The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-03-24
Old Superstitions Are Real
" Important Says
Hopkins.
Government BACKS HIM
New System Of Agricultur-
al Aids is Being Work
ed Out.

WASHINGTON, d. G., March a.
y You have heard them say-the old
farmers in the neighborhood in which
you were brought up-that when the
little, late, stunted cockleur weeds an
4 inch or two high began to mature
their burs, 1t was time to get the late
crops under cover because frost would
Do along IA a few nights. The catkins
on the maple trees had something to
do with early gardening. The women
used to watch for lackberry blossoms
had something to do with planting
beans, didn't It? And either the open.
ing Of the elder flowers or the ripen,
Ing Of the elderberries fixed the time
Tor some summer operation-maybe it
was sowing turnip seed, or it may
have been harvesting the early onions.
And there was great deal more Of
the same kind. Nearly every field and
Garden operation depended on some
& tree or nower-a mass of misinforma-
tion, interesting as folklore and all
that, but utterly useless as aids to pro-
auctlYe farming.
That is what you thought, perhaps.
II Is what great many thousands OF
people have thought. All those "su-
perstitions" did not fit in with the lit.
\ lie bit OF cocksure science that every
boy and girl learned in school. 1t was
merely something for weIl-meaning
bid fogies to putter around with and
Tor well.informed people to smile at.
Not Mythical, Says Science.
Comes, now, the United States De.
Pertinent Of Agriculture and says that
\ such lore Is not superstition and never
was, that it is not useless and never
WAS, but that, on the other hand 1t is
lnd has always been one Of the most
ccurate aids possible to the right sort
sf agriculture. Here is the opinion
the language of one of the depart
ent's scientists:
Properly recorded and correct.
ly Interpreted, there is nothing
perhaps to equal the records of
she dates of periodical events in
ants as induces to the biO.Climat-
character of a place or local
rea, because such events are in
iirect response, not to one or a
few, but to all the complex ele-
ments and factors of the environ.
ment which no artificial instru.
ment or set of instruments yet
available will record"
What that means, in plain language,
that there is best time for every
farm and garden operation, and that
some tree or shru or plant indicates
that best time more accurately than all
She scientific instruments can posi-,
by register it.
The only restriction is that this ma
tiire lore with relation to crops be
properly recorded and correctly In
terpreted" The "superstitions" that
you smiled at were all the while the
basis Of very useful and very exac:
cience only nobody had ever sys.
tematized it.
PbehoIosy Can Help Agriculture.
Very little specific study" say the
same scientists Of the Department of
Agriculture, has been made in this
country OF the subject of index plants
10 determine their relation to differ.
ent periodical events in farm and gar.
len practice, especially with refer
eEce to the relative value of different
species and varieties as to the con-
stancy Of their periodical responses
to seasonal influences year after year
Therefore, it is apparent that among
the subjects requiring thorough sys-
tematic investigation that of the rela.