The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-07-19


:, mooted question, and as to how
/, q ill be answered by different people
Es,.oends entirely upen circumstances.
q For instance, if aiman's fathes be-
q at.,ed in the moon before him, then
a is pretty apt to believe in it him
s'.N If he was raised in ignorance or
|S.,ecald Of the traditions respecting
h. moon, then he is likely to continue
5lh,t way. That is, unless there
A.bould happen, at sometime, some
3 ,c;dent that serves to furnish strong
Il Il convincing evidence one way or
HE other.
4 am not farmer. l know nothing
3,bout the moon. Until recently, l
,id not know that the first two quar-.
s,,rs Of the new moon were called the
4risbt,' and the last two quarters
here called the dark All my life
Il have heard farmers talking Of
a.ulanting in the moon;" but not being
a,ble to understand how the moon
atoull exercise influence on crops, I
have been disposed to dismiss matters
aslating to the moon as idle supersti
Aiou. Recently I have undertaken to
3oyestigate the matter, and while /
Sh.ve not been able TO learn anything
shat seems to be of practical value to
2aybody, the result Of some &c ny in
38auiries have been somewhat interest
5pg. know very little more now,
Aowever, than / did before.
3 Not having at hand any literature
8tn the subject, my Investigations took
'2the shape Of series Of inquiries Of
3lifercnt people who were supposed to
be more or less versed on the prevail
l5ng theories. One Of the first men l
happened to speak to was learned
minister Of the gospel. He said,
8Well, l really do not know much
&bout the influence Of the moon on the
&easons; but I suppose it has some.
IEor instance, if you will read Deute-
'3ouomy, xxxiii, IA, where Moses was
3nyoking his last blessings on the
#hildren Of Israel, you will find this
And for the precious things Of the
fruits Of the sun; and for the precious
&hings Of the growth of the moon
aoing on to Psalm civ, 10, you will
sind this: sHe appointed the moon
gor seasons"
4 Some people believe that every word
&f the Bible is inspired, and that it
means just what it says. 1 am not
going to discuss that now; but I thank
|&he good minister for his references.
alhe quotations at least shov that the
Pelief with regard to the influence Of
Rhe moon on crops is q very old one.
=: is not confined entirely to the igno-
9ant and superstitious. Intelligent
people, even IL they ere unable to give
j satisfactory "why,' seem to have
Eery good ground for believing as they
Ao.
a Next, I made inquiry Of well edu-
fated man who had been farmer all
sbis life; but was not certain as to how
much Importance to attach to the in-
aauence Of the moon. He said to me:
j Most Of my neighbors believed in the
moon more than in the seasons, and
Tere not disposed to plant until che
moon was right. / wrote to tho North
carolina Experiment station and asked
Them to give me whatever information
Shey might haze 0u subject
Their reply was to the effect tina,
while there is no doubt that. tho moor
ahas more or less influence on crops,
Pad better 60 ahead and plant when
ever I should find il convenient to d.
70. Tor they did not think that tht
4nauence Of the moon was great enough
70 make much difference.
Several farmers TO whom I talked
were Of opinion that She moon had o,
$nauence whatever On the crops; bu
|ehey were unable to give positive proc
55ar even reasons. Others believed il
aathe moon with exactly the same kin,
3of faith. But while there were man.
who did not think thar the moohein
aauenced crops,. there were quites
$number who thought it certain Yin
aauenced the quality Of timber. Min
33pnt Of 10 said that timber felled il tb
adark Of the moon would continGoWe
aand sobby, impossible; to season, Will
timber cut in the light Of the moo
would season quickly aud become iigh
land dry. OnlyafsW gave festimy I
3the effect that they had ever gotte
opposite aud perfectly satisfactdry r,
suits from timber tin the "dark''e "a
the moon. One man, howeveran
eel - 80 d Z .