DEVOTED TO ACJRICULTUKE, HORTICUIiTITHE, ANB KHJDEED AKTS, 



NEW SERIES. 



Boston, October, 1870. YOL. IV.— NO. 10. 



R. P. EATOX & CO., PuBLisnERS, 

 Office, 34 Merchants' Kow. 



MONTHLY. 



8IM0X BROWN, I EniTORS 

 S. FLETCIIER, i -^»"ORS. 



OCTOBER FANCIES AND PACTS. 



"When all the gay scenes of Summer are o'er, 



And Autumn slow enters so silent and sallow; 

 And millions of warblers, that charmed us before, 



Have fled in the train of the sun-seekine swallow. 

 The blue-bird forsaken, yet true to bis home, 



Still lingers and looks fjr a milder to-mo»'ow; 

 'Till farced by the horrors of Winter to roam. 



He sings his adieu in a lone note of sorrow." 



— Wilson. 



CTOBER, inNew 

 England, pre- 

 sents some of 

 the most charm- 

 ing scenes ever 

 ^ presented to the 

 ^^^ eje. Thomson, 

 in the Seasons, 

 s of the au- 

 tumnal foliage in Eng- 

 land, in glowing terms. 

 Even that, probably, 

 bears no fair comparison 

 with what we always see 

 here in October. Many 

 years ago, Dr. D wight, 

 then President 

 of Yale Col- 

 lege, asked an 

 J- intelligent Eng- 

 lishman of taste, 

 while admiring with him this autumnal foliage 

 near New Haven, why the poets of England 

 ever used the terms brown, or russet, in their 

 descriptions of autumn, and received an answer 

 to this effect: ^^ Because thfy never saw any 



other; such a scene as this never blest their 

 vision.'''' Descriptions of some of our autuma 

 scenery, which were perfectly just, would 

 scarcely be credited by the English people. 

 With us, the coloring is not only infinite in its 

 shades, but glistens and sparkles in its gor- 

 geous profusion. 



To notice this in perfection, however, one 

 should travel by team through a region diver- 

 sified by hill and valley, so as to see the foliage 

 of the oak, beech, maple, hickory, birch, &e., 

 interspersed with the pine, hemlock, spruce 

 and hackmatack. Then, on the hill-sides and 

 hill-tops, or on the edges of the charming 

 meadows that so beautifully contrast with the 

 higher lands, the sun may be seen lighting up 

 entrances to the woods with a splendor that 

 reminds us of some grand cathedral, with its 

 burning lamps, pictures, statues, and other 

 works of art. We must see it when the morn- 

 ing sun breaks mildly from the east and first 

 touches the leaves on the tree-tops, pencillinor 

 them with unnumbered charming colors. So 

 in the fervid noon, when the unshadowed sun 

 pours fiercely upon the forests and kindles 

 up a carnival of colors ; or, amid the soft haze 

 of the setting sun, when its feebler rays give a 

 world of softer, but not less impressive and 

 beautiful coloring. The full glory of the for- 

 est cannot be realized from a single point. 

 We must see it on hill and plain, in the sweet 

 meadows where the brooks meander and bab- 

 ble, and in deep gorges among the mountains. 



