DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, APRIL, 1854. 



NO. 4. 



RAYNOLDS i NOTJRSE, Proprietors. 

 Office. ...QiiiNCY Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, 1 A.SSOCIVTK 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



CALENDAR FOU APRIL. 



"Now the poklen morn aloft 

 Waves her dew-bespan^leJ wing ; 



With vermeil cheek, ami whisper soft. 

 She woos the tardy Spring ; ' 



Till April starts, and calls around 



The sleeping fragrance from the ground." 



EEPXNG April ha.scome, 

 and "hath put a spirit 

 of youth in every 

 thing." Not so rough 

 in her moods as March, 

 I but still more uncer- 

 tain. She "is at once 

 the most juvenile of the 

 months, and the most 

 feminine — never know- 

 ing her own mind for 

 a day together. Fickle 

 as a fond maiden with 

 her first lover : — coying 

 it with the young sun 

 till he withdraws his beams from her, and then 

 weeping till he gets them back again." But April 

 is a sweet mouth , after all. It is a month full of 

 promises: — every sweet breath from the South, 

 and every gentle shower, is a new promise of glad 

 and beautiful things ; and then what a charming 

 hope remains. And with all this promise for the 

 future, Ajiril brings the early flowers and birds, 

 with their fragrance and their son^. ■ What is all 

 the "pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious 



not to fall into error. The first is, not to touch 

 the land until it is in a fit condition to l)o plowed, 

 even though the season may be a little late for 

 this work. If the proper drainage and evapora- 

 tion has not taken place, the workman will find 

 that the furrow turned over has been pressed into 

 a kind of mortar, so that when the harrow is ap- 

 plied, instead of the furrow falling into a fine 

 tilth it breaks into lumps, which become baked 

 and hard, impervious to air and watw, and likely 

 to remain so through the entire season. These 

 not only mar the appearance of the field, but are 

 in the way of the cultivator and hoe, and constant- 

 ly roll upon the young and tender plants and de- 

 stroy them. 



But another error is, plowing too shallow, for 

 the sake of doing the work quick, and pressing 

 forward the spring work rapidly. This is done 

 at the expense of much comfort all through the 

 remainder of the season, and a considerable abbre- 

 viation of the crop, whatever it maybe. Nature, 

 if aided a little by giving the surplus water an 

 opportunity to run off, will bring all lands into a 

 proper condition to be plowed and planted, through 

 her powerful alembics, the sun and air, quicker and 

 better than anything that man can do for it. In 

 this important operation, bring in the head to the 

 aid of the hands, and the work will prosper bet- 

 ter. 



Sowing Gr.'Vin. — Sow early — that is, as soon as 

 the soil is in condition, — then your crops get a 

 good start before drouths come on 



Autumn, compared with these! Somebody has T.^ "^'T ■;——--— ^ thus the roots 

 compared life to a "Fitful April day"-wewish ith . ..^ '. are struck deep, are widely spread 



. April day 



were no worse, for most of the April "fits" are 

 very pleasant ones indeed. 



But we will let the poets take care of them- 

 selves, while we look a little after the 



Plowing. — There are two or three, general rules 

 to be observed in this operation which are so es- 

 sential to success, tliat we hope our ijoung read- 

 ers, at leagt, will give them so much attention as 



and will perfect their seeds. 



Carrots. — Sow early, and disregard the old no- 

 tion that by sowing late you save a good deal of 

 weeding ; that doctrine has lost many a crop of 

 carrots. See some remarks on the cultivation of this 

 root under the head of "E.xtracts and Replies." 



Pkas. — They laugh at Jack Frost, and may bo 

 put in early — especially if you want a crop in 

 June. 



