DEVOTED TO AGKICDTiTUEE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XIV. 



BOSTON, MARCH, 18G2. 



NO. 3. 



NOURSE, EATON & TOI-MAX, rROPRiETORS. 

 Office... .100 Wasiiingto.v Street. 



SIMON' BROWN Ki>iTOR. 



HENRY F. FRENCH, Associate Editor. 



SUGGESTED BY THE MONTH OP MABCH. 



"March, March, Mars was your god-father. 

 Therefore, betimes you can bully and bluster." 



A K c n , the third 

 '4 i Month in the year, 

 according to our 

 ■^ cilendar, had the 

 honor of being first 

 n the early Roman 

 c ilcndar, and it 

 aKo marked the 

 commencement of 

 the year in some of 

 vV*^ the nations of Eu- 

 ^ «\ rope, till the eigh- 

 teenth century. — 

 The English legal 

 -\eiT began March 

 23, until the change 

 --^f^-Mp of stjlc in 17o2. But 

 ^^^T^" whether counted as the 



^-.AjSS^ fii'st, or as the third month of 

 - -' the year, its character for 

 ^"^^ ""^ fickleness has ever been prover- 

 ial. With us it is the turning point of the sea- 

 son — a sort of battle-ground for the elements. 

 Cold and heat, rain and snow, strive for the mas- 

 tery, — now one and now the other obtaining tem- 

 porary dominion. The English have transmitted 

 to us a proverb to the effect that if March comes 

 in as mild as a lamb, it will go out as rough as a 

 lion, and vice versa. The Scotch have a saying, 

 when the last three days of this month are stormy, 

 that ;March borrows them of April, and that, 



"The first it shall be wind and weet ; 

 The next it shall be snow and sleet ; 

 Tlie tliird it shall be sic a freeze, 

 Shall gar the birds stick to the trees." 



Another proverbial slander on the character of 

 this month — and one of New England origin un- 

 doubtedly — is the accusation of its affording six ; 

 weeks' sledding! And yet, after all that has beeji i 



or may be said against this month, we would most 

 heartily adopt — changing a single word, — the ex- 

 pression of a celebrated poet, and say, 



"Old March, wiUi all thy faults, I love thee still." 



It is the month in which our plans for the sea- 

 son's operations should be matured, and in which 

 all should be attempted which it is possible for us 

 to prepare for the brief period into which Spring's 

 work is croM'ded in our climate. While it is true 

 that more or less may generally be done that shall 

 directly foi-ward the important business of the ap- 

 proaching season, March is nevertheless the grand 

 make-ready month of the year, and our "good 

 luck" during the whole season may hinge on the 

 use we make of the thirty-one days that come one 

 after another, between February and April. 



The doctors have a proverb, that "to know the 

 disease is half its cure." Whether it will do for 

 farmers to adopt a similar sentiment, by saying 

 to know our wants or needs is half their supply, 

 we all know by sorry experience, it will do for us 

 to say, that there is often much lost in a driving 

 time by want of such preparation as might have 

 been made at a more leisure season. Shall the 

 same lesson be again repeated by the same old 

 schoolmaster ? Has not his tuition been rather 

 expensive ? And had not we better try the cheaper 

 system of "a stitch in time saves nine," this year, 

 beginning, if we can find nothing better, with the 

 ancient problem of taking time by the forelock. 



Having carefully decided not only what fields 

 shall be cultivated, but what crop shall be groAvn 

 on each lot, and how manured and worked, we 

 shall not be likely to forget the preparation of all 

 the seeds we intend to plant. Nor will the tools 

 and implements be forgotten. Each one should 

 be carefully examined, and if found out of order, 

 or in any way unfit for service, now is the time to 

 repair it, or procure a newer, and if possible, a 

 better one. 



But by whom shall these repairs be made ? 



