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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 



The first spring flower which blossoms, so far 

 as we know, throughout New England, is the 

 May-flower, [trailing arbutus.) It is commonly 

 supposed to have received its name merely from 

 the fact of its being found in May, but as it is 

 found still more abundantly in April, we are in- 

 clined to receive the tradition that it was so called 

 by the Pilgrim Fathers, in honor of the vessel in 

 ■which they came over — it being the first flower 

 they discovered in their new home. This, certain- 

 ly, is the more interesting, and as we think, the 

 more probable theory. We have found its buds 

 late in the fall, thus showing that it makes its 

 preparations for blossoming some months be- 

 forehand. We have tried the experiment of plac- 

 ing these buds in a tumbler of water in a sunny 

 window, hoping to produce the novelty of 



"A May-flower in December," 



but have never yet succeeded, although they may 

 be hastened in spring by a similar process. 



Then there are violets, snow-drops, anemones, 

 — all lifting up their heads in the most out-of- 

 the-way places — many of them "born to blush 

 unseen," and each one the very synonym for pu- 

 rity and modesty. Did it never occur to you, as 

 you have come suddenly upon one of these wild 

 gardens of nature, "Why are so many beautiful 

 things placed v/here man seldom or ever sees 

 them ?" And did not the answer suggest itself, 

 "It must be that God loves to see them !" With 

 this thought, the solitary places of the earth are 

 no longer solitary. If we indulge our thoughts 

 a little further, is it not easy to suppose these 

 places filled with the spirits, minds, or intelligen- 

 ces of those made holy, not subject to the condi- 

 tions of animated matter, and all progressing and 

 rejoicing in the love and wonderful works of our 

 Heavenly Father ! All these flowers and trees of 

 of the forest, the springs that run among the hills, 

 the insects that spoft in the sunbeams, and the 

 whirlwind that scatters the flocks or strips the 

 hills, are just as much the work of His hands, 

 and the objects of His care, as that far-ott" Heav- 

 en that is so indefinite, and undefinable in the 

 popular mind ! The field for reflection in this 

 matter is infinite. 



There are people in the world — but we hope 

 yozi are not one of them — who look at everything 

 through the medium oi "What is it good for?" 

 "What did it cost?" and perhaps still more to 

 the purpose, "What will it bring?" Now it is a 

 good thing to be practical, — but we have little 

 sympathy with those intensely practical people 

 who ignore the refinements of taste, who labor 

 all their lives to feed and clothe the body, but 

 leave the soul entirely out of the account. 



Let us have our vegetable garden, with its beets 

 and cabbages and turnips, and take good care of 



it too, — but then there shall be a spot set apart 

 to be made beautiful with flowers, "God's mes- 

 sengers," as some one has called them, and there 

 shall be a trellis for a vine and a climbing rose 

 over our portico. We will have an orchard with 

 apples, pears and peaches somewhere in the rear 

 of our dwelling, but it need not interfere with 

 the shade trees and shrubbery in front. 



Burns turns up a "Mountain Daisy" with his 

 plow, and while he goes on with his labor, com- 

 poses one of his sweetest poems : 



"Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower, 

 Thou'st met me in an evil hour, 

 For I maun crush amang the stoure 



Thy sleniier stem ; 

 To spare thee now is past my power, 



Thou bonnie gem." 



A less delicate nature would have passed it 

 carelessly by, or, if he noticed it at all, would, 

 perhaps, have wondered why it could not just as 

 well have been a potato ! 



Nature has many lessons for us, if we will only 

 learn them ; and who has a better opportunity 

 to note them than the farmer, whose life is passed 

 in watching the processes of animal and vegeta- 

 ble life ? What a world of information he ought 

 to collect, and does, if he keeps his eyes open. 



"Scarcely a branch of natural science," says a 

 writer, "but has an intimate relation to the bus- 

 iness of agriculture, and peculiar claims upon the 

 farmer." And he goes on to say — "Nor can any 

 good reason be assigned why he should not have 

 the benefit of full instruction in all the branches 

 of useful learning." 



It is not, however, the study of books, so much 

 as the study of the book of Nature herself, to 

 which we now refer, and for which the just qual- 

 ification is a habit of observation. Creation is 

 full of wonders and mysteries, and perhaps, you 

 feel this as much in looking at a grasshopper's 

 leg through a microscope, as at the most distant 

 planet through a telescope. Perhaps there is as 

 much mystery in the fact that an apple falls 

 down instead of up, and that grass grows up in- 

 stead of down, as in the revolution of the sun, 

 moon and stars ! 



FARM -WOKK FOR MARCH, 

 The duties that devolve on the farmer in the 

 month of March, though not so instant and press- 

 ing as at some other seasons, can no more be dis- 

 pensed with and have the farm managed well, 

 than can a field be well plowed with the off ox 

 half the time out of his bow. There is so inti- 

 mate a connection and interweaving of the busi- 

 ness of all the seasons, that the omission of the 

 cares of one must sadly impair the whole. In 

 order, then, that MarcJt shall discharge its spe- 

 cial duty to the other months, let us glance at 



