The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-03-13

Florida Grower, Mr.. Max Waldron
says:
after having read the communica-
ton in your issue of Feb. 16 by W. c.
M. of Seattle, in which he generous
" offers to predict the most favor
able dates for doing everything from
planting pansies to being operated on
for appendicitis, feel as though
some steps should be taken to uproot
such superstitious beliefs. Predictions
Of this sort would be ridiculously
funny were it not for the sad fact
that there are many thousands OF peo-
nile who religiously believe that all
of their activities should be governed
by the phases of the moon and posi-
ton of the stars. 1t seems like vast.
ing good paper to refute such super
stitions, as all intelligent men know
that there exists absolutely no rela-
ton whatsoever between the moon
and the growing of crops, breeding of
cattle, etc. Your correspondent in
advertently smashed his entire beau
tifn, fabrication in the head when he
stated that "It is understood that lat
;tude and climatic conditions are to
be considered It is latitude and eli
matte conditions, together with the
soil and seed that has everything to
do with the successful growth OF
crops and not the moons phases. and
it is the duty of intelligent agricul>
!tural journals and agricultural men
to instill this into the minds OF the
unsophisticated who have suffered the
misfortune of having been taught
these superstitions by their parents.
The primitive human mind was un-
able to discern the physical causes OF
, natural phenomenon and hence at
; tributed them to the action of occult
forces Later as the true nature Of
these things became known they
| gradually lost their hyper-physica
' aspect. For instance, in the ante
, Christian era the pagans believed
that gods controlled all things-ont
god governed the wind, another thu
! rain, another war, another love, etc
= Later as their knowledge grew the,
, saw that these forces were not 81
mysterious after all and did not nee
gods to control them and so the su
a pernatural element was slowly elm
A mated. It took years for people tt
abandon their beliefs in witches, dew
lis, etc. and so 1t will take years 70
, them to abandon their age-old belief
!, in the influence of the heavenly bodie
- upon human endeavors But abando,
~ them they must.
e One of the commonest beliefs abou
1, the moon is that from observing tn
It angle of declination of the new moo
l. one can predict whether the comm
= month will be dry or wet. OF cours
2 this is nonsense and il those VIII
hold this superstition would look int
an astronomy book they would lear
: tina. the moon has certain definit
I movement and presents its variou
phases and positions in regularly re
curing cycles. Climate is all pre
/ duced in the atmospheric layer ne
I over ten miles thick on the earth
] surface, so just how a cold moo
! 2'S,OO0 miles distance and moving
a fixed orbit could possibly infiuenc
1 rainfall on our little globe is diff
I cult even for one with the wilde.
imagination to understand. The re,
} ords of the U. S. Weather Rurea
1 definitely settled the question, for
4 all the years they have taken record
! their observations show that a rain
B month Is just as apt to come from
j dry moon" as wet" one. Furtbe,
4 more, the same phase of the moon a,
y pears over a space of hundreds
4 mlles on the earth, yet evervor
KNOWS that some months we recei,
> coplous rains while neighhor;r
{ States are burned by drouth or vi,
4 versa What reliance can one pla,
{ upon the moons phases under tho,
= conditions?
7 On page II in the almanac recent
6 issued by the Painter Fertilizer G,
2 there is an astrology for the year CO
, tanning all sorts of agricultural pr
/ dlctlons, OF course the members
s. this fertilizer company don't bel;a
+ in them-they were printed merely
u literary curiosity typical of all 3
- manacs, yet many growers read the
- and in their blind faith act accor
insly' Common sense seems to
a stranger to them. The secret
having good crops is to plant test
seeds In good soil at the nroror :,