VOL. LX.
INDIANAPOLIS, FEBRUARY 18, 1905.
NO. 7
Lunar Superstitions.
Editor! Indlsna Farmer:
There is still much talk about the signs
of the moon. It need not be wondered
nt: for it is only two generations back
that our mothers, in this part of the
country have been able to read anil write.
I mil only CO years old, nnd I can remember very distinctly the Ior dwelling,
nnd the slab furnished school house. The
girls of my tiny-mostly hail school privileges; but the girls of the day preceding
were not so fortunate. Those now dying nml dead from old age,  were able to
pressions. They came to us when our
minds were impressible, and the lodgment they found in us was of the unshakable sort.
It is easy to disprove, by auy fair experiment; but we do not court the proof.
Nay, wc do not accept it, readily.
I have tried planting corn in the light
and in the dark of the moon, with results
exactly according to the rain ami sunshine and richness of the soil. Ditto with
potatoes and everything else.
The evil of moon planting, and roofing and fencing, and  weaning and  biitch-
the issues of a great campaign.
This illustrates tlie serious phase of
superstition. The following may show
the ludicrous phase, ami its great want
of souse:
A fanner had planted a patch of potatoes and was engaged in building a
fence around it, when a neighbor came
along and told him it was alright, to
plant them thon; but it was just the
wrong time to build that fence. "Kor,"
said he, " it is the dark of the moon, and
the feme, built now, will sink in the
ground."      The building of the fence was.
barn and feod our stock with
under shelter, instead of haviug them
chasing round over our snowy, icy fields,
swept by the cold wind these stormy days,
eating frozen fodder is quite a saving if
you look nt it iu a proper way. Thanks
to the shredder and the man who invented
it.
I would like to hear our editor's opinion in regard to our legislature being
bribed with free passes before leaving
home. Let them refund their mileage
or return thoir passes. It is a sorry
day when our law-makers are bribed bc-
Peons Reaping With Sickles near the Pyramid of Cholula, Mexico.      Mount Popocatcpeti in the Distance.      Hy the Interr.ntion.il Harvester Company.
ivad and spell a little, but not many of
them learned to write. The books were
few, the papers were not, and the light
of the tallow caudle was so poor that
reading was by no means general.
"Folk-lore," therefore, was their source
of information, and they heard much of
goblins and spooks and ominous happenings. People spoke of the danger of
; moving the cat, of beginning a job on
a Friday, of planting corn in the wrong
time of the moon, of seeing a rabbit
cross the road in front of yon, and of
grouping thirteen objects in one body. It
is therefore not strange that such things
are secretly dreaded yet.
I once delivered a lecture on The Man
in the Moon, in which I discussed all such
superstitions, and showed their folly,
by actual comparison of experiment. After it was over, I walked up street with
one Judge Dorman, who did much reading, and was rather intelligent. He
said: "A good lecture, Professor! ami
much needed. As for myself, I am not
a bit superstitious. But, without, superstition, I have always noticed that I
can catch more fish if I go when the sign
is in Scorpio."
If there had been anything at all in
my lecture it was that all such beliefs
are unwarranted superstition. There
is not a particle of sense in it all; and
yet we have it in us, as a legacy from
the ignorance of the past. Garfield and
Colfax were both noted examples of this
previous tuition. In fact, there are not
many of us able to shake off such im-
ering, in the moon, is aptly illustrated by
the sometimes heavy losses. For instance,
we wait for the moon to come right to do
our butchering. With  the condition of
the moon may come a warm change that
will ruin the meat. If we wait over a
good day to put on a roof in the proper
stage ofi the moon, there may be a rain
in which no roofman can work. There
are many examples of such loss, and some
of them  very serious.
One, fanfous in Roman history, will illustrate the disastrous side of the question. .Ariovistus, a great Gennan general,
had crossed the- border and taken possession of a large tract belonging to the residents of Northern Gaul. When Caesar
came into the territory, the citizens lie-
sought him to aid in driving Ariovistus
out. He readily assented, because he
was desirious of the people's good will.
Ry some sort of ancient etiquette, it was
the place of the German army to strike
the first blow; but five days, successively,
they failed to do so, although Caesar every
day   formed   his   line  of  battle. After
the fifth return of his men to their tents,
Caesar asked one captured from the Germans why sVriovistus would not fight. lie
answered there is an old woman in the
camp, who told the commander he must
not join battle before the change of the
moon. "The moon changes to-night, ami
he opens the scene to-morrow."
Caesar waited no longer for -the etiquette of war; but marched nt once into
the fight. sVriovistus did not reply at all,
but fled in supreme disorder, and lost all
for this caution, stopped at four rails high,
and finished two weeks later, in the light
of the moon.
In the fall, when asked how tlie crop
succeeded, he answered: "Oh! it was
a  great  failure. The  fence  I  built in
the dark of the moon went down, and
that I built in the light went up, making
a big crack in the fence. The hogs got
in, and all the potatoes were rooted up
and devoured."
I have a dozCn or more illustrations to
fiiow the folly of all such nonsense; but
of course I cannot take the space to give
them. They have all been thoroughly
tested and are all worthless.
Rush Co. Walter S. Smith.
Sundry Queries.
Edltora Indiana Farmer:
I would like to ask your subscribers if
any of them have made or used cement
fence posts, and if so will they tell how-
to make them; in fact tell all about it.
In sowing alfalfa why bo much seed to
the acre? Ten pounds of red clover
per acre is a heavy Beeding.
W. E. and S. O. S. are just right on the
corn shredder question. Let the feeders use common horse sense and keep
their fingers out of the machine. There
is a company in this neighborhood that
has been in use for years and no one hurt
If properly fed it won't clog; if it docs
keep your fingers out. The shredder is
as useful n machine as wc have got on
the farm. The great amount of nice
bright feed wc can store away in a small
fore their grip's packed.
Tipton  Co. Ed.   Curtis.
—As to cement posts. Why not buy
a mold and cast your own posts? It is a
simple and easy process. One reason
why more seed is required in sowing alfalfa than common red clover is that the
seed are larger. Another is that the
alfalfa plant is more tender and liable
to perish, at the start, at least in this climate.
As to the corn shredder; when the machine is made perfectly safe, as it may
be, we shall not object to it.
The editor agrees with you that 20c
per mile is plenty for transportation to
and from the capitol, and that the pass
is in- the nature of a bribe, and is intended to have an influence in biasing the
legislator in favor of the railroads, as
against the people,  in legislation.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Will you kindly tell me how to inoculate soil in Illinois for alfalfa. I saw the
article on the growing of alfalfa in your
paper of December 31st. L. B. B.
—Get some soil that has been inoculated, and scatter it over your land and
harrow it in. Such soil is for sale and
will be advertised in our columns beforo
spring.
A wealthy Eastern tourist lost in an
electric car at Los Angeles a purse containing $5,020. To the conductor,, who
found and returned it, he gave, after
carefully counting the money, a reward of
two dimes.