250 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



destroys an immensity of them in one year, 

 but they are so numerous that sufficient remain 

 to bring up legions the next, — so he goes 

 on, pulling up a world of them, like rolling up 

 the stone, and leaving a plentiful crop to re- 

 seed the land for generations to come ! 



There is only one sensible rule about the 

 matter, and that is, utter extermination. Do 

 not leave one weed, to attract even the beau- 

 tiful snow-bunting in the winter, who comes to 

 feed upon its seeds. 



The Cultivator and Hoe. — These must 

 be kept in motion, and while using them, do 

 not think that it is an operation merely to kill 

 weeds or prevent them from starting, — but 

 rather that it is an operation full of scientific 

 principles, all of which tend to mellow the soil, 

 to admit warmth and moisture into it, and fit it 

 to receive important influences from the air. 

 When you indulge in this train of thought, 

 your work will rise in dignity and importance, 

 the hours and days will appear shorter, and at 

 night you will return from the fields a more 

 cheerful and happy laborer from God's vine- 

 yard. 



CoNCLUSiox. — We must not detain you in 

 this beautiful and busy season, to refer to 

 many more important things. Only one other 

 point will bring us to a conclusion, and that 



Relates TO Haying. — On many pieces of 

 our excellent land the grass comes into blossom 

 as early as the 20th or 2oth of June, and many 

 years' experience confirms us in the opinion 

 that it is better to commence haj ing with such 

 grass at that period, and then keep on in secur- 

 ing the general crop. Clover, especially, ought 

 to be cut before any of it is lodged. From 

 June 20 to July 20, we usually have the finest 

 hay weather that occurs during the season. It 

 is thirty days in which we are enabled to se- 

 cure hay a third faster, with the same help, 

 than we can in any other thirty days. Trv it, 

 brother farmers, and inform us of the result. 



P. S. Do not fail to devote a day or two to 

 visiting during the month of June, with some 

 of the members of the family. If you have 

 no family get one as fast as possible, and let 

 the wedding tour come in June. 



— An army of rats made a raid on the hog-pcn 

 of a faniuT at Summer Ilill, N. Y., a few weeks 

 ago, and killed and nearly devoured a hog weigh- 

 ing two hundred pounds. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HO'W PLANTS GROW. 



Put a seed in the ground, and observe what 

 takes place. Soon it begins to swell, and in a 

 few days bursts its envelope. The plumule or 

 stem is now visible, folded along the opening 

 edge of the seed, and tending to push its ex- 

 tremity into an erect position. The radicle 

 becomes visible, and soon divides itself into 

 several parts, with hairy projections on their 

 surface. Within the seed a change has taken 

 place, not apparent to the eye. A portion of 

 the starch in which the germ is enveloped, has 

 been converted into a soft sweetish substance, 

 which is being absorbed b}- the stem and radi- 

 cle, and constitutes their food for a time, just 

 as the yolk and albumen Avithin the shell are 

 absorbed and digested by the chick, until the 

 organs by which it can obtain nourishment 

 from without, are perfected. The little hairy 

 projections on the surface of the radicle are 

 daily becoming more numerous, and each is 

 terminated by an open mouth. These are the 

 organs by which the young plant is to commu- 

 nicate with the soil. The rising stem now 

 pushes through the soil, into the air, and the 

 light converts its yellowish white color into 

 a delicate green. Plants that grow in the 

 dark are never green. When the buds are 

 unfolding and the leaves are growing rapidly 

 in the spring, if there are two or three cloudy 

 or rainy days, the portions of the leaves that 

 have grown during these days, will be of a 

 lighter green than the portions that had pre- 

 viously grown, and when the sun breaks forth, 

 a few hours will change their hue to a dark 

 and brilliant green ; thus showing that the 

 green color depends upon the chemical influ- 

 ence of the sun's rays upon the sap. A care- 

 ful examination of the green surt'aca of tho 

 stem will disclose minute orifices in great 

 number, or pores, which are so many organs 

 by which the stem communicates Avith the air, 

 as the root does with the soil. The starch 

 within the seed has now been wholly changed 

 into sweet pulp, and digested by the organs of 

 the growing plant. But it is no longer needed, 

 for the organs by which the plant is to commu- 

 nicate with the external world are complete. 

 It can take care of itself. It is now no longer 

 dependent Tipon the nursing care of the mother 

 ])hint, but has commenced a separate and in- 

 (l(I)endent life. It cannot indeed run about 

 likti the chick, and pick up its (bod, but it can 

 drink it up from the soil in which it stands, 

 and from the air which bathes its surlaces. 

 And as it needs more food from day to day, to 

 sustain its increasing growth, it obtains it by 

 pushing its roots further and further into the 

 soil, with new mouths constantly opening to 

 drink it in ; and by lifting itself higher and 

 higher into the atmosphere, and forming new 

 buds, and unfolding new leaves, or by increas- 

 ing those already formed, — every new surface 

 presenting new pores or mouths to drink in 



