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tHR 





DEVOTED TO AGmECULTUKE, HOKTICUIiTUBE, AliTD KLNDEED ARTS. 



NEW SERIES. 



Boston, March, 1870. VOL. IV.— NO. 3. 



R. P. EATON & CO., PunLiSHEKS, 

 Office, 34 MERcnAJJTs' Row. 



MONTHLY. 



enJON BRO\VT>^, 

 S. FLETCHER, 



5 Editors. 



MABCH. 



^^^J^f^'f^ ""^^ "^^^^ ARcn was reck- 



3v " '' .^-. \ oned by the an- 



cient Romans as 



' the first of the 



year. It was 



<^^^^^ so called in hon- 



^«3^^i^^ or of Martius, 



^»- _.;^f^^"theGodofWar. 



r7-^^^~^^^^~-v , i heir year com- 



^g menced on the 



26th cf our 



March. Says Brady : "The 



symbol of March is a man 



of a tawny color, and 



fierce aspect, with a helmet 



on his head ; so far typical 



of Mars, while appropriate 



to the season, he is represented 



as leaning on a spade, holding 



almond blossoms and scions in 



his left hand, with a basket of 



seeds on his arm, sitting on a ram, the sign 



Aries, which the sun enters on the 20th of 



March, thereby denoting the augmented power 



of the sun's rays, which in ancient hieroglyphics 



were expressed by the horns of animals." 



"Sturdy March, with brows full sternly bent, 



And armed strongly, rode upon a ram, 



The same which over Ilellespontus swam, 



Yet in his hand a spade he also bent, 



And in a bag all sorts of needs, ye same 



Which on the earth he strewed as he went, 



And tilled her womb with fruitful hope of nourlflhment." 



— Spenser. 



March was the first month of the year among 



the Hebrews, the Greeks and the Romans, and 

 even throughout Europe until long after the 

 commencement of the Christian era. In Eng- 

 land, the legal year commenced on the 26th of 

 March, down to 1752, when the first of Janu- 

 ary became the beginning of the legal, as it 

 had long been of the popular year. 



About the 20th of March the sun will have 

 reached the equator and the days and nights 

 will become of equal length throughout the 

 earth. About the 20th of December the sun 

 reached the Tropic of Capricorn, and his 

 broad orb was visible for many days through 

 the entire twenty-four hours, in the region of 

 the Southern pole, giving light and life to the 

 vegetable and animal creation. Having com- 

 pleted his Southern tour, he then turned 

 towards the north, and has now half completed 

 his journey. His resplendent orb will con- 

 tinue to roll on with increasing brightness un- 

 til it reaches the Tropic of Cancer, when it 

 will be visible for entire days in the polar re- 

 gions of the North. The rapid growth of 

 vegetation in the short summers of the polar 

 circles, is owing to the flood of light and 

 warmth poured around it during the entire 

 twenty-four hours. The soil imbibes the life- 

 giving rays of the sun during the entire period, 

 and plants grow more in a few days than in as 

 many weeks in the temperate zone, where the 

 sun's rays are withdrawn and the plants sleep 

 during the night. Thus, as the days are 

 longer, fewer of them are needed to perfect 



