DEVOTED TO AGRICULTUEE, HORTICDTiTXJBE, KSTD KHSTDEED ABTS. 



NEW SERIES. 



Boston, April, 1867. 



YOL. I.— NO. 4. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, 34 Merchants' Row 



MO^-THLY. 



S. FLETCHER," ' i Editors. 



APEIL, 1867. 



"When Nature clothes the various scene 

 With tufts of flowers, and robes of green; 

 When limpid streams their lustres give, 

 And health and glad contentment live 

 With lovely nymphs and happy swains, 

 In humble cots, on tranquil plains, 

 I bless her bounties, and I raise 

 My artless tueme to sounds of praise." 



LL animated be- 

 ings hail the re- 

 turn of Spri7ig 

 with new de- 

 ''light ; man, with 

 his voice of 

 thanksgiving; 

 the lambs, the 

 calves, and even 

 the older kine, 

 escaped from the 

 restraints of winter, frisk 

 and gambol in the pure 

 air, and glowing sun. 

 crow, birds sing, and in- 

 sects, on glad wings, hum away 

 ^ their little life. To those, even, 

 "" who have passed well into the 



vale of years. Spring comes with new 

 inspirations and hopes. 



The vegetable, as well as the animal 

 kingdom, is kindled into new life. The earth 

 gradually exchanges its winter robes for a man- 

 tle of green ; flowers spring up at our feet ; 

 trees and shrubs put forth buds which are soon 



5^^^ 



Si 



Cock« 



expanded into blossoms and leaves, so that our 

 first feelings are those of wonder and delight 

 at the marvellous change. 



This sudden burst of vegetation is produced 

 by the "increased temperature of the earth 

 and atmosphere, assisting the natural ten- 

 dency of the plants to awake from the lethar- 

 gic state into which they are thrown during 

 winter. The progress of the earth in its orbit 

 towards its greatest distance from the sun, 

 causes that luminary to ascend higher in the 

 heavens, and to be longer above the horizon, 

 ind thus produces longer and warmer davs. 

 The more perpendicularly the sun's rays fall 

 upon the surface of the earth, the greater is 

 the heat they excite. Hence, as the sun daily 

 ascends higher above the horizon, and conse- 

 quently darts his rays upon us in a more per- 

 pendicular direction, the temperature of the 

 earth and air gradually increases, and milder 

 and more genial weather ensues. * * The 

 earth opens, as it were, her bosom to the sun ; 

 all her veins feel the genial influence ; and a 

 vital energy moves and works in all her blos- 

 soms, buds and leaves. What was lately bar- 

 renness, becomes fertility ; from desolation and 

 death start up life and varied beauty, as if be- 

 neath the reviving footsteps of a present Deity." 



Heat is the great external agent in vegeta- 

 tion. ' By it the fibrous and cellular substances 

 are gradually expanded, so that the sap as- 

 cends from the roots through the innumerable 

 minute tubes and cells in the trunks and 



