PREFACE. 



THE descriptions of the phases of the year, included 

 in this volume, were first printed in the years 1839 and 

 1840, in the " Boston Weekly Magazine," published by 

 D. H. Ela and John B. Hall. The author afterwards, 

 for several years, devoted himself entirely to the politi 

 cal press. Finding at last, that to keep along with his 

 party, he must be prepared, on the arrival of every new 

 era, to repudiate, if not to execrate the opinions and 

 measures which he had formerly defended, he re 

 nounced all connection with politics, and in 1853, 

 resumed his occupation in that department of litera 

 ture which he had so long neglected. The pieces now 

 presented to the public are a selection from the con 

 tributions of the author to the periodical press, with the 

 addition of several new ones. A large portion of these 

 appeared originally in Charles M. Hovey's " Magazine 

 of Horticulture," and a few others in the " Salem 

 Gazette," in which the descriptions of the months were 

 likewise reprinted. As these essays were written at 



