Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-08-28
FARM AND GARDEN.
The Influence Of the Moon on Vegetation.

AHccofo' NtUtc u ItchS
GENTLEMEN / have written the en-.
closed address to the Knox County Far
mers' Club voluntarily without invitation.
1t includes some subjects, think, of in
terest for investigation. The influence of
The moon upon vegetation has long been
believed in by great many sensible, prac-
teal farmers. 1t has not been believed in
probably by as many more. l have great
anxiety to learn the observations and ex-
experiences of farmers on both sides of this
question and / would be glad that the
other Clubs would write out their observa-
lions on this and the other subjects of the
address and forward them to you or to
Judge Temple, the President of the Agri-
cultural Society for East Tennessee.
Yours respectfully,
ADDRESS. 80
Agriculture is not only science, but it
is the most interesting and certainly the
most useful of all other sciences. 1t molli-
fies the passions, feeds the mind with the
most healthy and grateful aliment drawn
from the purest fountains of nature, and
furnishes all the food to nourish and sus-
tain the body, and without which animal
life would cease to exist The late famine
in Persia, which caused the most misera-
Die death to tens ofthousands of the inhabi-
tants of that country re-impresses us with
the vast importance of agricultural labor
and science.
The devotees of this science have always
been considered entitled to the highest re-
gard and esteem. The young of the pres
ent generation are familiar with the histo-
ry of Cincinnatus, who, when his country
was in a 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 haye 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 Valley of the State
of New York sent committee of gentle
man to Europe to examine into and inves-
of far he,
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 thattime 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, 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 implementsthat in
one-fottrth of a century in this respect we
have caught up with England and even
surpassed her. ..H
Ihave said that we have made a great
advance in fifteen or twenty years in the
when it was a common saying to exem-
plify our ignorance, that "we did not
know what made q 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 in 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 il
that the seed OF plants, such as turnips,
potatoes, &C., that grow in the ground
should be sowed in the dark of the moon,
araH fhaf "a laad Of ctroh ,f0