18 



or reap ; he cannot cut down his wood or his timber, or even 

 kill an animal for food, until the moon has reached some particu- 

 lar point of her orbit. And even in the soap making process of 

 the housewife, the moon has a most important part to perform, 

 even if she be in the nadir. Surely, if this harmless planet ha» 

 so much labor to perform in husbandry, she ought to be released 

 from her cares as ruling among the stars of the evening; and in- 

 stead of being called queen of the night, her title should be, queen 

 of agriculture ! 



But to be serious: such notions are the lingering remnants 

 of astrology ; ill agreeing with the spirit of this age, and alto- 

 gether opposed to sound philosophy and good sense. Every en- 

 lightened farmer, therefore, will disregard them, and a hundred 

 others of a kindred character ; permitting them all to join that 

 chaotic company of phantoms, described by Milton: 



" All these, upwhirl'd aloft 

 Flew o'er the backside of the world, far off 

 Into a limbo, large and wide ; since call'd 

 The Paradise of fools — to few unknown 

 Long after " 



The second suggestion I have to make, in regard to agricul- 

 tural experiments, is, that every circumstance which can medi- 

 ately or immediately affect the result, should be carefully ob- 

 served and recorded. The remark of a French philosopher, that 

 " real and general advances will then only be made in the sci- 

 ence of nature, when the dread of prolixity shall be overcome," 

 may be pertinently applied to agriculture. The most trivial cir- 

 cumstance often reverses the result of an experiment : nor can 

 we tell beforehand, so little do we know how to calculate the 

 complicated operations of the vegetable world, what that cir- 

 cumstance may be ; and often it finally eludes our search. 

 Therefore, we must record every thing that can have any bear- 

 ing upon the result; and thus shall we, in most instances, avoid 

 the difficulty. But if the experimenter, after reasoning upon 

 the subject, concludes this or that circumstance to be too trivial 

 to be noticed, he will not unlikely, mislead himself and others in 

 his conclusions. For in subjects of this kind, the philosophy of 



