DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. . 



VOL. V. 



BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1853. 



NO. 11 



RAYNOLDS <fe NOURSE, Proprietors. 

 Office Quincy Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK,i Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER. 



"Come, bleak Novesideh, in thy ■nildness come: 

 Thy mornings clolhed in rime, thy evenings chill ; 



E'en these have power to tempt me from my home. 

 E'en these have beauty to delight me still 



Though Nature lingers in her morning weeds, 

 And wiiils the dying year in gusty blast, 



Still added beauty to ihe last proceeds, 

 And vi'ildness triumphs when her bloom is past." 



In looking over the old books it is curious to notice 

 the customs that were observed by those who have 

 lived and acted their part before us. Thus, in 

 Ireland, on the first day of No vernier , they always 

 had a merry-making, and had a drink which they 

 called "Lambs' wool," which was made by bruis- 

 ing roasted ap[Ies, and mixing them with ale, or 

 sometimes with milk. Lambs' wool, apples and 

 nuts were added as a necessary part of the enter- 

 tainment, and Forster says the young folks amused 

 themselves with burning nuts in pairs on the bar 

 of the grate, or among the warm embers, to which 

 they give their name and that of their lovers. In- 

 deed, the day among them was dedicated by su- 

 perstition to the angel presiding over fruits, and 

 called La Mcsse des Pommes, meaning a religious 

 ceremony over the fruits, or something like it. 



There is something interesting and impressive 

 in these observances ; interesting, as showing an- 

 other age and phrase of the world : and impres- 

 sive, as showing how tiie heart has ever been in- 

 ciined to give utterance to its emotions, whether 

 of thanksgiving or adoration, even among the most 

 rude and unlettered. Then if we follow the ages 

 along, we cannot but observe how the teachings 

 of religion have led us gradually away from the 

 Heathen deities, up to Him from whom continually 

 streams that clearer light, of reason and of faith.' 

 November has been shrouded in gloom by many 

 of the poets, even by many of our own poets, who 

 have witnessed our many-dyed forests in Autumn, 

 and basked in the soft, hazy Indian summer, 

 " when the trees and 6hrub3,retaining their leaves, 

 jH-eeent thousands of tints from their branches, in 



which are mingled the bright scarlet, the crimson, 

 the orange, the yellow, the bronze, the brown, 

 which, with the carpet of green that often covers 

 the fields at this season, form a scene of beauty 

 unrivalled and unequalled in any other part of the 

 world. ' ' Many of the fall flowers are lovelier than 

 ever, as they yield to the first touch of the frost. 



We know that 



"All the pride 

 Of the sweet garden fades. Where now the Rose, 

 The Lupin, Aster, Balsam, or Carnation ? 

 Or where the Lily, with her snowy bells ? 

 Where the gay Jasmin, odorous Syringa, 

 Graceful Laburnum, or the bloom-clad Arbute ?" 



"We know that decay— not death— comes upon 

 all these beautiful creations, but only to be repro- 

 duced in new forms and afford a new delight. Pa- 

 ges of dolorous verse have been written upon this 

 beautiful month, until the common mind is im- 

 pressed with a melancholy and sadness at its ap- 

 proach, that cheats it of half its enjoyments. 



Analysis. — Therefore, the farmer can do no 

 better job now, than to analyze his feelings and 

 ascertain whether he is realizing all the enjoyments 

 that ought to flow in upon his soul in this beau- 

 tiful month ; it will prove to him one of his best 

 operations in his Farm Work for November. 



Plowing. — It is said that the lands in the Scioto 

 valley, Ohio, which have yielded large crops of corn 

 many years in succession without being manured, 

 are able to sustain this enormous draft in conse- 

 quence of the fineness of the soil ; all its compo- 

 nent parts being nearly as fine as flour. We be- 

 lieve there are other causes, but if this is the 

 principal one, what an important lesson it teaches 

 us with regard to our own lands. The autumn 

 plowing of stubble grounds is not generally prac- 

 ticed by our farmers. Some object, because, they 

 say, when the land is light the wind blows off the 

 fine particles, and a portion of the richest part is 

 lost ; another says the labor is lost, because the 

 same field requires to be plowed again in the spring 

 before planting. But if pulverization is so impor- 



