DEVOTED TO AGRICUTiTITEE, HORTICDTiTUHE, AND KHSTDRED ARTS. 



NEW SERIES. 



Boston, March, 1867. 



VOL. I.— NO. 3. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, 34 Merchants' How 



MONTHLY. 



SIMON BROWN, ) editors 

 S. FLKTUHER, i ^D"0RS. 



THOUGHTS FOR MARCH, 



" 'Tis ever so. The ties of friend and kin, 

 Are found most strong and most with pleasure rife, 

 Among the dwellings of the poor, and in 

 The unambitious walks of rural life. 

 With woods around them, waters at their feet. 

 With llowcrs beneath, and fragrance in the air, 

 'Tis not in vain that they each other meet; 

 Not one, that has a pleasure or a care. 

 But calls a kindred heart, that joy or grief to share." 

 Prof. Thomas C. Upham. 



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4^ V R c H, in the 

 -^ ' ceaseless round 

 of the seasons, 

 has come again ! 

 ^ Constant only in 

 _0 its changeable- 

 ■^ ness. The month 

 (if roaring winds 

 and summer airs; 

 = of hail, sleet and 

 snow, and genial showers ; 

 of frozen ruts and muddy 

 roads. There is no other 

 month like it. Persons in 

 delicate health dread It and 

 shrink from its rough em- 

 brace, and, we are inclined to 

 thmk, too much so. 



Northern explorers have accus- 

 tomed themselves to the cold of 

 the highest latitudes, where proof brandy would 

 freeze and a moment's exposure of the uncov- 

 ered skin would affect it like a burn. Yet 



they retained their health and activity to a re- 

 markable degree. But their entrance into 

 such a rigorous climate was gradual, and their 

 clothing accommodated to it as they approached 

 its stern realm. 



Such should be the case with us. Not hide 

 away from March for a week at a time in jjadlj 

 ventilated rooms, and then go timidly, and 

 burdened with surplus garments, into the cut- 

 ting blasts ; but, properly protected, boldly face 

 every variety of weather once or twice a day, 

 in some useful calling. This will kindle the 

 blood into a flame, and soon make the system 

 proof against all the vagaries of March. 



It is interesting to observe how customs 

 change. It was formerly a custom for persons 

 to be bled in the spring, even for those who 

 were well enough, in order to prevent disease. 

 So it was common to marshal a whole family 

 of buxom boys and girls — the latter with rosy 

 cheeks and flashing eyes, and the boys with 

 fists as hard as mallets — and for the good 

 mother to administer to each a teaspoonful of 

 sulplinr and molasaes to ward off the demon of 

 disease. 



These things may be done now in some 

 places, but we have seen or heard nothing of 

 them of late years. 



Spring may have its peculiar diseases, but 

 well regulated diet, air and exercise will be of 

 incalculably more service in guarding against 

 maladies and keeping the body healthy than 



