4- I 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VII. 



BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 1855. 



NO. 9. 



JOEL NOUIISE, Proprietor, 

 Office. ...QuiNcv Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K nOLBROOK, } AssoriATB 

 HENRY E. FRENCH, I Eoitoks. 



CALENDAR FOR SEPTEMBER. 



"Now Harvest's busy hum declines." 



/f- 



EPTEMBER, though 

 the fii'st of the Au- 

 tumnal Months, has 

 an average heat 

 scarcely less than 

 that of June. For 

 several years past, 

 the severe summer droughts 

 have extended even into Sep- 

 tember, and the fii'st half of 

 the month, both day and night, 

 has been oppressively hot, the 

 earth parched and cracked, and the 

 foliage hard, dusty, and dry. This 

 }ear is an exception, and vegeta- 

 tion has more the appearance of 

 the vernal season, than 

 ^^ that of the season of dc- 

 jpf cay. The frequent 

 summer showers 

 ^2^i^^ "''^ have given great 

 and constant activity to the gi-owth of plants, and 

 kept them in a green and vigorous condition, so that 

 they now cover the earth with freshness and beauty. 

 Notwithstanding this, "the youth of the year is 

 gone. Even the vigor and lustihood of its maturity 

 are quick passing away. It has reached the sum- 

 mit of the liill, and is not only looking, but descend- 

 ing hito the valley below. But if Sia'TCMiiiai is 

 not so bright \vith promise and so buoyant with 

 hope as May, it is even more embued with that 

 spirit of serene repose, in which the only true, be- 

 cause the only continuous enjoyment consists. — 

 And September is the month of consummations — 

 the fulfiller of all promises— the fruition of all 

 hopes— the era of all completeness. Let us tlien 

 turn at once to gaze on, and partake in it.s m;mifold 

 beauties and blessings, not let them pass us by, 

 with the empty salutation of mere praise ; for the 

 only panegyric that is acceptable to Nature is that 



just appreciation of her gifts which consists in the 

 full enjoyment of them." 



Before the month closes, however, the general 

 face of the country will have undergone a veiy ma- 

 terial change since we left it last month ; and none 

 of its individual features, except the woods and 

 groves, have improved in their appearance. Fields 

 where the small grains were cut, present a rough 

 appearance of coarse stubble, and weeds which have 

 grown and ripened their seeds since the grain plants 

 were harvested ; others show the new furrows of the 

 plow, or, perhaps, if criticized carefully, the yoimg 

 wheat or rj-e, just penetrating the surface, to come 

 out and warm itself in the soft sunlight, and take 

 root and gather strength to resist the winter frosts. 

 "And even now, whilst Nature's beauty dies, 

 Deposits SEED, and bids new harvests rise." 



In other fields, milch cows and oxen are crop- 

 ping the "fall feed," or quietly chewing the cud un- 

 der the spreading branches of some friendly tree. 

 But "the fields have no longer the rich luxuriance 

 of their Spring bloom, nor even the delicious scent 

 wliich belonged to them when the ^^gor of youth 

 was upon them. They are the pale and feeble off- 

 spring of the declining life of their parent." 



Some of the summer birds have left us, both 

 songsters and others. The chatty martins have 

 gone, and with the exception of here and there a 

 pair, the swallows have departed — "urged thereto by 

 projjhetic instinct, which will not be disobeyed," and 

 which makes them exact observers of times and 

 seasons. 



The vegetable garden "looks big with events," 

 while the fruit garden is more tempting than ever. 

 Crimson apples, golden pears, and luscious grapes 

 more than repay the labor of cultivation in the 

 liealtli they jjromote and the gratification they im- 

 part wliile sharing tliem with friends. 



September will be like herself, after all. 



"Glittering dews at morn and fogs at eve, 

 Hasten the gathering of the fruits of earth." 



The leaves begin to fall, the meadows turn brown, 

 frosts occasionally sparkle in the early sun, and the 



