DKVOTED TO AGRICULTUHE, HORTICULTUKE, AND KHSTDKED AKTS. 



NEW SERIES. Boston, December, 18G8. VOL. II.— NO. 12. 



R. P. EA'rON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office. 34 Merchants' Kow. 



MONTHLY. 



emON BEOW^, ) Editors 

 S. FLETCHER, ( editors. 



EFJTECTS OF FROST. 



Tha keen, clear air — the splendid sight — 



We waken to a world of iae, 

 Wliere all ttjings are enshrined in light, 



As by some genii's quaint device. 



A shower of gems is strewed around, 

 The flowers of winter rich and rare, 



Kuhii s and sapph res deck ihe ground, 



The ti.,paz, emerald, all are there. — A.Norton. 



"Blow, blow, ye winds with heavier gust I 

 And freeze, thou bitter, bitiLg frost 1" — Burns, 



ECEMBER closes 



the year. It is 

 now winter. 

 The sun rises 

 late and sets 

 early. The trees 

 have shed their 

 leaves, and look 

 like mere skele- 

 tons of their for- 

 mer selves, 

 Birds and insects 

 have migrated 

 or hid themselves 

 in the earth. We some- 

 times call it a gloomy 

 season, and feel that na- 

 ture is dead. But why so? "A 

 thousand secret operations are in 

 progress by which the seeds, 

 buds, and roots of future plants and flowers 

 are not only preserved but elaborated that 

 when the prolific months of Spring arrive, they 

 ma) burst icto life in all the freshness and 



vigor of a new birth." The frost which binds 

 the stream loosens the soil, and by disintegrat- 

 ing the rocks adds to its productive power. 

 The old English adage that 



"December's frost and January's flood. 

 Never boded the Husbanoman good," 



is far from being correct. The frozen clods 

 crumble down in the spring so minutely divided 

 as materially to lesson the labor of the hus- 

 bandman in preparing the soil for seed. We 

 might enlarge upon the beneficial effects of 

 frost during winter, but at present will con- 

 fine our remarks to some of its operations 

 earlier in the season. 



The eff'ect of frost upon vegetables depends 

 upon circumstances. If they thraw gradually 

 without exposure to the light, they receive but 

 little apparent injury. Scions, and cuttings of 

 trees, bushes and vines, may be buried a few 

 inches in the ground, and remain all winter 

 without injury. Of course they freeze as hard 

 as the ground with which they are covered. 

 But they thaw gradually and in the dark. 

 Potatoes left in the ground often vegetate the 

 next season. The roots of grass, grain and 

 trees, are frozen solid during the winter. If 

 they were on the surface of the earth and 

 thawed in the light they would be killed, but 

 being thawed gradually and in the absence of 

 light they retain their vitality. Apples are 

 often frozen in the cellar, and thaw without 

 apparent injury. 



The effects of early frosts in the Autumn 



