164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Gr. B. McGibney, Philips' Creek, N. T., says : " I have read several in- 

 teresting articles on the moon theory, which have been considered before 

 your Club. Will some one be kind enough to inform me where these all- 

 important ' signs,' which govern the sowing of grain, the planting of 

 roots, or weaning of animals, originated, and who was the great discov- 

 erer ? Or is it a fact, as some assure us, that it first came from the fly- 

 leaf of an almanac ?" 



Why THE Moon Affects Plants. 



G. W. Stebbins, Portland, N. Y., says : " In the discussion going on 

 through the Farmers' Club, in relation to the influence of the moon on veg- 

 etation, I think that luminary is not receiving the credit that is her due. 

 With your leave, I have a little to say in her favor. It is on all hands ad- 

 mitted that light is one of the most important agents concerned in the 

 growth of plants. Then what can be more reasonable than that an expo- 

 sure to light all night long at certain stages of growth, should be injuri- 

 ous — say, while the plant is young and tender, so much light is too stimu- 

 lating, while at a more advanced stage it is just what is required. Then, 

 again, moonlight possesses peculiar chemical qualities — how peculiar I do 

 not pretend to know ; but certainly reflected light always possesses diflerent 

 qualities from direct light, and has its peculiar oflice to perform, only infe- 

 rior to that of direct solar light itself. I believe that planting at the right 

 time of the moon is only less important than that it should be done at the 

 right season of the year. Probably the man who lots his planting lie over 

 a month, waiting for the moon, and thereby throws his crop out of gear 

 with the solar heats, makes a mistake ; but that does not prove that it 

 would not be better if he was right with both. I think that we farmers, 

 who, whatever our deficiencies in some respects, claim to be well educated 

 in our own calling, know something about this matter. I think, though 

 less likely to discover something new, we are more likely to be correct 

 in what we do know than you theorists. I think our knowledge partakes 

 something of the certainty of instinct. You doubt our facts, call them 

 old wives' tales, &c., but, nevertheless, I think while the moon stands we 

 shall stand by it." 



A Believer in the Moon^s Influence. 



Mr. J. Cruger, Plymouth Rock, Iowa, writes to the Farmers' Club as 

 follows: 



" As you have been pleased to publish a long article in opposition to the 

 moon theory, I would respectfully ask permission to make some explana- 

 tions. I have not always believed in the moon theory ; my faith has 

 grown out of ' careful observations ' of certain facts in nature, and an 

 honest effort to trace eflccts to an appropriate cause. DiflSculties attend 

 every new discovery, and not the least of them is the opposition of the in- 

 credulous. Your correspondent quotes mc largely, yet his remarks are in- 

 appropriate to my view of the subject. There is no doubt that the different 

 circumstances attending the cultivation of a crop require a variation in 

 the time of planting ; and this accounts for so much difference of opinion. 

 One man plants at the right time for him, succeeds, and believes. Another 

 man plants at the same time, in different soil, under different circumstances 



