Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-08-21

The Influence Of the Moon on veget,tion.

The Influence Of the Moon on. veget,tIon.
We take pleasure i'll laying before our
readers the following from Col. JOIN H.
Crozier:
MeSsrs. Rule d; Kicks:
GENTLEMEN I have written the ell
closed address to the Knox County Far
mers' Club voluntarily without invitation.
1t includes some subjects, think, Of in
terest for Investigation. The infiueIce of
the moon upon vegetation has long been
believed in by great many sensible ,lrac-
tical farmers. 1t has not been BELIEVED in
probably by as many more. / have great
anxiety to learn the observations and ex-
experiences of farmers on both sides ofthis
/ question and l would be glad that the
other Clubs would write out their observa-
tions on this and the other subjects of the
address and forward them to you OF to
Judge Temple, the President of the Agri-
cultural Society for East Tennessee
. Yours respectfully,
JOHN H. CRozIEi.
ADDRESS. I
Agriculture is not only science, but it
is the most interesting and certainly Lhe
most useful of all other sciences. 1t mdli-
fies the passions, feeds the mind with the
|
from the purest fountains of nature, and
furnishes all the food to nourish and Sis
tain the body, and without which animal
life would cease to exist. The late famine
| in Persia, which caused the mos miseta-
BILE death to tens of thousands of the inhaoi-
tants of that country re-impresses us with
| the vast Importance of agricultural labor
and science. .- ....a. - --..-.-r
The devotees of this science have always
l \ l. L
gard and esteem. The young of the pres
emit generation are familiar with the histo-
nv of Cincinnatus, who, when his country
was in state of great emergency, was
called from the pillow by the universal
voice of his countrymen to command the
legions of the Roman Empire and
lead them to victory. Diocletian
was never more highly esteem
ed and honered as man than after he vol
UNFAIRLY resigned the pomp and power of
| Roman Emperor and retired to the cOun-
| try to cultivate his garden and fields. The
most pressing invitations of his former col
| leagues and countrymen could not tempt
him to leave his agricultural pursuits and
resume the sceptre and sway of the Roman
| Empire.
In our own country our best and
greatest men have had taste and passion
for agricultural pursuits. Among these
may be mentioned Washington, Jefferson,
| Clay, Webster and Calhoun. Although
much of the time of these great men was
occupied in governing or legislating for the
country, yet they were practical agricul-
turalists, and when "the whole head be-
| came faint and the whole heart became
sick" with the tumult and agitation of leg
islation or discussions at the bar, they re-
tired to their farms and regained their Sc
renity of mind and health of body that
prepared them for the highest enjoyment
of life. .-
The science of agriculture has made
very rapid advance in the United States
within the last fifteen or twenty years.
Some twenty years ago an Agricultural
| Society in the GennesseeVal of the State
| of New York sent committee of gentle
man TO Europe to examine into and inves-
| tigate their mode of farming. On the re-
turn of the committee, they made q report
of their observations of the system of farm
ing in England and on the continent.
There was one remark in reading the re-
port that made deep impression upon me.
The tennessee Valley at that time was bet
ter farmed than any part of the United
States. Yet the committee reported that
in agricultural science the Valley was, in
all probability, a hundred years behind
England that the greatest difference was
in the excellence of the agricultural imple-
ments used in England and the continent
over those in use in this country. But
such has been the great invention and inn
provement in this comparatively young
country in agricultural implements that in
One.f fourth of a century in this respect we
have caught up with England and even
surpassed her.
have said that we have made great
advance in fifteen or twenty years in the
science of agriculture. [ can recollect
when it was a common saying to exem-
plify our ignorance, that 1--WE did not
know what made blade of grass grow"
But now We do know something about it.
We know that the great Creator has SINH
lar fixed rules for the government of all
the kingdoms of his great creation that
opposite principles create the proper and
desired results. The planetary motions
are governed by centrifugal and centripe-
tai forces. The vegetable kingdom is gov
erned and controlled by like principles.
| Vegetables inhale carbonic acid gas from
the atmosphere, which stimulates their
growth, and this gas is again exhaled by
| the animals that deyour the grasses. To
correct the superabundance of the acidity
of this gas and stimulate the growth of
vegetation still more, we apply the oppo-
| stefan alkali, and this is found in bones,
salt, plaster of Paris and lime.
But i'm agriculture as in all other sciences
there are some influences and principles
taken to be true, that have never been and
probably cannot be explained. The first
thing to be inquired into and ascertained
is whether these supposed influences and
principles having the most important eff
feet upon agricultural labor and results are
true or not?
1t is believed by many that the moon has
almost, or quite as great and controlling
an influence on agriculture as the sun. We
may say / think that the general belief is
that the seed of plants, such as turnips,
potatoes, &C., that grow IN the ground,
should be sowed in the dark of the moon,
and that the seed of such plants as pro-
! duce their fruit above ground should be