DEVOTED TO AGRICULTUEB AND ITS KINDKED AHTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, DECEMBER, 1860. 



NO. 12. 



NOURSE, EATOX & TnL>,:AX, Proprietohs. 

 Office 34 JIerciiants' Row. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associat; 

 HEXRY F. FREXCH, \ Editors. 



CALENDAB FOS, DECEMBBK. 



'O tell me not of fairer lands, 



Beneath <a brighter sky ; 

 Of streams that roll o'er golden sands, 

 And flowers that never die ! 



My native Isle ! my native Isle ! 



Though bare and bleak thou be ; 

 And scant and coll thy summer smile, 



Thou'rt all the world to me !' 



ECEMBER, last palc 

 \ visitor of the 

 lt'',relve, she comes 

 ) and scatters the 

 sno'iY -wreath over 

 the roofs of our 

 dwellings, and 



along our frozen 

 streets — she nips 

 the latest flower 

 that has dared to 

 lift its little head 

 the sunshine — she 

 drives every living thing 

 under shelter, and bids 

 man seek in-doors for 

 that comfort which he can no 

 longer find abroad. Now wc 

 begin to see what a blessed 

 thing it is to have a hovie. Perhaps 

 we used to think, sometimes, last 

 summer, that the birds had a mighty nice time of 

 it, singing up there among the green leaves. No 

 farm, no merchandise, no workshop, no office to 

 trouble their little brains. Nothing to do but fly 

 about among their vast possessions, and get their 

 dinner — which never needs cooking — and then fly 

 back and sing another song ! But now we see 

 that we have some privileges which the birds have 

 not. At the first cold vrind, the poor things must 

 quit their homes, and fly away — av^-ay — nobody 

 knows where — but although it may be to a far 

 pleasantor clime than ours, this perpetual migra- 

 tion does not meet our views at all. 



On the whole, we are glad we are not a bird. 

 Man, though a working animal, finds a compen- 

 sation for his labors, and his greatest compensa- 

 tion, in the power to establish a permanent home. 

 He may be exposed to cold and hardship through 

 the short winter day, he may have to buffet a 

 driving storm before he reaches his own door, but 

 once there, he feels that it is a haven of rest. To 

 be sure he stands there in the hall looking like a 

 great snow-man, but then it is his wife's hands . 

 that help him ofl" with his great coat, — it is his 

 own little bright-eyed girl that stands laughing and 

 dancing while he emerges from his heap of wrap- 

 pings. She it is who has got his arm-chair and slfp-- 

 pers all ready for him close by the fire. By-and- 

 by, when he gets warm, he gathers with his family 

 about the pleasant tea-table, and all are eager to 

 hear what news lie brings from the great world 

 without to his little world within, and he, on his 

 part, has been looking forward to this very home 

 through all the busy day. Perhaps he isn't a man 

 of any great importance anywhere else, but he 

 has the satisfaction of knowing that he is the 

 centre and stay at one household. '^Trencli" (on 

 the use of words,) — some of our readers may not 

 have seen it — says husband means house-hand, 

 that strong, embracing power that unites and 

 holds together all the family. There are men who 

 seem born with a propensity to rove. They wan- 

 der over land and sea, and are never at rest, yet 

 often the very motive which sends them farther, 

 is a latent desire to obtain means to found, at last, , 

 a pleasant and comfortable home for themselves. \ 

 In most cases, a man will not expatriate himself if 

 he can help it, and if, by chance, he inherit his 

 father's house, the homestead cot — with what te- 

 nacity he cli^igs to the spot. He would not give 

 up these old associations for anything sliort of a 

 home in Paradise ! 



When the Prince of Wales visited the United 

 States a fevi^ weeks ago, he was welcomed with 

 enthusiasm wherever he went. He was followed 



