202 



NEW ENGLAND EARMER. 



May 



the great beam in the barn, close up where the 

 swallows built their nests. You remember, also, 

 the scaffold at the top of the barn, with a trap- 

 door in it, and you used to creep to the edge of 

 this door, and look down and think, what if you 

 should fall through, on the floor, such an immense 

 distance below ! Of course, you hunted hens' 

 eggs — everybody does — but does any one ever 

 dream of finding a nest with a dozen in it, without 

 being awakened before he had a chance to take 

 them out ? You have since studied Abercrombie, 

 and know all about the theory of dreams, but at 

 that time it only seemed the perversity of fate ! 



Doubtless there are people in the world who do 

 not comprehend the harmonizing influence of ru- 

 ral life — to whom a yard full of cattle has no more 

 individuality than a herd of buffaloes, or a shoal 

 of herring — who cannot tell Star from Buck — al- 

 though Patrick could tell you that there are radi- 

 cal differences in the dispositions of those two an- 

 imals. Patrick says he can tell, too, a vicious cow 

 by the expression of her eye, as quick as he can 

 tell that a certain cross-gi-ained, angular young 

 woman will make a shrewish wife. 



In a general way, there is a permanance about a 

 country town, which a city cannot well have — the 

 population is far less fluctuating. For instance, 

 the first day of May is a signal for all the inhabi- 

 tants of one street, to leave that, and flee into 

 another. This, perhaps, involves new neighbors, 

 a new church, neAV associations of all kinds. First 

 of May in the country is a signal for house-clean- 

 ing — but it is the same old house, and very likely 

 the same old paint you had cleaned these twenty 

 years — and the same old neighbors are cleaning 

 their old paint, and re-arranging their old furni- 

 ture just as you are. In places like these, it is 

 curious to see how, in generation after generation, 

 you can trace the family names and family faces. If 

 you have not been to your native place for years, 

 when you do return home for a visit, you can easily 

 tell all the little Smiths from all the little Browns, 

 by their resemblance to the little Smiths and 

 Browns you used to go to school with. You may 

 even address one of them, although you have 

 never seen him before, by his christian name, 

 without running any great risk, for if it is not he, 

 it is his brother. 



Though country life has its advantages, we are 

 far from saying that people always appreciate 

 them. It is strange how little pains is taken to 

 select a beautiful site for a dweUing. In riding 

 through the country, it sometimes seems as if the 

 care all went the other way, and that a man stud- 

 ied to select the ugliest spot he could, the one 

 which would command the narrowest view of the 

 surrounding landscape. We have in mind one in 

 ])articular — you can recall a dozen like it. Soil 

 barren- and rocky, not a tree or shrub near it. Yet 



pines and hemlocks had grown there, and were 

 still abundant on the opposite side of the road — 

 but the man had made "a clearing." Why could 

 not he just as well have left some of the trees na- 

 ture had so kindly planted for him — left them in 

 clumps and gi'oves, so that his dwelling need not 

 look quite so much like a martin box on a pole ? 

 It is a new house, and we hope he will immediate- 

 ly set out some trees in place of those he cut 

 down, plant a few woodbines and honeysuckles, 

 thin out those trees on the opposite side, so that 

 he can have a prospect across the country, and so 

 have a "home," instead of "four square walls." 

 His wife and children ought to be very much 

 obliged to us for these suggestions. If he wants 

 to know when he shall begin this reformation, we 

 answer ike first of May is an excellent time. 



For the New England. Farmer. 

 HUNGARIAN GKASS. 



Messrs. Editors : — I sowed four bushels of 

 Hungarian grass seed upon ten acres of land, from 

 the 6th to the 16th days of June. In 1858 I got 

 between two and three tons per acre from second 

 quality land, and four tons from good land, made 

 very fine v.'ith plow and cultivator, witho-^jt ma- 

 nure ; it yielded gi-ain, or seed, amounting to more 

 than one-fourth of the whole weight, and of the 

 richest kind. 



In 1859, in common with some of rr.y neigh- 

 bors, I was cut short in anticipated results, while 

 others were quite satisfied with its yield. Con- 

 stant rains prevented my sowing it at the proper 

 time, which is, here in New England, Jn my opin- 

 ion, from the 25th of May, to the fii-st day of 

 June. 



On the third of July occurred that ever memo- 

 rable shower, to the inhabitants of this vicinity, 

 which washed down our mountain sides a sufficient 

 quantity of gravel and rocks to make monuments 

 to the event, which will last for ages to come. 

 The same washed out and buried up about half of 

 my seed, after which the cold season and early 

 frosts cut short the rest to a very great extent,' 

 leavmg me a chance to gather in about ten tons, 

 which proved to be richly worth what it cost me. 

 The hay possesses a sweetness wliich gives it a 

 preference in the estimation of hay-eaters, and a 

 richness that makes a gi-eater flow of milk from 

 cows fed upon it, and butter of e superior quality. 

 Like corn, it will do best in a "warm season ; but it 

 will do better in a cold season, like the last, than 

 corn, by supplying the farmei with coarse grain, 

 if s owed at the proper time, with anything like 

 careful management. It should not be sown in 

 New England till the ground gets warm. It wiU 

 decay before it germinates in cold earth, and if it 

 barely germinates in such earth, and remains so 3 

 few days, it will receive a sickly hue, and becomes 

 only capable of a dwarfish existence. I am par- 

 ticular on this point, that those who have a great 

 desire to get all sowing done very early, had bet- 

 ter not engage much in its cultivation. I have 

 raised it two seasons, have had as good success in 

 stocking after it, both years, as I ever had with 

 wheat, or any thing else. Very many to whom I 



