DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VI . 



BOSTON, JULY, 1854. 



NO. 7. 



aVYNOLDS & SOURUE, Proprietobs. 

 Office.... QuiNCY Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, 1 AssociATK 

 HENRY F. FRENCH < E^ditors.' 



CALENDAR FOR JULY. 



"Tlien cam? Jri.Y, boiling like to fire, 

 That all his garments he had cast away ; 



Upon a lyon raging yet with ire 

 He boldly rode, and made him to obey : 



Behind his backe a sithe, and by his side, 

 Under his belt, he bore a sickle circling wide." 



N July, the great Hay Month, 

 the principal portion of this im- 

 portant crop is gathered. There 

 is something in the collecting of 

 this delightful harvest which in- 

 spires animation and pleasant 

 emotions in all. The mowers, 

 the spreaders and the rakers, in their white shirts, 

 make the landscape a most lively scene, while 

 the sweet odors of the drying blossoms come to 

 the senses upon every breath. 



How the farm has filled up — what a fulness 

 there is all about the homestead. The fences are 

 half hidden in the spires of the ripening red-top, 

 the heads of the herds-grass, and sweet blossoms of 

 the red clover. How your neigh])or's house is 

 hidden from view by the thick foliage of the old 

 apple trees, the stately ash and the droopinn- elm. 

 Honeysuckles of varied hues and odors twine 

 around tlie pillars of the piazza, or climb kindly 

 over the lattice of tlic old porch to shut out tlie 

 noontide sun. "The woods and groves have dark- 

 ened into one impervious mass of sober uniform 

 green, and having for awhile ceased to exorcise 

 the more active functions of the spring, are rest- 

 ing from their labors, in that state of 'wise pas- 

 si veness' which we, in virtue of our infinitely great- 

 er wisdom, know so little liow to enjoy." 



How appropriately is every thing ordered ! The 

 heat is now greater than in any other mouth, just 

 at the moment when it is most wanted to save one 

 of our most important crops. But fervid as are 

 the days, nature is still lavisliing her favors, for 

 besides the flowers of la.st month, there are now 

 the candy tuft, the catcli-fly, columbines, egg- 



plants, French marygold, marvel of Peru, and 

 rose? and lilies. So the woods and grove.s pro- 

 duce new flowers, and the roadsides ure orna- 

 mented with the blue-bell and other g;iy blossoms 

 to gladden the traveller's eye. 



Before the month closes, the rye will be yellow 

 and ready for the sickle. The "oats will whiten 

 apace, and quiver, each individual grain on its 

 light stem, as they hang like rain-drops in the 

 air." The wheat and barley assume a dull green 

 while tlieir swelling ears bow before every breeze 

 that blows over them. There is a beautiful 

 adaptation of things to each other, and of partic- 

 ular things to the whole. 



"The poetry of the earth is never dead ; 

 When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, 

 And hide in cooling trees, a voice will ran 

 From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; 

 That is the grasshopper's." 



So all the lower orders of creation live their lit- 

 tle life in joy, happy in the adaptation of their 

 habits and wants to the condition of things about 

 them. Some pour forth their melodies before 

 the sun streaks the east in the early morning ; 

 some chirp and sing in the hot and fervid noon, 

 and otiiers utter their plaintive notes in the cool 

 and sombre evening. The farm is full of profita- 

 ble teachings to every reflecting mind. 



Though late in starting, vegetation has had a 

 rapid growth, and now the crops generally look 

 well. Without much more rain, the grass crop 

 will be, at least an average one, and so will the 

 small grains, tliough rye, perhaps, may not be as 

 heavy as for two or three years past. 



Corn looks well — it has had a good color from 

 the start. But guano and the crows have been 

 unusually destructive upon it ; much now will de- 

 pend upon the heat of the season, and upon 



Hoeing. — Many persons continue to throw up 

 hills about the corn, and even upon quite dry soils. 

 This mode of cultivation may answer on low lands, 

 but we cannot believe it a good one, on such land 



