DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VL 



BOSTON, OCTOBER, 1854. 



NO. 10. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, Proprietors. 

 Office. . ..QuiNCY Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK., i Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH 5 Editors. 



CALENDAR FOE OCTOBEE. 



"The Autumn has tinged the trees with gold, 



And crimsoned the shrubs of the l^ills ; 

 And the full seed sleeps in earth's bosom cold ; 



And hope all the universe fills." 



CTOBER, in New England, has a 

 climate probably not equal! 

 ed by that of any other por 

 tion of the world ; not sur 

 passed, certainly, under the 

 often-boasted Italian skies. 

 There is an inexpressi- 

 ble charui in the first 

 gatherings of the fami- 

 ly around the pleasant 

 sitting-room fire, and in 

 the frosty mornings, as 

 well as in the bright sun, and the pure, elastic air 

 we breathe. 



Mr. Beecher calls this the " painted month. 

 Every green thing loves to die in bright colors. 

 The vegetable cohorts march out of the year in 

 glowing, flaming dresses, as if to leave the earth 

 were a triumph, and not a sadness. It is not 

 Nature ever that is sad ; but only we that dare 

 not look back on the past, and that have not her 

 prophecy of the future in our bosoms. 



" But there is as much life in Autumn as 

 death, and as much creation and growth as 

 passing away. Every flower has left its house 

 full of seeds. No leaf has dropt until a bud has 

 borne it. Already another year is hidden along 

 the boughs ; another summer is secure among 

 the declining flowers." 



October has its distinctive character — indeed, 

 every month has — and is crowded with things 

 beautiful to him whose mind is active, and who 

 has his eyes open to observe. But it has its peculiar- 

 ities — it is, as has been said by Mr. Beecher, the 

 " painted month " — the " month, above all oth- 

 ers, for the artist to ply his delightful task of 

 Using the fugitive beauties of the scene ; which,] 



however, he must do quickly, for they fade 

 away, day by day, as he looks upon them." 

 The Summer birds have mostly gone ; a few flit 

 from place to place, lighting on the ripened weeds 

 and grasses, and feeding on their seeds ; their 

 notes have a softened and melancholy tone, as 

 they come nearer and nearer our dwellings, and 

 seem more social than in the hey-day of life. 

 The grass-hoppers have grown lusty, and big 

 black crickets resort to the heated sand to warm 

 their old limbs ; but when evening comes, in the 

 kitchen hearth, or under some cozy tuft, they 

 pitch their sonorous pipes and make the night vo- 

 cal with their songs. During the month of Octo- 

 ber there are many evenings and nights of sur- 

 passing beauty ; a clear atmosphere enables us to 

 see innumerable stars, and the moon, with appar- 

 ently new beauties. And then to him who will 

 observe some of the phenomena of Autumn, there 

 is ample opportunity of experiencing "the physi- 

 cal force of atmospheric motion in every degree ; 

 the gentle zephyr floating the thistle-down and 

 undulating corn ; the fresh breeze rippling the 

 surface of the stream, and the tempest-blast whirl- 

 ing the dead leaves in every direction, and some- 

 times overwhelming the work of man with ruin 

 and destruction." 



In July, the fields are lively with the haymak- 

 ers ; in August, they gathered the grain ; in Scp- 

 tem])er bent over the potato hills, and now in Oc- 

 tober, comes tlio Indian corn harvest, this, and 

 the hay harvest, being the great agricultural sta- 

 ples of New England. Now, too, comes the pleas- 

 ant husking parties, whore all the old stories of 

 the year are repeated with new unction. But, 

 alas ! the times are sadly changed ; the girls not 

 only decline to husk, though assured that some 

 red ears may be found, but to bake the beans and 

 boil the coSee for the midnight supper ! Husk- 

 ing corn has lost its charm. Basque waists, Iloni 

 ton lace and drapery sleeves are in the ascend- 

 ant ! Well, we like to see them, after all, and so 



