DEVOTED TO AGRICUTjTUKE AND ITS KINDBED AKTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XIV. 



BOSTON, MAY, 1862. 



NO. 5. 



XOUKSE, KATOX & TOLJIAX, Propribtoes. 

 Of?icc....100 Wasjiingtos Street. 



SIMOX BROWX Ei>iT0ii. 



HENRY F. FRENCH, Associate Editor. 



THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MONTH OP MAY. 



MtA ^ J AT, among the old 

 heathen Ilomans, 

 was sacred to their 

 god Apollo, who, 

 according to their 

 belief, presided 

 over music, poetry, 

 and the fine arts 

 generally ; and it 

 is said that with 

 them almost every 

 day in the month 

 was a festival. The 

 custom Avhich has 

 descended to our own 

 |-' times, of observing the 

 first day of the month, or 

 May-day, with festive and 

 floral litos, or at least by 

 wandering over hills and 

 dales in search of flowers, 

 is supposed to have been derived from an equally 

 ancient Roman festival in honor of Flora, another 

 of their gods, who had the especial charge of floM'- 

 ers and gardens. This holiday season lasted four 

 days, from the 2Sth of April to the first of May. 



In the warmer climates of Greece and Rome, 

 the nurseries of our poetry and literature as well 

 as of our arts and sciences. May is probably enti- 

 tled to all the praises which have been lavished 

 upon it by poets, and by their imitators in our 

 own country, however inapplicable much of their 

 poetical descriptions are to the season of May day 

 with us. 



In those countries, at the commencement of this 

 month, we are told that the temperature of the air, 

 the pure-blue of the sky, the soft green of the 

 leaves, the thousand delicate tints of the flowers 

 scattered so profusely over hill and valley, with 

 the perfume which they exhale, and the music 



poured from every grove — all unite to fill every 

 sense with enjoyment. In such latitudes, tlie 

 "ethereal mildness" and "balmy sweets" which 

 breathe in song may be a literal transcript of the 

 im;)ressions of a May day on their inhabitants. 



But with us, the first of May is too early for the 

 out-door amusement of a holiday, especially by 

 females, and those of sedentary habits. The earth 

 is still too damp, the air too cliill for health or 

 comfort, and, besides, the charms of nature are not 

 developed. Though scarcely a flower of the hum- 

 blest rank can be found during a day's ramble, the 

 youth of our land seem determined to perpetuate 

 the observance of a festival which belongs to a 

 more southern clime. Occasionally, indeed, the 

 first of May is sufficiently warm, dry and com- 

 fortable for out-door exercise and amusement, but 

 often the weather is quite unfavorable. Storms oi 

 rain and sleet, sometimes of snoM' even, are com- 

 mon, especially in the more elevated portions of 

 New England, during the first week in May. So 

 that, in our climate, the young people who decide 

 on a May-day ramble, must be uncertain up to the 

 very time of sallying forth at "peep of day," wheth- 

 er to dress themselves for the heat of summer, or 

 for the chill of Winter, — for a soft southern wind, 

 or for a piercing northeaster. And how often has 

 a sore throat or a hoarse cough the next day re- 

 minded a fond mother that she was wrong in per- 

 mitting her daughter to "go Maying" so thinly 

 clad and in so cold a wind. 



We fear that the life of many a youth is yearly 

 sacrificed to the celebration of this holiday in New 

 England. In England, where the season of spring 

 Is several degrees warmer than with us, the obser- 

 vance of May-day seems to be falling into disuse, 

 although it was in old times one of the favorite 

 holidays of the people. Milton, Shakspeare, and 

 most of the old poets, have spoken of its festivities. 

 Old Chaucer says that on May morning, 



"Forth goeth all the Court, both moste and leat«. 

 To fetche Um fiouree, and braunch and bloma." 



