 the husbandman in each. "Astronomy, too, 

 extends our knowledge of mundane existence ; 

 by it we find that the whole of our magnificent 

 solar system is but an immeasurably small part 

 of the whole that we can see of the universe ; 

 and we are led to the discovery of worlds, 

 placed at a distance beyond all human compu- 

 tation, which compels us to admire the great 

 harmony of nature that prevails in the stupen- ^ 

 dous mechanism of the heavens." 



But it is chiefly to the practical utility of 

 the science to the farmer that we wish to al- 

 lude. Agricultural observations in ancient 

 times were regulated by the rising and setting 

 of the signs of the Zodiac, and other constel- 

 lations, and then, accurately compared with 

 the flowering of plants, the arrival of birds, 

 and other natural phenomena, became the 

 basis of the earliest rustic calendars. 



The familiar acquaintance with the time of 

 rising and setting of the stars, must have been 

 a source of great amusement, as well as profit 

 to shepherds, mariners and husbandmen of old, 

 who, being constantly abroad in a fine climate, 

 and beneath a sky almost perpetually serene, 

 must have had an abundant opportunity of 

 observing the heavenly phenomena. 



Steering bj' the stars is as old as any re- 

 corded instance of navigation. Planting, sow- 

 ing and ingathering by the stars, is as ancient 

 as any record we possess of agriculture, and 

 pastoral life has left no traces behind it un- 

 connected with accounts of the celestial warn- 

 ings of the heavenly spheres. 



The ancient mariner had his "Tyrian Cyno- 

 sure," the steadfast index of the northern pole, 

 lie knew the hour of the d.ay by the sun, and 

 kept the night watches by the bear. The hus- 

 bandman, likewise, marked the seasons by the 

 stars ; he waited for the annual overflowing of 

 the Nile till admonished of its approach by 

 tjirius ; he marked the return of spring in the 



