

DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. IV. 



BOSTON, AUGUST, 1852. 



NO. 8. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, Proprietors. 

 Office. ...Quincy Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Ed.tor. 1JENRY p FUENC „; } ^torL 



FARM WORK FOR AUGUST. 



"The eighth was August, being rich arrHy'd 

 In garment all of gold downe to the ground; 



Yet rode he not, but led a lovely mayd 

 Forth by the lily hand, the which was crown'd 



With e;tres of corne, and full her hand was found." 



The Roman senate complimented the emperor 

 Augustus by naming this month after him ; and 

 through the Romans it is denominated by us Au- 

 gust. Our Saxon ancestors called it "Ammonal," 

 (more properly barn-moneth,) intending thereby 

 the then filling of their barns with corn. 



The harvest in England was principally gathered 

 in August ; the rye, oats, barley, wheat, peas, 

 beans, &c; while our great harvest, the Indian 

 corn, is extended into October, and even Novem- 

 ber. 



Although another month of summer is left, its 

 former beauty, youth and freshness have depart- 

 ed, and the withering touch of age may be seen 

 through all the late gay parterre. The number of 

 flowers is sensibly diminished. But that the change 

 may be gradual, as in all things else, there are 

 some still springing into blossom — the polyanthus- 

 es, mignionette, capsicums and china-asters. And 

 as a compensation for the loss of our lovely friends, 

 the quantity of fruit is greatly multiplied, the ap- 

 ricots, the peaches, pears and grapes ; the wild 

 berries are abundant, and the garden raspberries, 

 currants, thimbleberries, gooseberries and black- 

 berries. 



"The garden blooms with vegetable gold, 

 And all Pomona in the orchard glows, 



Her racy fruits now glory in the sun, 

 The wall enamored flower in saffron blows, 

 Gay annuals their spicy sweets unfold, 



To cooling brooks the panting cattle run: 

 Hope, the forerunner of the farmer's gain, 

 Visits his dreams and multiplies the grain." 



But we must restrain our' Pegasus, and speak 

 for a moment upon what is with most farmers 



A Common Error. — Haying is an exciting, as 

 well as an interesting business. All hands turn 

 out early with bright morning faces and cheerful 

 greetings, for it is understood that everybody is to 

 be good-natured while haying lasts ! The mower 



times his sturdy strokes to the blithest notes of 

 the lark, or if near enough to hear them, to the 

 merry plashings of the dasher in the churn. The 

 women catch the inspiration, and sing while they 

 serve up the hot rolls and coffee for the hungry hay- 

 makers. Ah ! there is real enjoyment in this de- 

 lightful occupation. A good man lives a long while 

 in haying time. And this enjoyment is the reason 

 why he neglects some other things. While the men 

 mowed, the women sang over the rolls and coffee, 

 and the boys were milking and raking, the weeds — 

 knowing they were not watched — grew tremen- 

 dously. The garden, the corn and potato field, 

 and even the strawberry patch, have been trans- 

 formed, if not as by Midas' touch into gold, by 

 some other potent power into a forest of weeds. 

 Hasten, then, to exterminate them; if they seed, 

 there is a crop sown for ages. But this after crop 

 is not the only evil ; these weeds make immense 

 drafts upon the soil, and thus deteriorate your 

 crop. Better si ff r the meadow to remain uncut 

 a day or two, than let the weeds triumph. 



Laying down Grounds. — There is no better time 

 than August to plow and lay down old grass land, 

 or to reclaim swamps and meadows. It requires 

 but a single year to change the most incorrigible 

 land into a {productive field, if too much is not un- 

 dertaken at once, and the right process is adopted ~ 

 The work is usually attempted with plows too light 

 and teams too weak. In trying to gain a sufficient 

 depth, one gets broken and the other tired, and 

 then comes the contest of doubts whether it will 

 ever pay to reclaim an old meadow or plow deep 

 and subsoil the upland. Well, this is just as the 

 mason operates, who builds a thin, cheap wall, 

 and finds it tumbling down upon himself, perhaps, 

 before he is fortunate enough to get away from it ; 

 or the farmer, who erects a cheap house, and in 

 the course of a twelve-month goes to patching and 

 altering, and subjects himself to an expense much 

 greater than it would have been to do the work 

 thoroughly at first. No. In reclaiming lands, the 



