The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-08-15
The Moon and Vegetation.
CHACKBAY, Aug. Sd, 1878.

CHACkBA1, aug. 20, 1875.
Editor of the Sugar-Bowl:
DEAR SIR-I would let you hear few
reflections made on the action of the
sun and moon on plants:
When told by my elders not to gather
my grain while the sun was shining, be-
cause it would certainly be destroyed
by the Weevils, their advice was over
looked and my corn was every year
destroyed in my crib.
was told not to cut down q cypress
tree for stave wood while the moon was
overhead, if | wished it to keep sound;
| saw it proved that they were right
there also.
They told me to wait until the moon
was new to windrOW my cane; | waited
for rain, which came with an old moon,
and my seed was almost entirely lost,
while theirs remained perfectly sound.
The ears Of our corn are more or less
opened by the birds, before we gather
it; weevils are formed in the field itself,
and every time we haul corn we haul
Weevils. The creole breaks corn all
day, his boy arranges the heaps, and in
the morning very early he hauls until
the sun rises. His corn keeps always
sound. Wet with the dew, the corn af-
| ter it is slowed takes a heat sufficient to
destroy the weevils, but insufficient to
injure his grain. Last year, | had Oc-
casion to put. away some corn gathered
after sun up in a corner of my hay crib.
Wishing to keep it for seed, interlayed
| it with green pea vines. The moisture
of the vines did for me the Office of the
| dew, and my corn remained there per-
! fectly sound, when elsewhere it was
much damaged. Some persons had
told me to put elder branches to keep
away the bugs. They will, if you put
enough, but not because they are elder
branches, but because they are damp
in the same way that dog liver oil cured
a German who had misunderstood the
prescription of cod liver oil; it is the
fat cures, and not the dog or the fish.
If cypress tree is cut down at 8 P. NJ,
and the moon rises at 8 ?. NJ, that tree
will keep sound and no worm will ever
pierce it; but if the moon is overhead
when the tree is cut down, in twenty
four hours it will be bored in thousand
places, the saW-dust will be all over it,
and every stlve made from that tree
will be worm eaten.
| To explain this phenomena, I have
made my own theory, based on the fact
that the moon Influences the tides. The
sap in plants, as the blood in our bodies
are known to be governed by certain
and infallible rules. I believe that the
circulation of the sap is governed by
the moon, ascending and descending
every twenty-four hours. The differ.
ence, then, between life animal and life
vegetable is the difference between one
second and twenty-fOur hours, or the
sap will in S,400 seconds do what oul
blood does in one second. Not all the
sap follows the moon, but only thai
part capable of forming an acid. IF the
tree is cut while this sap is up, an aciC
is formed which will draw swarms OF
small flies, armed with gimlets will
which they bore little holes over thu
tree, and deposit the Ova, which engen
ders wood eating worm. IF the tre'
is cut while this sap is down, the tre'
will remain sound, subject to time alone
for it's dissolution.
have not yet made accurate observa
tions with regard to the influence of th,
moon on sugar cane, but I have Learned
enough to respect the opinion of al
illiteratG old man whose authority i
; Les Anciens." They must have beel
a smart company of men.
/ CHATFATT.