Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-12
Vanishing Superstitlons
pv Frederic ]. Haskir

Washington. ID. c, Jan 9-That
farmer m this agc Of scientific agriculture
should plant his beans in the full Of the
moon 6craise hc firmly believes that II
they wcre planled rhcn the moon 4 fark
the mods would not cling ~ the vines,
seems almost Incredible Yet this super
stition and Il host Ilst as ridiculous, arc
stiu cherished Nv soue farmers N al
psrts Of the country They are one of the
formidable difficulties which the county
agents and other champions oi grIentIfic
farming. regularly have 70 contend with.
II should be said immediately that the
farmers are really no worse IN tins regard
than CITY folk II MODERN science ard edi-
cation mean anything, they mean the
death Of superstition They mean that
the individual will look for rational
cause back Of every effect. They mean
the substitution of gkepficlsFn Tor cred,l-
ity. Just IN 80 far as We still believe IN the
mystical and the supernatural. N matters
which may ~ explained on rational
grounds. INST 40 far We arc still savaRes
And the beautiful Young debutante who
believes that she his dual nature -
cause she was born under the gemlnal
sign Of the Zodiac Is no more civilized n
this regard than the Fackwoods farmer Who
believes that the meat Of bog killed
during the moons wane is sure 70 shrink
when cooked
Although the farmers are not the only
stIrerstiti0us class. their supeIstitlons are
a more serious matter than those Of
actors, for example, because they affect
the production of food Rural 5upeTsrf-
tions govern such important matters as
care of sick animals, time 70 plant cTofs,
ard how To set hens
Tractors, the gasoline engine. and gov
ernment bulletins on agriculture have sup
pressed 10 a great extent the progressive
farmers romantic tendencies. But, even
so. the influence OF tradition and early
training are strong, ami many farmers
cling tenaciousiy 70 the old saws.
COMMON IN RURAL COaE1dI MITES.
Proverbs and superstition flourish In
any rural community where there are
farmers OF the old school whose fathers
and grandfathcTs firmly believed the
weather prophecies OF the almanac and
told the children ghat bfIelays are always
scarce on Friday because they 90 to con-
suit with the devil.
MANY OF the old weather proverbs, 10
be sure have foundation Of fact. Take
the advice when oak leaves are as big
idea back of this IS that the OAK tree fs one
of the last to leaf, and by waiting for the
oah leaves the farmer avoids planting MS
corn too soon.
The belief Of the Pueblo Indians that
for lightning to strike IN a cornheld means
a good crop is stu held by many farmers
today It is impossible 70 say whether he
Pueblos read any reason into this saying.
Most modern farmers merely accept II IS
a superstitious belief Yet II has an ex-
PLANTATION. rather farfetched. IN that
lightning accompanies rain, and ram
naturally helps the crops.
Many other proverbs have TO effect
whatever aside from their picturesque
qualities Such one IS the saying that he
number OF snowfalls for the winter can be
told bv the Clay of the month Of the hrst
snow. Thus, If the FIRST snow Of the season
falls on November 10. subtract ten from
thirty. the number Of days in the month,
and YOU find that there will he 20 snow
storms in your vicinity This is mere
child's play. according 10 the Weather
Bureau
Weather may he torecasted specifically
80 hours ahead, aud IN general way Il IS
possible to predict conditions for week n
advance But as Tor almanac prophecies
printed 4 year ahead. and weather prov
CRIBS which attempt to reduce the we9ther
to simple formul.e, the Weather Bureau
says that it Is impossible Tor such state
ments to be accurate
WEATHER IRovEAns.
In the class of irresponsible weather
proverbs come those which link seasons
As it rains III March, 50 It rams IN june.
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