PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 91 



illustration. The cocoa nut tree flourishes here, and the rat has a habit 

 of climbing it, eating an opening into the cocoa nut, making his house 

 there, and living on the top of the tree, though limbless, sometimes for 60 

 feet, from the base to the crown. The other fruits that flourish arc the 

 orange, the pine apple and the banana." 



A New Butter-Worker. 



Mr. P. G. Woodard, of Waterford, Penn., pi'esents a cut of a butter- 

 worker patented by him, which looks well on paper, and as though its 

 action would be exactly that of the hand ladle. The butter being laid 

 upon a table, with only inclination enough to carry ofl" the milk, is acted 

 upon by a fluted roller that moves back and forth, the pressure being re- 

 gulated by springs, so as not to mash or rub the buttei', but cut it apart 

 again and again until all the buttermilk runs out by a gentle pressure. 

 Butter workers should understand that in using a ladle oV machine, butter 

 must never be worked with a stroke like that of a mason in plastering. 



THEOtlY OF THE EFFECT OF THE MoON ON PlANTS AND AnIMALS. 

 Thomas Nelson, of Winona, Illinois, writes as follows : 



" Bo not among the first by whom the new is tried. 

 Nor yet among the last to lay the old aside." 



I do not remember having seen in the reports of the American Institute Farm- 

 ers' Club any decision, from experiment or otherwise, on the effect of the moon 

 upon vegetation. If this may not be considered all humbug, I know you 

 would confer a favor upon a credulous public by giving some authorita- 

 tive decision of the Club. I know that some of your members will smile, 

 but it is v/ell known that beans and peas planted at certain seasons will 

 blossom till frost, and have both ripe and green pods at the same time. 



A friend in Greene county, N. Y., once said to me he would give almost 

 anything if he had kept a diary, or had any means of knowing the time he 

 sowed a field to peas, as it was an enormous yield without extra culture, 

 and the only good crop he ever had raised of them. 



A neighbor called on me a few days since, and, said he : I never have 

 any luck raising potatoes, while my neighbor, an old farmer who " plants 

 in the moon," never fails, and is planting to-day. Of course I left other 

 work, and went to planting mine. So much for my own credulity. If you, 

 or any one, wishes I will give the time and the result of the experiment in 

 the fall. I also wish to ask your opinion of the eftect of the moon, and 

 the signs upon the weaning of young stock, &c. Perhaps this may draw 

 out suggestions, and other items of a similar class, with answers to ques- 

 tions, which I need not name. I presume you get weary reading so much 

 trashy correspondence — asking so many foolish questions. If so, I imagine 

 if you should request such, to inclose a fee to entitle them to notice, their 

 number would be perceptibly less. 



Solon Robinson — Mr. Nelson certainly has not read all the proceedings 

 of this Club, or he would have seen that this moon theory of effect upon 



