154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



branches, and circulates through the finest 

 veins of the leaves and flowers. This heat in- 

 creases in intensity by degrees, and if it be- 

 comes too great, is occasionally checked by 

 atmospheric changes. When these occur, the 

 buds seem to possess a wonderful power, (the 

 natural law, we suppose, of expansion and 

 contraction,) of shrinking into one-half their 

 former size, with their scales or covers so com- 

 pletely closed around them, as to exclude the 

 external air. Sometimes, however, the cold is 

 so great as to condense the vapor into frost, 

 and tender plants are ruined. When once a 

 plant has put forth its foliage, and its vital ac- 

 tion is in play, it will bear a temperature lower 

 than that in which it first started. 



There is, also, something well worthy of 

 thought, and extremely interesting, in the 

 adaptation of plants to the climate. A very 

 large proportion of the seeds which we sow, 

 are committed to the ground in the spring. 

 In their process of germination two things are 

 indispensable — warmth and moisture ; these 

 must be moderate and constant. July suns 

 would excite such a degree of evaporation as 

 to abstract nearly all the moisture from the soil, 

 and a drenching summer shower would be likely 

 to wash seeds from their places or drown them 

 out. But the frequent, "soft-falling showers" 

 of April and May are calculated to aiford all 

 the moisture that the germinating seed needs, 

 while the gradually increasing heat keeps the 

 soil just in that state of warmth best calcu- 

 lated to send upward the young and tender 

 germ. 



In June, the sun is more vertical, and the 

 heat much greater, but the plants have now 

 laid strong hold of the soil, by sending their 

 roots below, where the warm and moist air 

 penetrates, and where evaporation has but lit- 

 tle action. Having now this supply of mois- 

 ture for the numerous feeders they have sent 

 out, the influence of the sun's rays are benefi- 

 cial and greatly promote the growth of the 

 plants. 



The "analogy, therefore, between the vege- 

 tative effects of the daily increasing tempera- 

 ture of this season, and the well-known in- 

 fluence of climate upon the geograpliical dis- 

 tribution of plants," is very striking. See, 

 from the first dawn of spring, how (lower suc- 

 ceeds flower, and tree after tree comes into 

 leaf in regular succession. The reatler will 



observe that this adaptation continues from the 

 frozen region of the polar circle to the equa- 

 tor, giving us all the vegetable forms from the 

 lichens of Lapland to the spice trees of the 

 tropics. In the frozen regions of the north, 

 the reindeer feeds upon the apparently dry and 

 unnutritious mosses that cling to the rocks, — 

 while "within the torrid zone, maize and rice 

 begin to be cultivated. As we approach the 

 equator, the vegetable productions of the earth 

 increase in richness and luxuriance. In the 

 tropical region, we meet with the finest fruits 

 and aromatics, and all the plants that most ad- 

 minister to the luxury of man. There flourish 

 the sugar cane, the coffiee tree, the bread tree, 

 the palm, the date, the cocoa, cinnamon, nut- 

 meg, pepper, camphor tree, and numerous 

 other vegetable treasures." 



It is from these facts that the farmer may 

 draw the most important inferences, viz : that 

 he must commit his seeds to the soil, when 

 their germination and growth will receive the 

 most influence from the peculiarities of the sea- 

 son to Avhich they are adapted ; that unless so 

 committed they will not be in a condition to 

 receive the greatest benefits from the succeed- 

 ing seasons of growth and ripening ; that is, 

 delay in preparation of the soil, and sowing at 

 the right time, will be delay throughout the 

 growing and ripening period. 



FARM WORK nST APRIL. 

 The best way for farmers to conduct their 

 affairs is, so as to have no regrets. Carpen- 

 ters, lawyers, shoemakers, manufacturers, &c., 

 can perform their work at almost any time, and 

 sometimes get along very well in a slip-slop 

 way ; but the farmer cannot. The Lord of 

 the seasons has confined him to the observance 

 of natural laws, and he must regard them, or 

 all will be barren about him. If he will have 

 a harvest, he must have an appropriate seed- 

 time, or he shall not reap. 



Some farmers have been living upon regrets 

 (and other things) for the last forty years. 

 Every spring regretting that they did not set 

 an orchard twenty years ago, lay out a garden 

 and plant pear trees, set currant bushes, rasp- 

 berries, establish an asparagus bed, and intro- 

 duce a few choice flowers, where a wife or 

 daughter — now saints in heaven — urged it many 

 years ago ! 



"How sorry I am," said farmer A., that I 



