144 OBSERVATIONS ON THE WE4THER. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WEATHER, AS INFLU- 

 ENCED BY CHANGES OF THE MOON. 



Lest the reader should judge, from my introducing this 

 subject, that I am an advocate for moon-planting, in any 

 other sense than in ascribing the various changes of the 

 weather to the influence of that great luminary, I would here 

 offer a few observations in reference to the practice and 

 prejudices of many' persons in choosing the first quarter of 

 the moon for planting such vegetables as yield their produce 

 above the surface, as Cabbage, &c., and the last quarter or 

 wane of the moon for such as grow and yield their produce 

 chiefly in the earth, and below the surface, as Potatoes, &c. 

 I would first obsei've, that if the moon has any direct in- 

 fluence over vegetable productions, it must operate in many 

 cases quite the reverse to what these theorists generally ex- 

 pect ; for instance, if the earth and weather should happen 

 to be dry in the first week after planting certain species of 

 seed, such would fail to germinate, for want of its most 

 essential nutriment, moislure; and in consequence of such 

 seed lying dormant in the earth, until after another change of 

 the moon, if that luminary influences the seed at all, in such 

 case it must be contrary to the objects of the honest planter. 

 As I deem this argument alone sufficient to shake the 

 foundation of moon-planting, in the sense I have described, 

 I shall at once submit to the reader's attention the following 

 observations and table, from the pen of the justly celebrated 

 Dr. Adam Clarke. Some exceptions, however, may be taken 

 to his rules, with regard to the wind, which does not operate 

 in all places alike. For example, in rainy seasons with us, 

 the wind is generally east, northeast, or southeast, and cold 

 weather is attended by a northwest wind. In England, where 

 these calculations were made, it is in some respects different : 

 ** From my earliest childhood I was bred up on a little 

 farm, which I was taught to care for and culti^wate ever since 

 I was able to spring the rattle, use the whip, manage the 



