1863. 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



19 



■svait for his wife as often as he causes her to wait 

 for him, ought to be excluded from the ranks of 

 civilized society. He is a tyrant ! Let the gen- 

 tlemen take a few lessons in punctuality (and also 

 in patience) and I have not the slightest doubt 

 that their wives will "be in season." Margie. 



Remarks. — Capital, 

 sides to the question. 



There are evidently two 



AUTUMN. 



Autumn 1 Forth from glowing orchards stepp'd he gaily in a 

 gown 



Of warm russet freaked with gold, and with a visage sunny- 

 brown ; 



On his hc;id a rural chaplet, wreathed with heavily drooping 

 stapes. 



And broad shiidow-casting vine leaves like the Bacchanalian 

 shapes. 



Fruits and berries rolled before him from the year's exhausted 



horn ; 

 Jets of wine went spinning upwards, and he held a sheaf of corn ; 

 And he laughed for very joy, and he danced from too much 



pleasure. 

 And he sang old songs of harvest, and he quaffed a mighty 



measure. 



But above this wild delight an overmasteriug gravene?3 rose. 

 And the fields and trees seemed thoughtful in their absolute re- 

 pose ; 

 And I saw the woods consuming in a many-colored death — 

 Streaks of yellow flame down-deepening through the green that 

 lingereth. 



Sanguine flashes, like a sunset, and austerely shadowing brown ; 

 And I heard, within the silence, the nuts sharply rattling down: 

 And I saw the long dark hedges all alifiht with scarlet fire, 

 Where the berries, pulpy-ripe, had spread their bird-feasts on 

 the briar. 



I beheld the southern vineyards, and the hop grounds of our 



land. 

 Sending gusts of fragrance outwards nearly to the salt sea 



strand ; 

 Saw the windy moors rejoicing in their tapestry of fern. 

 And the stately weeds and rushes that to dusty dryness turn. 



WINTER. 



In a foggy cloud obscurely, entered Winter, ashy pale. 

 And his step was hard and heavy, and he wor« an icy mail : 

 Blasting all the path before him, leapt a black wind from the 



north. 

 And from stingmg drifts of sleet he forged the arrows of his 



wrath. 



Vet some beauty still was found, for when the fog had passed 



away. 

 The wide lands came glittering forward in a fresh and strange 



array ; 

 Naked trees ha4 got snow foliage, soft, and feathery, and bright. 

 And the earth looked dress'd for heaven in Its spiritual white. 



Black and cold as iron armor lay the frozen lakes and streams ; 

 Round about the fenny plashes shone the long and pointed 



gleams 

 Of the tall reeds, iceincrustcd ; the old hollies jewel-spread 

 Warmed the white marmoreal cUiUness with an ardency of red. 



Upon desolate morasses stow! the heron like a ghost ; 

 Beneath the gliding shadows of the wild fowls' noisy host ; 

 And the bittern clamo-ed harshly from his ne.«t among the sedge 

 Where the indistinct dull moss had blurr'd the rugged water's 

 edge. 



James S. Grenxell. — We learn through the 

 newspa])ers that this gentleman has been appoint- 

 ed by Mr. Commissioner Xewtox, to the chief 

 clerkship in the Agricultural department at Wash- 

 ington. We know Mr. Grenxell well — know 

 him in the social relations of life, and as connect- 

 ed with agriculture, theoretically and practically, 

 having been associated with him in the Massa- 

 chusetts State Board of Agriculture, ivhere there 

 were excellent opportunities to learn his tastes, 



powers and energy in the great subject, and we 

 do not hesitate to say that we beheve the ap- 

 pointment a most judicious one. Mr. G. has 

 youth, health, an ardent temperament, sound 

 learning from books and institutions, together 

 with untiring energy, integrity, and miic'.i i)ersonal 

 acquaintance and experience on the farm — all of 

 which combined give him qualifications for the 

 position with which he has been entrusted, which 

 few can expect to possess. We congratulate the 

 Commissioner, in his wise selection, and have no 

 doubt but Mr. Grennell will relieve him of a vast 

 amount of labor which might embarrass him in the 

 general management of the Department. 



For the JS'ew England Farmer. 

 THE TEAK OF FRUITS. 



Probably no year in the history of this country 

 has produced so large a supply of fruits — particu- 

 larly apples and pears — as the current season of 

 1862. Unlike most other seacons, where a scarci- 

 ty in one section has been supplied by profusion 

 in another, the crop has been large throughout all 

 the Northern and Middle States. Here in Mas- 

 sachusetts, and particularly in the immediate 

 neighborhood of this metropolis, the largely in- 

 creased attention paid to the cultivation of fruit 

 trees for the last ten or fifteen years, has culmi- 

 nated in a supply of aj)ples and pears out of all 

 proportion to former years, if not, indeed, out of 

 all proportion to the demand. I am myself one of 

 the victims to this abundance ; for almost every- 

 thing I have in the shape of fruit tree has this 

 year insisted upon bearing ; and so far from hav- 

 ing a market for the surplus, (having natural 

 scruples against wasting it,) I have exerted myself 

 about as much in giving it away, as I should, un- 

 der ordinary circumstances, in marketing double 

 the quantity. If such is my experience, with only 

 a garden of half an acre, what must be the fate of 

 those who count their j)ears by hundreds, and 

 their apples by thousands of bushels ! 



But let not the fruit-growers be discouraged. 

 The causes which have led to the extraordinarily 

 low prices of fruit this season are numerous, and 

 will not be likely to occur conjointly again. In 

 the first place, there is an over-production ; in the 

 second place, a large class of consumers have gone 

 to the war ; in the third place, the scarcity of 

 small change has interfered greatly with the retail 

 trade at the numerous fruit stands in ihe cities 

 and large towns ; and in the fourth place, though 

 the quality of fruit — pears in particular — has been 

 unusually fair to the eye, it has greatly lacked 

 that high and delicious flavor which has distin- 

 guished it in less productive reasons. Tliis la.->t 

 peculiarity has been a subject of general remark, 

 and I attribute it not to the over-production, but 

 to the excessive moisture of the season, which has 

 caused the fruit to grow large and fair, but de- 

 prived it of the better qualities of richness and fla- 

 vor. Some few varieties indeed there arc, which 

 seem not to have been afl'ected in this way ; but 

 out of some fifty varieties which I have tasted this 

 season, not more than half a dozen have come up 

 to the usual standard of excellence. The Rostie- 



