DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, JUNE, 1864. 



NO. 6. 



N0TTRSE, EATON & T0LMAN, Proprietors. 

 Office 102 Washington Street. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



SUGGESTED BY THE RETURN OP JUNE. 



"Bland as the morning breath of June, 



The south-west breezes play ; 

 And through its haze, the winter noon 



Seems warm as summer's day. 

 The snow-plumed Angel of the North 



Has dropt his icy spear ; 

 Again the mossy earth looks forth, 



Again the streams gush clear." 



ndoubtedly, there 

 is no month in the 

 whole circle more 

 crowded with im- 

 portant duties than 

 that of June. It is 

 the flush and glory 

 of summer. There 

 is a newness and 

 freshness in all 

 things we see that 

 enhances their val- 

 ue, because most 

 new things that are 

 really agreeable, are 

 quite likely to af- 

 ford us more plea- 

 sure than old ones. All the foliage is bright and 

 in high color before the month closes, as there is 

 rarely a drought sufficiently sharp to check the 

 growth of plants so early, or to wilt and discolor 

 the foliage. 



A world of pleasant care now lies before the 

 farmer. The seeds which he committed to the 

 earth have germinated and sent up their shoots 

 to the sun and air, and they are now exposed to 

 the depredations of insects. Weeds spring up 

 about them and threaten to overrun or starve 

 them out, and they often need a looser soil, and 

 to have the fine, moist particles brought into closer 

 contact with them. 



Success, in all crops that need hoeing, depends 

 greatly upon the efforts of this month. If weeds 

 are allowed to gain the ascend ncy, in the outset, 



the labor will be constant, perplexing and ex- 

 haustive — the patience of the most patient will be 

 put to a severe test, and the crop will cost much 

 more than if it had been kept clean from the first. 

 The horse and hand cultivator, as well as the 

 common hoe, must be kept in frequent use, so that 

 too much of haying time may not be required to 

 keep the weeds down. Suffering a rank crop of 

 weeds to grow annually is one of the prominent 

 errors of farmers, and more systematic attention 

 should be given to keeping them in proper sub- 

 jection. 



One prolific means of perpetuating weeds is 

 by sowing foul seeds with our grains. It is sur- 

 prising what quantities of false seeds are brought 

 to market in oats, wheat, barley, and grass seeds. 

 We were not aware of the extent of this evil un- 

 til we gave some attention to the mode of separ- 

 ating seeds by some of the recently invented ma- 

 chinery. We believe the Legislature of Massa- 

 chusetts interposed its authority several years 

 since for the destruction of the Canada thistle. 

 By a regulation in France, a farmer may sue his 

 neighbor who neglects to destroy the thistles up- 

 on his land at the proper seasons, or may employ 

 people to do so at the other's expense. In Den- 

 mark, there is a law to oblige the farmers to root 

 up the corn marigold. A long time ago there was 

 a law in Scotland, under the authority of which a 

 Scottish baron was accustomed to hold courts for 

 the express purpose of fining the farmers in whose 

 growing crops three heads or upwards of that 

 weed were found. 



The destruction of weeds ought to be consid- 

 ered one of the most important branches of the 

 agricultural art ; for if that is neglected, a crop is 

 often reduced one-fourth or even one-third of a 

 fair average. Let us see what they do : 



They prevent the crop from receiving the bene- 

 ficial influences of the atmosphere. 



They exhaust the soil of its moisture and nu- 

 ritive properties that ought to go to the crop. 



