446 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



chills it more and more into that torpor which 

 at length constitutes its temporary death. And 

 yet October is beautiful still, no less 'for what 

 it gives than for what it takes away ;' and even 

 for what it gives during the very act of taking 

 away. 



"The whole year cannot produce a sight 

 fraught with more rich and harmonious beauty 

 than that with which the woods and groves 

 present during this month, notwithstanding, or 

 rather in consequence, of the daily decay of 

 their summer attire ; and at no other seaton 

 can any given spot of landscape be seen to so 

 much advantage as a mere picture." 



Very little is known of the value of trees 

 by many of our people, except that some of 

 them bear fiuit, afford a pleasant shade, make 

 fuel for the fire, or timber for building pur- 

 poses. Perhaps they have never contemplated 

 a landscape or a dwelling without a tree for 

 ornament or shade, and much less trees as co- 

 workers w ith the atmosphere in fertilizing the 

 soil and fitting it to produce the crops by which 

 man and beast are sustained. 



Whatever affords innocent pleasure to the 

 mind is valuable — whether it comes through the 

 eye or ear; whether in language, music, rock, 

 tree, or flower. The soul is expanded by a con- 

 templative view of the starry heavens, though 

 it may not be in possession of much exact 

 knowledge in relation to any of the celestial 

 bodies which are shining before it. So it may 

 be by a view o§ the vatt and restless sea, as 

 the "wild, the irregular, the illimitable, and 

 the luxuriant have their appropriate force of 

 beauty," as well as the minute thi igs which 

 are by all acknowledged to be beautiful. 



One of our own writers, — whose words 

 have often adorned these columns, — in an 

 article upon The Fall of the Leaf, says the 

 "two most interesting periods to one who is 

 in the habit of associating some agreeable sen 

 timent with the phases of nature, occur when 

 the trees are putiing forth their tender leaves 

 and flowers in the opening of the year, and 

 when they are assuming the variegated hues 

 that precede ihe fall of the leaf. Hence, the 

 autumn and the spiing have alwajs been re- 

 garded as pre-eminently tbe two poetical sea- 

 sons — the one emblemizing the period of 

 youth, the other that of old age. But to the 

 eye of the painter, as well as the poet, do 

 these two seasons offer the greatest attrac- 



tions. * * The beautiful tints of autum- 

 nal foliage are not correctly attributed to the 

 action of frost. Neither are they the effect 

 of maturity, but rather of the old age of the 

 leaf; and they may often be discerned as 

 early as August in those trees, which are in a 

 declining state of health. During the second 

 week of August I observed a maple in its full 

 autumnal drapery of crimson. On examining 

 it, I fQund that the tree had been nearly 

 girdled. The wound had been healed, and 

 left only a narrow strip of bark about three 

 inches in width to sustain the whole plant. 

 This might have been sufficient for that pur- 

 pose, during a moist summer; but on a- count 

 of the drought of the preceding July, it failed 

 to supply the tree with sustenance, and a pre- 

 mature old age of the leaf and its accompany- 

 ing tints were the consequence. A severe 

 frost at that early date would have produced 

 no such effect. An early fxost always injures 

 these tints by searing and embrowning the 

 leaves which are exposed to it. This effect 

 was clearly noticed in the autumn of 1853 

 when the leaves that ripened later than usual, 

 on account of long continued rains in the 

 latter part of summer, were overtaken by two 

 very severe frosts, before they had begun to 

 be tinted. 



"The cause of the superior beauty of our 

 autumnal hues, compared with those of Eu- 

 rope, is undoubtedly the greater intensity of 

 the sun's rays and the greater proportion of 

 clear weather in America, causing the leaves 

 to arrive sooner to maturity and old age." 



So ihe month of October, though hastening 

 on the natural process of decay in the vege- 

 table world, has its compensations in clear, 

 beautiful days, in calm and starry nights, in 

 lipening crops, in the pleasure of travelling, 

 in the delightlul open fire in frosty evenings, 

 and in many other things and wa} s that are 

 instructive aud attracting. 



Wbat care we, then, for fa!liDg leaves, 



« luii birds flj iug, 



G iila d8 eying, 

 Or the ^ ind ih^t lowly grieves ? 

 Conae, oiy tilrU, a d ting to me, 



Cle. riiy, bo ihi-eili^ ! 



T ou B A-eet spirit, 



Do t iiiht rii, " 

 Life 'O luaae iiie autumn time 

 Change o summei'o licbebt primw. ' 



J 



Wages. — Soon after the Revolutionary War, 

 Gen. VVa-hingioii wrote to a fru nd lor a Stew- 

 aid. lldd paid $100 a year, but for the right 

 man would go as far as $125 ! 



