DEVOTED TO AGRICUIjTTJKE AND ITS KJLNDKED ABTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XYL 



BOSTON, JULY, 1864. 



NO. 7. 



XOURSE, EATON" & TOLMAX, Propbibioes. 

 Office. .,,102 Wxshisston Street. 



SmON BRO\rN, Editoiu 



"WONDEKS OP JULY! 



T t h e opening of 

 each new Month, 

 for several years 

 past, we have given 

 an article referring 

 especially to some 

 of the peculiarities 

 of that month as 

 regards the condi- 

 tion of vegetation, 

 insect life, the im- 

 p o r t a n t offices 

 which eacJi month 

 has to discharge, | 

 and with occasion- 1 

 al reference to the I 



eral, — and just in proportion as they are investigat- 

 ed and understood, will the happiness of the farm- 

 er be increased, as well as his power to protect his 

 crops and increase his annual profits. 



Some of the most eminent men of the world 

 have given the best powers of their mind to aa 

 investigation of this inner life on th^/arm, and by 

 the glowing descriptions which they have written- 

 have charmed and instructed thousands of other 

 minds. The little gnat, so small that it can be 

 seen with the naked eye only in a strong light, 

 was fashioned and launched into existence by the 

 same Almighty Power that gave the elephant his 

 colossal frame and strength, or upheaved the moun- 

 tains that pierce the skies, and whose heads are 

 covered with eternal snows. 



Let us attend, for a few moments, to a look into 



one of these iriner tcorlds by Sir John Hill, an 



special duties of the farmer at such •E.ugWsh gentleman who wrote largely on Natural 



particular period. In these articles j ^j^^^^^ ^^^ Philosophy, and who prepared a sys- 



w€ have felt more at liberty to indulge ■ ^^^ ^f g^^^^^. .^^ twenty-six folio volumes. The 



in allusions to the more retondite or hidden things 



of the farm than has seemed suitable in articles 



o world which he explored was a single carnation, or 



gordenpink of the genus "Dianihus," which means 



upon the management of the crops and general ] «ir/o,fer of God," or "Bicine Flower," on account 

 operations of the month. These operations, how- 1 of its pre-eminent 'beauty. He says : 

 ever, have frequently had special attention. «The fragrance of a carnation led me to enjoy 



Farmers have been too long and too well con- it frequently and near. While inhaling the pow«- 

 tented with a partial knowledge of the most com- erful sweet, I heard an extremely soft but agreea- 

 mon things around them. They have seen their ble murmuring sound. It was easy to know that 

 crops grow from year to year, their trees covered some animal, within the covert, must be the mu- 

 ■»s-ith fragrant flowers and luscious fruit, the sea- sician, and that the little noise must come from 

 sons roll grandly on in their appointed course, and \ some little body suited to produce it, I am fur-^ 

 have given Httle heed to the numberless interest- j nished with apparatuses of a thousand kinds for 

 ing sources of instruction and pleasure which ' close observation. I instantly distended the low- 

 throng every path in rural life. In preparing those | er part of the flower, and placing it in a full Ught, 

 brief Monthly Essays it has been our object grad- could discover troops of litt^ insects frisking and ' 

 ually to lead the mind of the reader to these | capering with wild jollity among the narrow pe- 

 sources, where a wise Providence has created and destals that supported its leaves, and the Uttle 

 fixed the abode of a peopled worid, all unlike that threads that occupied its centre. I was not cruel 

 which comes to the eye without especial observa- ' enough to pull out any one of them ; but adapt- 

 tion. These sources may be found in every de- ing a microscope to take in, at one view, the whole 

 partmeat of nature, — animal, vegetable and min- i base of the flower, I gave myself an opportunity 



