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DEVOTED TO AGRIOULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIEI-fCES. 



VOL. V. 



BOSTON, APRIL, 1853. 



NO. 4. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, Proprietors. 

 Office Q,uin'cy Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK,i Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH,) Editors. 



CALENDAR FOR APHIL. 



"Spring, the year's youth, fair mother of new flowers, 

 New leaves, new loves, dr.iwu by the wing-ed hours, 

 Thou art returiitd." 



April, says the author of the 'Mirror of the 

 Months, is ByTing — the only ppring month we 

 possess — the incst juvenile of the months, and the 

 most feminine — the sweetest month of all the 

 year ; partly because it ushers in May, and part- 

 ly for its own sike, so far as anything can be valu- 

 able without r^'Jerence to anything else. It is 

 worth two Mays, because it tells tales of May in 

 every sigh that it breathes, and every tear that it 

 lets fall. It is the harbinger, the herald, the 

 promise, the pn.'pheey, the foretaste of all the 

 beauties that are to follow it — of all, and more — 

 of all the delights of summer, and all the "pride, 

 pomp, and circu:;istance of glorious autumn." It 

 is fraught with beauties that no other month can 

 bring before us, and 



"It bears a glass which shows us many more." 



Ah, April! April! this might have been thy 

 character once, or in other climes, but we should 

 scarcely recognize the portrait here. True, it has 

 its flush of new green on the meadow, its cro- 

 cuses, hyacinths, daffodils, and other gems of 

 beauty ; it gives us the first voice of the gentle 

 birds, and a thousand awakenings of new life 

 about us, but, ah, has it not its fierce winds, chill- 

 ing frosts, snows and pelting storms from the eas- 

 tern sky 1 Treacherous April ! Did it not send 

 its heralds last year, the robin and the bluebird, 

 and sweet gales from the south, and ere their 

 voice and their fragrance had died away, the fierce 

 North resumed her sway and poured her stores of 

 icy winds and chilling snows into her lap. Where 

 were the birds and the southern airs on the 7th of 

 April, one revolutiim of the earth ago, when the 

 roads were blocked with drifts, and the stone 

 walls were ought of sight ? 



But then we are thankful for April, fickle as it 

 is, and couldn't well do without it, as it affords 



opportunity to make so many prepiirations for the 

 busy seed-time. 



Plans. — All the general plans of the farmer 

 must be laid out now, if it has been neglected 

 until this time. Do not enter the field by-and-by, 

 and wonder what crop you shall apply to this part 

 or that, and hesitate whether you shall break up 

 an acre or two on the hill or take another piece 

 on the meadow. No, no, this is periilexing when 

 the day is waning, and saen and teams are waiting. 



So of the garden ; take the plan in your hands 

 when you carry out your seeds. Here is the spot 

 for the beds, their length and width all laid down; 

 the new pear trees are to occupy that vacant and 

 sheltered spot in the south corner ; the raspber- 

 ries and strawberries, the tomatoes, cucumbers 

 and melons, the beans, peas and cabbages the ear- 

 ly potatoes, corn, radishes and lettuce, all have 

 their particular place assigned, and the mind is 

 not distracted with. the feeling that all must be 

 done promptly, and yet it has not decided how to 

 direct the operations. 



Make as much garden as you can, — it is the 

 most profitable part of the farm. There is of- 

 ten more profit on a quarter of an acre in garden 

 than from 2 or 3 acres of the farm. Get in early 

 peas and potatoes. On the sunny side of a wall, 

 sprung up to briars and young bushes, clear up 

 and put in seed for early potatoes ; it is just such 

 a spot as they like ; the new earth so light and 

 warm. You may have them by the 4th of July 

 in perfection. 



Pruning. — The Messrs. Allen, in ihQ American 

 Agriculturist for 1842, page 65, say they think 

 pruning should be done "after that period when 

 the excessive flow of thin and watery sap has sub- 

 sided, and the leaves have fully matured, which 

 happens in this latitude, from the 20th of June 

 to the 15th of July." It is worth while to try 

 this mode and see how it works. At any rate, 

 cut off no large limbs in April. 



Peach Trees. — By cutting about one-half of the 



