





DEVOTSD TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VII. 



BOSTON, JULY, 1855. 



NO. 7. 



JOEL NOURSE, Proprietor, 

 Office.. ..QiiNcy Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



CALEHBAR FOE JULY. 



JcLY, the month of Summer's prime, 

 Again resumes his busy time ; 

 Scythes tinkle in each grassy dell, 

 ■Where solitude was wont to dwell : 



The very insects on the ground, 



So nimbly bustle all around, 



Amonof the grass or dusty soil, 



They seem partakers in the toil. Jons Clare. 



ULY ia an exceed- 

 in g 1 y important 

 mouth to the far- 

 J^fK ^^^^ ^^ several re- 

 spects. It calls 

 again for all his 

 force and skill to 

 secure his hay 

 crop, the great 

 New England har- 

 vest, perhaps not 

 second in impor- 

 tance to any other. 

 _ It is the month, 

 too, upon which 

 .^'^•-^^ij;^ another valuable crop in 

 good measure depends, — 

 the golden maize, or Indian corn. 

 Tliis plant requires the frequent 

 lu)e, and t!ie fervid suns of July. 

 Indeed, all the crops which the 

 farmer has committxl to tie 

 earth with so much pains, and which have sprung 

 into healthy and promising plants, now require 

 his constant care to protect them from insects 

 and weeds, and keep the soil in a favorable condi- 

 tion to receive the rains and dews and atmos- 

 pheric inQuonces. 



Summer has now fully come, and her "whole 

 world of wealth" is spread out l^efore us in prod- 

 igal array. The woods and groves have dark- 

 ened and thickened into one impervious mass of 

 sober uniform green, and having ceased to exer- 

 cise the more active functions of the Spring, are 

 resting from their labors, which ivc know so little 



^' ^"^V-^ 



^1 



■ J 



how to enjoy. In Winter, the Trees may be sup- 

 posed to sloop in a state of insensible inactivity, 

 and in Spring to be laboring with the flood of 

 new life that is pressing through their veins, and 

 forcing them to perform the offices attached to 

 their existence. But in Summer, having reached 

 the middle term of their life, they pause in their 

 appointed course, and then, if ever, faste the 

 nourishment they take in, tind "enjoy the air 

 they breathe." 



Like the Woods and Groves, "the Hills and 

 Plains have now put off the bright green livery 

 of Spring ; but, unlike them, they have changed 

 it for one dyed in almost as many colors as a 

 harlequin's coat. The Rye is becoming yellow 

 and ripe for the sickle. The Wheat and Barley 

 are of a dull green, from their swelling ears Ijeing 

 alone visible, as they bow before every breeze 

 that blows over them." The stiff and stately 

 herds-grass, or as it is called in Europe, the 

 meadow cat's-tail, sways awkwardly to and fro, 

 while the graceful and silk-like red-top yields 

 pliantly to every breeze, and the American cock's- 

 foot, or orcliard-grass, with the sweet-scented 

 vernal, meadow foxtail, rye, and other gi*asses, 

 all mingling their varied colors, and presenting 

 them as they sway in the breeze, afford a most 

 lively and beautiful scene. The late Buttercup, 

 Ox-Eye, Daisy and Red Clover blossoms are still 

 in their prime, and give a charming appearance 

 to the whole. But nothing can be more rich and 

 beautiful tit this season than a great patch of 

 purple Clover, lying apparently motionless on a 

 sunny upland, encompassed by a whole sea of 

 other grasses, waving and shifting about it at 

 every breath that blows. 



Now a great many things are intensely July- 

 like. Cattle chow their cuds and lash their punc- 

 tured sides, standing knee-deep in water ; fishes 

 fry in shallow ponds ; pedestrians along dusty 

 roads quarrel with their coats, and cut sticks 

 to carry them across their shoulders, Avhilc every- 



