

DBVOTSD TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VII. 



BOSTON, MAY, 1855. 



NO. 5. 



JOEL NOrKSE, PROPRiETon, 

 Office. ...QrixcT Hall. 



SIMON BEOWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K nOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



CALEKDAK FOR MAY. 



"Tlie blossomea Oreliara anl the Vine 



Have too their charms for nie ; 

 The sweet Briar, and the Eglanti.ae, 



Again I joy to see. 

 These are the'beauties of the Spring ; 



And while it doth remain, 

 Let all the graces dance and sing, 

 Ti!l WinMr come again." 



AV — of all the months 

 in the year — is often- 

 estRpoken of with en- 

 thusiasm, sometimes 

 ■with i^assionate joy. 

 It has a revivifying 

 influence upon all na- 

 ture, animate and in- 

 animate ; on the trees 

 whose forms have long appeared lifeless, the sap 

 starts, buds and blossoms expand, and flowers 

 spread their delicate jietals to the softly-kissino- 

 winds of the south ; the earth is rapidly ver° 

 dure-eovered, animals gambol, birds sing and 

 insects hum about, intent on the purposes of 

 their busy little life. There is reanimation in 

 all things ; the air is soft and grateful, the spring- 

 ing grass looks cheerful and the brooks appear 

 glad as they skip along. Man and the lower 

 world are sympathetic,— a grand symphony of 

 harmonious feeling pervades all things. 



Is it a wonder, then, that May is extolled? 

 The sick praise it because its breath is soft and 

 boars upon it the perfume of the Ueart's-ease, 

 Crown-imperial, Lily of the Valley and Apple- 

 blofisoma; the lovers eulogize it because every 

 thing is so gladsome about them and in unison 

 with themselves ! The Farmer utters his daily 

 heart-felt panegyric for southern breezes, genial 

 suns and fructifying rains; for springing corn, 

 and gra.ss and grain. Then 



llail bounteous May ! that .lost Inspire 

 Mirth and youth and warm desire ; 

 TJM ''"/^Kroves are of thy dressing ; 

 Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing: 



So said iMastcr Shakspeare, and he understood 

 the secret workings of the human heart pretty 

 well. ^ '' 



But there is another aspect for ]May. It is not 

 scorching summer, but stands between that and 

 blustering winter, hangs out vernal suns, and 

 lets us and the trees and grass and flowers, grad- 

 ually down into the roasting season, acclimated 

 and prepared for it. "Were a summer tempera- 

 ture immediately to succeed the cold of winter, 

 many of our plants would be greatly injured^ if 

 not totally destroyed. Their delicate vessels and 

 cells would burst by a too sudden expansion, and 

 the bud, prematurely thrust forth into the light 

 and heat of day, would wither and fall off, or 

 remain an abortive excrescence on its parent 

 stem. We should also be deprived of the beauty 

 and interest attached to the gradual development 

 of leaf and flower, were the great annual transi- 

 tion in the vegetable world effected instantane- 

 ously." Now, under the beautiful arrangement 

 which exists, as the season advances, the tempera- 

 ture increases, and plant after plant, according 

 jto the sensibility of its buds, sends fbrth its 

 tender shoots and leaves, in beautiful succession, 

 till every field and garden and grove is teeming 

 with beauty and perfume. 



May, on the farm, is crowded with important 

 duties, and unless they are thoroughly dis- 

 charged, will show a neglect througli all the 

 summer operations. "Drive your business, and 

 not let your business drive you,'' is a good old 

 adage, and has moro force than many are dis- 

 posed to allow it. Always to be able to boo a 

 crop, for instance, at the moment it needs it, is 

 la matter of considerable importance, saves labor 

 [and time, and undoubtedly increases the crop be- 

 yond what it would have been had the weeds 

 luxuriated a few days longer. Thi.s is especially 



the case in harvesting the grain and grass crops 



a delay of a day or two sometimes sadly affcetin"' 

 the quality of either. It is just as important for 

 the farmer to be prompt and improve the favora- 

 ble moment in his aflairs, as it is for tlie smith to 

 'strike while the iron is hot," the mariner to 

 spread his eaila to the favorable breeze, or the 



