CONTENTS. 



Algernon Roberts, page 62. Sowed on field, light loam andjlin- 



ty gravel. Improvement percepti- 

 ble on clover — ^but injured by blue 

 grass. On orchard — ground in til- 

 lage 60 years. Surface loa?n ; un- 

 der stratum clai/. Great improve- 

 ment in crops of both clover and 

 timothy, — ^but on clover most. — 

 Young apple trees highly bene- 

 fitted. No difference in improve- 

 ment on the dijBPerent soils. — 

 Sti^ loam. Age of mo 011^ hav- 

 ing effect, a mere chimera. On 

 land cleared 90 years : great be- 

 nefit. Peach trees benefitted.-— 

 Sown on mixed grass-lay — -water - 

 cd meadow. Parts stagnated xvater; 

 — results. Indian corn benefitted. 

 No improvement on buckwheat. 

 Does little for natural grass. Blue 

 grass overruns clover, and plais- 



* Plaister is so irregular in its phenomena, that it often unaccountably fiuls, or siu-pvisingly suc- 

 ceeds. Many attribute this to the times of sowing ; acconliiig to tlie age,— increase or decrease, of 

 the moon. Whatever success or failure they experience, at any particular times of tiie vioon's pha- 

 ses, or situations, a general rule is formed, and fixes faith. Theplaistcr must be sow Ji by the alma- 

 nack ; because, in its irregular operations, it happened to succeed, at a favourite time. So of all 

 crops, of evcrj- species ; bleedijig, and sui-gical operations on animals, setting offences, and plant- 

 ing of trtes. Mr. Roberts risks, with those who are goNenied by such " chimeras,^' the credit of his 

 other facts, by denying the oithodoxy of this indulgence in (imology. 



A worthy old Gennan told me, in the presence, and much to the edification of several of his 

 neighbours, w ho were great believei's in the moon, that our elections never went right, at the w rong 

 time of the moon, I asked him, if he meant the full and change ? He replied, — no. The sign should 

 be in the Jiecid and heart " das haupt und hertz ;" " und nicht in den bauch, iind die scliaam ; od:r 

 die armc und hande ." and not in the belly, or the secrets, or the arms and hands. Whether my old 

 friend (who shewed how the sigiis governing those paits, influenced the actions and conduct of 

 men) spoke seriously, or sarcastically, it would be as w ell (if we liad the option) to lea^e the mocii 

 and the .s/^'nA\ in possession of agricidtural influences, exclusively. In other matters, neither the 

 signs, nor the sj-mpathies, could be adjusted to general satisfaction. Tliis she« s, hoA\ever, to wluit 

 lengths vagaries arc canied. 



R. P. 



