DBVOT-ED TO AGRICULTURE AIOD ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES, 



VOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, MARCH, 1864. 



NO. 3. 



NOURSK, EATON & TOLMAN, Proprietors. 

 Office 102 WAsniNOTOx Street. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



•^ 



THOUGHTS ABOUT MARCH. 



"Truly Winter passes off 

 Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts ; 

 His b'asts obey, antl quit the howling hill. 

 The shatter'd forest, and the ravaged vale ; 

 And softer pales succeed." 



^'--^, - _ r^- pf 



y ARCH weather is 



, usually extremely 



, \ iiiied, giving us a 



■JP>JA^&^' - sample of that of 



)pS^ several other 



months of the year. 



A March morning 



will sometimes 



dawn upon the 



) earth with great 



C^^- ■ ■ '"■"""^'J^'fyK'"* beauty ; the sun 



g_.-«>*.- .y^JiS/ clear, the air soft 



r, and balmv, black- 



■^ v., . ■ . 



" birds chattering in 

 the meadow and 

 the social robin uttering 

 clear notes from a top- 

 most bough of the old elm 

 ^ - --" tree. At noon, daik clouds 

 hover over the land in gloomy 

 majesty, shutting out the genial sun ; the cold 

 increases, and snow flakes fall slowly, and grace- 

 fully cover the evergreens and buds that had dared 

 to open a little and take a peep at the sun. At 

 night, old Boreas rides in with his attendant train ! 

 Carriages rattle over frozen ruts, flying snow blinds 

 the traveller, while fierce winds rock the old trees 

 and drive man and beast to some sheltering re- 

 treat. 



But March weather, rough and blustering as 

 it is, could not be spared. Its rude winds are or- 

 dained to sweep away the surplus moisture and 

 prepare the soil for the hand of the cultivator. 

 If the winter has been stern and cold, we long to 

 see the streams unlocked, to hear the birds sing, 

 and feel the warm sun and balmy air. We cast 



longing looks up and down the garden walks 

 where a crocus is peeping from the rubbish, among 

 which the warbling sparrow tunes his little throat, 

 though thick flakes of snow may be fiUling fast. 

 We are impatient for genial skies and gentle 

 winds, without counting the cost of an enjoyment 

 of them noiD. We forget that "the late spring 

 makes the fruitful year," and that if we have April 

 suns and showers now, April frosts will be likely 

 to pinch the buds and blossoms which Makch 

 suns and showers have produced, and we shall 

 have neither fruits nor flowers in due season, and 

 this explains an old proverb, that "March flowers 

 make no summer bowers." 



The "changes of the seasons are silent messen- 

 gers of the Creator, speeding on their mission in 

 the sight of man, and holding a secret intercourse 

 with his heart." The opening of spring is a new 

 creation, which awakens new hopes, faculties and 

 powers, in nearly all. Men, women and children 

 may here and there be seen, even now, "employed 

 in their little garders, making preparations for 

 the reception of spring ; the spade is brought 

 forth from its hiding place ; seeds which have 

 been carefully preserved, are hunted up, and even 

 a few of the earliest sown in hotbeds or some sun- 

 ny and sheltered spot. Even the very changes 

 of the weather, which seem for a time to check 

 these operations, are silently forwarding them. 

 The snow that occasionally falls warms and nour- 

 ishes the tender buds ; the winds dry up the over 

 abundant moisture ; raisis, fogs and rains, all 

 bring their tribute to enrich the earth, and do His 

 bidding, who gives us "seed-time and harvest." 

 The rank decay of vegetation — the exhalations 

 that are ever ari^ing — the insects that burst from 

 their larva state — and the poor blind worms that 

 burrow through and loosen the soil, are all doing 

 their allotted work, and, though disregarded, are 

 assisting man to prepare the ground for the re- 

 ception of his crops. 



