tHi; 



DMVOTED TO AGBICULTUilE, HOBTICULTUEE, AND EUSTDEED ARTS. 



MW SERIES. 



Boston, May, 1869. YOL. III.— NO. 5. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Plblishers, 

 Office, 34 Merchants' lio>v. 



MONTHLY. 



SniON BP>0^\^^ ) Editors 

 S. FLETCHER, \ -Editors. 



"WHAT DOES "MAY" MEAN. 



Up 1 ki a princePB ftarts the rrif rry moriilng, 



In drnprries of many-colored c oud; 

 Aiid hlii-;aik», minstrtiB of the eat ly dawning, 



Pipe forth their nearly welcomes long sind led. 



John Clare. 



AMES grow out of things ; 

 they are the spoken sign 

 of a thought, or idea. We 

 speak of a "peach," and that word 

 carries to the mind of the hearer 

 the size, shape, color and flavor of 

 that fruit. He understands it per- 

 fectly, and it is in this way that we 

 communicate our own sensations to others, and 

 interchange thought, feeling and action with 

 all who use the same language. 



What we greatly need, in order to feel the 

 full force of a word, is to knovir how it was de- 

 rived, — that is, from yihit form or feeling 

 We should have a very imperfect idea of a 

 lion, if we had never seen one, nor had any de- 

 scription of one. He who has never had the 

 attribute of mercy warm his heart, nor been 

 touched by the emotions of pity, could scarce- 

 ly have a realizing sense of what the meaning 

 of these words is. 



I^anguage grows with our material growth. 

 New arts and sciences require new names by 

 which they maybe expressed, and these names 

 grow out of some peculiarity in the art or 

 thing itself. 



In speaking of April, a month ago, we sug- 

 gested that the meaning of the name might 



have come from the Latin word Aprilis from 

 aperio, to open or set forth. That is, the 

 earth is loosened from the icy fetters which 

 have made it almost solid for some months. 

 The brooka flow. The vital spark rekindles 

 in dormant existences, and all things live and 

 move and have their being again. 



We are indebted to the old Romans for 

 many of the words we use, and for the names 

 of particular things. We probably are for the 

 word May, the name of the present month, 

 some portions of which can scarcely be sur- 

 passed by the finest days of June. These peo- 

 ple did not worship one God, the Creator and 

 Author of all things, but had divinities whom 

 they worshipped under many names. They 

 had celestial and terrestrial gods and goddess- 

 es ; gods of the woods, and rural deities ; gods 

 of the sea; infernal deities and monsters, and 

 good and evil deities. 



One of these goddesses was "il/a/a," whose 

 chief title was Bona Dea, or the "Good God- 

 dess," who represented the earth itself, and 

 all that is good and beautiful upon it. So 

 they had her figure carved, gorgeously 

 dressed and placed where the people could 

 approach her and pay their homage. "On the 

 earth are built many towers and castles, so on 

 her head they placed a crown of towers. In 

 her hand she carries a key, for in winter the 

 earth locks up these Pleasures which she brings 

 forth and dispenses with so much plenty in 



