DEVOTED TO AGRICULTUIIE, HOKTICULTUKE, AND KENDSED AETS. 



NEW SERIES. 



Boston, March, 1868. VOL. IL— NO. 3. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, 34 Mercha>'ts' Row. 



MONTHLY. 



SIMON BRO^VN, ) Editors 

 S. FLETCHER, ( -I^ditors. 



MARCH THOUGHTS. 



The stormy March has come at last, 

 With -wind, and cloud, and chai;glng skies, 



I hoar the gushing of th(5 hlaet 

 That thrSugb the snowy valley flies — Bryant. 



E CAN, indeed, bear the 

 "gushing of tbe blast 

 througb tbe snowy val- 

 ley," and we can feel 

 .^ tbe glowing sunbeams 

 and pattering rain, too, 

 in tbis montb People 

 talk witb trutb about 

 tbe fickleness of April, 

 because it is all sun- 

 sbine and tears, like tbe 

 maiden who launches 

 into society at sweet 

 sixteen. But March is 

 as inconstant as April, 

 only it shows its sharper 

 features most, — Its icicle fangs, its cutting 

 winds andwhirlting snows to blind, and freeze 

 and bury you up. The voice of the robin in 

 the pines, or of the blue-bird on the old apple 

 tree, lures you out into tbe warm sunbeams 

 for a walk or a ride ; you scorn overcoat and 

 mittens as you would a fur collar in summer, 

 and go forth as proudly and valiantly as the 

 Knight of La Mancba himself. But you do 

 not return so. A "norwester" strikes you 

 before your walk is half accomplished, and 

 jou come limping back as "stiff as a poker," 

 as "blue as a whetstone," and with a poor 



opinion of March as a season to walk or ride 

 in. You are ready to declare that "if there 

 be a montb the aspect of which is less amiable, 

 and its manners and habits less prepossessing, 

 than those of all tbe rest, that montb is March." 



But March, nevertheless, is an excellent 

 month to do its own work in. It may not suit 

 our plans or moods exactly, but it cannot 

 be spared any better than June or October. 

 If March did not work. May would not blos- 

 som, nor September give us fruits. "Even 

 the winds of March, notwithstanding all that 

 we have insinuated in their diis favor, are far 

 from being virtueless ; for they come career- 

 ing over our fields, and roads, and pathways, 

 and while they dry up the damps that tbe thaws 

 had let loose, and the previous frosts bad pre- 

 vented from sinking into the earth, 'pipe to 

 the spirit ditties' the words of which tell tales 

 of the forthcoming flowers. And not only 

 so,, but occasionally, towards the last of the 

 month, they are caught bearing away upon 

 their rough wings the mingled odors of violet 

 and daffodil." 



The month of March, then, has its assigned 

 duties in the general operations of the seasons, 

 and its particular duties for all who have the 

 care of stock and gardens and fields. 



March is the preparation month of the far- 

 mer, when he gets all things ready for the 

 April work, which cannot be postponed, as 

 the sailor clears the decks of his ship for ac- 

 tion when a rover comes in sight. 



