Year: 1873

moon rises after sun set, the appearance
of a ring round her is not so significant
as the Dutch rhyme puts it:


A ring round the moon


May pass away soon;


But q ring round the sun


Gives water by the ton.


An old Spanish proyerb says the cir
Gle of the moon never filled pond, but
the circle of the sun wets a shepherd;
while an English rhyme pronounces,-


If round the moon a circles seen


Ofwhite and, and all the sky's serene,


The following day, you may divine


Will surely be exceeding line.


And,- .Is-lfe go


Whene'er in autumn or in spring,


A mist the moon doth with it bring,


At noon the sun will bri ght appear,


The evening 0e serene and clear.


The turning up of the horns of the
new moon is another sign of fair wealth
er. "There's no likelihood of a drop
now, AN the moon lies like boat there"
says somebody in '.Adam Bede." South
ey notices this notion in one of his let
tiers: Poor Kittledale has this day ex-
planned the cause Of the rains which
have prevailed for the last five weeks by
a theory which will probably be as new
to you as it is to me-. l have observed
he says, that when the moon is turned
upwa rds we have fine weather after it,
but when it is turned down, then we
have wet season, and the reason, i
think, is that when it is turned down it
hold no water, like basin, you know,
and down it comes! 1t is very COM
mon belief that the weather depends up
on the moon changing before or after
midnight; belief absurd on the face of
it, since as has been well observed, the
moon may change before twelve at West
minister, and after twelve at st. Paul's.
DIR. Adam Clarke was oblivious of this
fact when he put "a Weather Prognos-
ticator, Through all the lunations of each
year forever, showing the observer what
kind of weather will most probably fol-
low the entrance of the moon into any
one OF her quarters, and that so near the
truth as to seldom or never be found to
fail" Our readers can easily decide as
to the worth of the reverend doctors
weatherguide; they have only to note
the time of the moons entrance upon a
new quarter, and compare the actual re-
suit with that anticipated by the Prog
nosticator. It would be useless to
quote his formulated observation r,like
all other prophecies concerning the lun-
ar phenomenal there is total neglect of
the fact that weather is local, and not
universal. In other words, the change
in the moon that is supposed to have
given good weather in the south Eng
land has probably been attended with
exceedingly bad weather in Scotland.


There is time for all things, the
diff Guilty lies in hitting upon the right
time. No such difficulty disturbed the
minds OF the farmers of bygone days,
who took my lady moon as their guide.
They had only to ask themselves was
she waxing or waning, and they knew
what to do, and what to leave undone.
An increasing moon was favorable to
increase "a waning moon just there verse
So, under the first, grain was cut, CRAFTS
inserted, eggs put under the hen, sheep
sheared, and manure spread upon the
lands. Seeds were sown under 4 wan
ing moon,i in order that the young plant
might have the advantage of growing
with the moon.


Sow peas and beans in the wane of the


Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soon.
That they with the planet may rest and arise


And flourish with bearing most plentiful


wise.


When the moon was at the full was
the proper time to make bitches, tread
out grapes, and cover up the roots of
trees seven days later being the fittest
period for grubbing mp such as were to
be removed. Timber, ,however,was not
to be touched until the end of the second
quarter, and then only when the moon
was upon the change. The state of the
moon, says Pliny, is all importan when
the telling of timber is in question, the
very best time for the operation being
during the moons silence, or when
she is in conjunction with the sun.
Some however, averred she ought to be
below the horizon as well, and if the
conjunction happened to fall upon the
day of the winter soltice, timber then
felled would be of everlasting duration
Even now, Devonshire apple-growers
perfer gathering their fruit at the
shrinking of the moon, believing then it,
does not matter though the apple get.
bruised in the gathering,which is other
wise fatal to their preservation. Peat
cutting ever that If peat be cut under
a waning moon 1t will remain moist,