^^00^:^^® FAf^ 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KIXnTDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. V. 



BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1853. 



NO. 2. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, PsorRiETOr-s. 

 Office. ...QuiNCY Hall. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK. ^ Associate 



•BROWN, Editor. npivnv p pniriv-.MjJr? 



' HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Edi'iors. 



CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY. 



Thfe Saxons called Februnry Sproul-hele, because 

 in this month kele-wurto began to throw out whole- 

 some young sprouts, which were the chief winter- 

 wurte for the sustenance of the husbandman in 

 those days. The "kele" being the well-known 

 kale of the cabbage tribe. The Saxons also called 

 this month "Sc)lmonath,"' which means "pan-cake 

 month," because in the coux-se of it, cakes were 

 offered by the pagan Saxons to the sun; and "Sol," 

 or "soul," signiliedyboc? or cakes. 



Well, there is some difference between to-day, 

 and the times when those old sun-worshippers 

 lived. They would be horrified to see us eat the 

 cakes which they offered perhaps as a propitiatory 

 sacrifice, and then jump up and light our pipes by 

 the sun ! Notwithstanding, we think eating the 

 cakes a more rational use of them than sacrificing 

 them to old Sol, who looks as though he had not 

 only a plen,ty of good cakes, but roast beef too. 

 We hope, therefore, our people will eat thejr cakes 

 themselves, and grow lusty upon them, maugre 

 the Saxons, and their sun-worship. 



Striking changing have taken place in the busi- 

 ness of the country, and have broken up some of 

 the pleasant old customs of the rural districts, and 

 which are mourned over as "halcyon days and 

 scenes never to return." Clare, in Jais Shepherd's 

 Calendar, written many years ago, describes tlie 

 gatherings of farmers in old England much as the 

 farmers still collect in many places in this country. 

 He says : — 



"Now musing o'er the changing scene, 

 Farmers behind the tavern-screen 

 Collect; — with elbow idly press'd 

 On hob, reclines the corner's guest, 

 Reading the news, to mark again 

 The rise of beef, or price of grain. 

 Pufling the while his red-tipt pipe. 

 Or telling stories, over ripe. 

 Yet, winter's leisure to regale, 

 Hopes better times, and sips his ale." 



Once, the country roads, all througli New Eng- 

 land, were jubilant with merry bells and voices 

 through the winter months. Then the moun- 



tains and vales poured forth their hardy son?, 

 seeking distant markets for the products of their 

 summer's toil. Lines of box sleighs filled with 

 beef, pork, mutton and venison, cheese, butter, 

 and honey, were impelled by fleet and powerful 

 horses, skimming the plains and threading the 

 valleys and presenting a most animating scene. 

 There were taverns in those days ; and in the 

 cheerful light of their log-fires, after night had 

 set in, gathered the hardy sons of the mountains. 

 Here they fortified the "corporeal man" from their 

 boxes of cold roast fowl, apple-pies and dough- 

 nuts, and while the storm blew furious without, 

 they grew warm with sympathy, and with the log 

 Sre within. 



And now this scene reminds some one of a be- 

 nighted traveller, who lost his way in the moun- 

 tains, and, but for his faithful dog, had perished 

 in these lonely regions. He tells the tale, — and 

 then each, in turn, relates his story of some peril- 

 ous adventure amid the snowy mountains in the 

 winter. And there was "flip" and "sling," in 

 those days, and these went round sometimes, with 

 the "merry tale," until the travellers wei'e "unco' 

 glorious." But as their pitchers grew light and 

 the flame decreased, their eyes grew dull, and one 

 after another their heavy tread might be heard 

 approaching the bed, 



"Where ihortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove." 



All this was a part of their Farm Work for 

 February. 



Now how changed the scene ! Through yon- 

 der valley comes a strange looking monster, emit- 

 ting smoke and flame, plunging into drifts and 

 scattering them like chaff from its path, and bear- 

 ing along to market, in its capacious storehouse, 

 the products of an hundred fiirms ! It comes at 

 all times, and seasons — laughs at the elements, 

 and makes night hideous with its unearthly 

 screams, its gleaming eyes and fretful jar. 



And this is the way the locomotive does this part 

 of the Farm Work for February in 1853 ! 



