DEVOTED TO AGBICDTiTirH.B AND ITS KINDRED AKTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 1861. 



NO. 9. 



NOURSE, EATOX & TOLMAN, Pkoprietom. ^-tmow T?T?r,WW EDITOR 

 Office ... .34 JIercuants ' Eow. SIMON BKO WN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associati 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, \ EciroaB. 



SUGGESTED BY SEPTEMBER. 



Autumn paints 

 Ansonian hills with grapes, whilst English plains 

 Blush with pomaceoug harvests breathing sweets. 



O let me now, when the kind early dew 

 Unlocks the embosomed odors, walk among 

 The well ranged files of trees, whose full-aged storci 

 Diffuss ambrosial streams, than myrrh or naiad 

 More grateful, or perfuming flowery bean. 

 Soft whispering airs, and the lark's matin song 

 These woo to musing, and becalm the mind 

 Perplexed with irksome thoughts. Thrice happy time, 

 Best portion of the various year, in which 

 Nature rejoiceth, smiling on her works 

 Lovely, to full perfection wrought. — PhtUips. 



T has been said 

 that the farmer, 

 like the manu- 

 facturer, pur- 

 sues his busi- 

 ness to earn a 

 livelihood for 

 himself and 

 family, and to 

 accumulate a 

 small store for 

 a rainy day. 

 True. But, in 

 the language of 

 a late able wri- 

 ter, "Every far- 

 mer, great or 

 small, is a man- 

 ufacturer. In 

 the manufactory ■which he superintends, is made 

 butter, cheese, pork, beef, corn, potatoes — in fact, 

 all the real necessaries of life." And then, as 

 R. W. Emerson says, his servants are "Chemis- 

 try ; the pure air ; the water brook ; the light- 

 ning ; the cloud ; the winds, that have blown an 

 interminable succession of years before he was 

 born ; the sun, which has for ages soaked the 

 earth with light and heat, melted the earths, de- 

 composed the rocks, and covered them with frosts. 



and accumulated the stagnum which makes the 

 heat of the meadow.' 



The most successful farmer, now, is not the man 

 who cultivates the greatest number of acres, but 

 he who applies the most of thought to his busi- 

 siness. The days of routine farming are, happi- 

 ly, closing, and the farmer who plods wearily on 

 in the track of his predecessors, unmindful of the 

 improvements, and disregardful of the capabili- 

 ties of agriculture, is certain to be left behind. 

 The great problem to be solved is, not how to 

 produce large crops, but how to produce crops 

 with the most profit ; in other words, how to pro- 

 duce remunerating harvests without abstracting 

 from the soil all the fertilizing particles which 

 constitute its fertility and strength. What we 

 want is to be able to produce the greatest possi- 

 ble product per acre, and still secure fertility to 

 the soil, making poor land rich, or rich land rich- 

 er, with the least possible outlay, or expenditure 

 for labor and manure. This should be tne chief 

 aim of the farmer. 



A great crop of corn or wheat may be an tm- 

 projitable one ; it may not pay expenses, and 

 leave the soil in a condition unable to supply ali- 

 ment to a succeeding crop. It takes long to re- 

 cuperate an exhausted soil, even under judicious 

 and liberal management ; it is like a diseased 

 constitution in man. A piece of land affluent in 

 the elements of fertility, giving a generous yield 

 to toil, makes a happy and contented farmer. 

 Such a one is certain of dividends when banks >. 

 fail. "There are," says a late writer, "manifold 

 details of husbandry which require forecast and 

 reflection." 



Now is the time to lay plans for the coming 

 year, and for the distant future. He who does 

 this, will manage with a grace, and become a 

 wiser and better man. The present is a favora- 

 ble season to initiate such a work. Most cultiva- 

 tors complain of a want of manure for their acres. 

 Thev indole"^ in useless speculations as to the 



