DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. V. 



BOSTON, AUGUST, 1853. 



NO. 8. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, Propkietoks. 

 Office. . ..(luixcY Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FREU'K HOLBROOK.i Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



AUGUST. 



"There's niDsic in the dawiting ntorn, 

 Ere Ihe lark liis pinion dries — 



'Tis the rush nf she hreeze tlirou^h tlic dewy corn- 

 Through the gjiriieii's iierfunie<i djes." 



Men breathe freely again ; tLe burden of the 

 Hay and Grain harvest is over. The weather has 

 been propitious, and the bays and scaffolds swell 

 with the rich treasures of the newly shorn fields. 



"August," says a beautiful "wriier, "is that de- 

 batable ground of the year, which is situated ex- 

 actly upon tlie coniines of summer and autumn; 

 and it is diffic-ult to say which has the better claim 

 to it. It is dressed in half the flowers of the one, 

 and half the fruits of the other ; and it has a sky 

 and temperature all its own,. and which vie in 

 beauty with those of the spring." 



The whole face of Nature has undergone, since 

 last month, an obvious change. The dark green 

 of the corn-fields now beautifully contrasts with 

 the brown stems of the grass roots, while the stub- 

 ble of the early harvest is only left of the recent 

 waving fields of golden grain. 



The trees and shrubs and fields are still green, 

 "but i^t the fresh and tender green of the spring, 

 nor the full and satisfying green of the summer ; 

 but many greens, that blend all those belonging 

 to the seasons first named, with others more grave 

 and more bright, and the charming variety and in- 

 terchange of which are peculiar to this delightful 

 month, and are more beautiful in their general ef- 

 fect than those of either of the preceding periods ; 

 just as a truly beautiful woman is perhaps more 

 beautiful at the period immediately before that at 

 which her charms begin to wane, than she ever 

 was before." i^ 



The season grows old in animated life, too. New 

 voices disturb the hot and listless noon, or swell 

 on the evening air. The birds have paired, nest- 

 ed, and reared their young, and now in "sober rus- 

 set clad," gather in garrulous joy, or sport in airy 

 circles about the old trees of the farmer's home. 



In England, this month, their great harvest sea- 



son, is one of gladness. Here, we rush on to see 

 how large a crop we can raise and gather in with- 

 out any outward expressions of gratitude and de- 

 light. But there, Leigh Hunt says, our ancestors 

 used to burst into an enthusiasm of joy at the end 

 of harvest. They crowned tlie wheat sheaves with 

 flowers, they sung, they shouted, they danced, 

 they invited each other, or met to feast, as at 

 Christmas, in the halls of rich houses. 



We like these outward expressions of joy ; they 

 are sympathetic, and toiich the whole nation's 

 heart. Our great harvest, the liNDi.AN Corn Har- 

 vest, is followed by our annual festival, Thanks- 

 giving, in which nearly all our people participate. 

 But, as with the English people, we should like 

 some ceremonies in the fields, some crowning of 

 the sheaves, some relaxation from stern labor, and 

 joyous gatherings of the young and old to commem- 

 orate the harvest scenes. ^Ve copy the customs 

 of our ancestors in many things— we should be 

 glad if our people would do so in some of their 

 Harvest Scenes. 



CALENDAR FOR AUGUST. 



* Within our recollection, and within our own prac- 

 tice, but under the direction of others, haying was 

 not concluded until the first week in September ; 

 the last week in August or the first in the follow- 

 ing month being thought early enough for cutting 

 the meadows. The period usually occupied now, 

 in tliis important part of husbandry, does not oc- 

 cupy one-half the time that it did forty or fifty 

 years since. Many fiirmers who cut fifty to a hun- 

 dred tons of hay in a season, accomplish it within 

 the space often to twenty days, and get it in bet- 

 ter condition than it used to be when two months 

 were occupied. 



This is one of the important improvements in 

 farming, which has been effected by labor-saving 

 implements, and by a better knowledge of the na- 

 ture of, and better modes of [reserving, the nutri- 

 tious qualities of the grasses. 



