By the end of September, or beginning of spring, we find the trees in the great avenues around Lima beginning to bud; and the new leaves expand on them, as the grass dies on the adjacent hills, or is only seen to preserve its verdant appearance in the deep clefts and tops of the hilly recesses of Amencaes.[4] But no sooner dies the natural vegetation on the neighbouring heights, and nearer ridges and declivities in view of the city, than the fertile irrigated fields and enclosures throw forth the waving verdure of a hopeful harvest. Barley, peas, and maize, sown during the wet or misty season, come to maturity through the joint operation of sun and artificial moisture after all natural or spontaneous vegetation has withered and disappeared from the now arid hills and sandy downs. The maize crops the farmers always harvest in the “_menguante_,” decrease of the moon; for it is a fact known to every husbandman, that if they collect the crop in the “creciente,” or increase of the moon, it will not keep free of moths for three months, even though allowed the advantage of being left in husk, in which state it is found to be least liable to damage. In the valleys around Lima the agriculturist is very careful not to sow in the creciente, lest the seed should become so diseased and injured as never to yield a healthy crop. The same attention to lunar influence is bestowed by the wood-cutter, who knows that timber cut in the creciente soon decays, and on this account is not of use for constructing houses, or for any other permanent purpose; this is particularly the case with the willow and alder, as the writer had once occasion to know experimentally. Being disinclined to believe what he considered to be the prejudices of the natives respecting lunar influence, he insisted upon roofing in part of a house with alder and willow cut in the creciente; and after a couple of years he was convinced of his own error, when he saw the timber employed become quite brittle and useless, so as to need to be replaced or supported to prevent the roof from falling. The “arriero,” or muleteer, scrupulously attends to the influence of the moon on his cattle; for if he travels in the creciente, and in a warm or even temperate climate, he takes strict care not to unsaddle his riding-horses, nor to unpad his cargo-mules, until they have rested awhile and cooled sufficiently: and, if he should neglect these precautions, he would be sure to have his cattle disabled by large inflammatory swellings, rapidly running on to suppuration, forming on their shoulders or loins.