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DKVOTED TO AGKICULTUEE, HOBTICULTUHE, AND KESTDHED AETS. 



NEW SERIES. Boston, February, 18G9. VOL. III.— NO. 2. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, 34 JLerchants' Kow. 



MONTHLY. 



smoN BRO^vN, > p„™or, 



S. FLETCKEli, i i-MTORS. 



PEBRUAKY AND ITS OPPOBT UNITIES, i 

 ucii has been said of] 

 the brevity of this last 

 •winter month, and of 

 its changeable aspect ; 

 its fierce winds and 

 drifting snows ; Its 

 sloppy roads and glit- 

 tering ice, all following 

 each other in rapid 

 succession. Such is 

 usually its true char- 

 acter, and to a mind 

 unoccupied would un- 

 doubtedly prove cheer- 

 less, tedious and long, although the shortest 

 of all the months. 



To the farmer, however, who has a lively 

 interest in his occupation, and who is in the 

 enjoyment of good health, no day or month in 

 the year sefems too long. He feels responsi- 

 ble for the well-being and progress of the fam- 

 ily around him, and is always solicitous to se- 

 cure whatever will prove interesting and prof- 

 itable to those of his household who are in 

 great measure dependent upon him. 



Then there is another class of beings equally 

 dependent upon his skill and care, — the faithful 

 animals that labor for him, and feed and clothe 

 him. But for him the snows of February 

 would prove their winding sheet. With these 

 domestic duties devolving upon him, with all 

 their changing details from day to day, there 



is little room for feelings of a desponding na- 

 ture, or for discontent with his lot. The grat- 

 itude of kindred, the grateful recognition of 

 his animals when he meets them, together with 

 the consciousness of duties well discharged, 

 bring a perpetual sunshine to the soul, whether 

 February rushes by in the grandeur of storms 

 of wind and snow, or moves on in the gloom 

 of clouds or dripping rain. 



What a change has taken place in a great 

 many particulars in farm life, within the recol- 

 lection, probably, of many who read these 

 lines. Fifty years ago, not only was there less 

 thought of progress on the farm, but, also, less 

 thought of improvement of the mind. Many 

 of the school-houses then were low, unpainted, 

 gloomy structures, perched upon some bleak 

 hill, or isolated on some barren plain. The 

 searching winds swept through the loose under- 

 pinning and ample cracks in the floor, among 

 the shivering limbs of the boys and girls, or 

 tore away clattering boards as they went wail- 

 ing through them ! 



The inside of the house was little better. 

 A huge fire-place often of stones, full two 

 feet deep and five or six wide, with a throat 

 long and wide enough to admit a yearling 

 steer, was a contrivance by which to warm a 

 room sufficiently for little boys and girls to 

 sit and study in, four hours at a time ! The 

 seats and desks were In exact keeping with 

 other arrangements ; close together, hard, nar- 



