v-O: 



^^^- 



DlirVOTED TO AOEnCUIiTURE, HORTICULTUBE, AND KINDRED ARTS, 



NEW SERIES. Boston, July, 1869. VOL. III.— NO. 7. 



R. P. EATOX & CO,, Pcr.LisnERS, 

 Office, 34 Merchants' How. 



MONTHLY. 



SUf ON BROWN, ; 1,, 

 S. FLETCIIKR, 



Editors. 



■WORK IN JULY. 



The poetry of earth is never dead; 



When nil the birds are faint with the hot sun, 



Ji nd hide in cooling tree^, a voice -will run 



From hedge to hedge about the 



new-mown mt ad ; 

 That is the graschupp' r's. 

 Seats. 



ECURiNG the hay-crop Is 

 the prime work of the 

 month of July, in New 

 England. It is generally 

 considered the mo.- 1 valu- 

 able crop of the Northern 

 and Middle States, and 

 farmers usually get as 

 much other work as possi- 

 ble out of the way, so as 

 to give it all the attention which its importance 

 demands. 



In noticing the duties which are peculiar to 

 the months as thej pass along, we do not care 

 to engage m any discussion as to the best 

 modi s of preparing soils or securing crops, 

 and we, thenfore, only suggest here what we 

 have urged at some length in other columns, 

 that the farmer give especial thought, this sea- 

 son, as to the time and manner of securing 

 his hay. That he will make some experiments 

 in cutting early and curing as much as possible 

 in the cock. When he has done this his ob- 

 servation must be extended to feding it out, 

 and observe whether the stock eat the hay 

 with greater relish than they do late cut grass, 

 and whether it makes more milk or flesh, other 

 things being equal. 



The idea of cutting grass two or three weeks 

 earlier than the old practice has been, will be 

 a new and startling one to many, and if it is a 

 good idea it ought to be confirmed by the ex- 

 perience of thousands of our farmers. We 

 hope the readers of these columns will give 

 the matter especial attention and report to us 

 by the score the conclusions at which they 

 may arrive. 



Devoted to the hay harvest as the month of 

 July mainly is, there will be other uvjinialied 

 labors calling for attention, that cannot be 

 neglected without loss. 



If haying is commenced earlier, it will 

 necessarily find the hoeing in an unfinished 

 condition. This must receive attention, or 

 the great labor re(]uired in seeding would 

 return but a poor reward. The process of 

 hoeing is a process, indirectly, of manuring, 

 and ought in ;!ll cases to be done faithfully 

 and in suitable time. If the ^u f.ice toil be- 

 comes dry and hard, like the skin of a "hide- 

 bound'' ox, the plant < standing in it will grow 

 slowly, if at all, and would probably be in a 

 condition similar to that of tuch an animal at 

 the ingaihering of tlie crops. Instead of 

 profit tliere would be loss, and it would be 

 better, therefore, that the crop had not been 

 put into the ground at all. 



If the duties, then, of ho( ing and haying 

 come at the same time, the (armer must act in 

 the exercise of a wise judgment. In such a 

 case no rule could be absolutely applied. The 



