DJilVOTiJD TO AGHLCULTUKE, HOKTICULTUKE, AND KTNDKED AKTS. 



NEW SERIES. Boston, Jamiarj, 1871. VOL. Y.— NO.l. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, 34 Merchants' Kow. 



MONTHLY. 



SIMON BROWN, 

 S. FLETCHER, 



THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY THE IN"- 

 COMIISTG YEAR. 



Gently as the lilies shed their leaves, 



When summer days are fair, 

 The feathery snow comes floating down, 



Like blossoms on the air; 

 And o'er the world like angel's wing 



Unfolding soft and white. 

 It broods above the brown sere earth. 



And fills with forms of light 

 The dead and desolate domain, 



Where Winter holds his iron reign. 



ANUAEY, 1871! 



All hail, though 

 thou comest in 

 wintry drapery, 

 in short, dark 

 days, in drifting 

 snows and 

 threatening 

 clouds! Wel- 

 come, welcome, 

 art thou to our 

 New England 

 Homes and 

 Ileai-th- stones. 

 Thy coming has 

 been anticipat- 

 ed, and well- 

 stored cellars and lar- 



^ ^f-^- ders, barns and grana- 



^^^^ I ries, and curling smokes from 

 thousands of chimneys, all pro.ve 

 that the New England farmer "takes Time by 

 the forelock" and is a provident man. 



Cheered by the bountiful harvests of the 

 past, and the new aids coming to alleviate his 



labor, which science and art are constantly 

 presenting, he will enter upon tliis new divis- 

 ion and starting point in Time, with fresh de- 

 terminations to improve both the soil and the 

 mind in a greater degree than ever before. 

 He will make the very name of January — 

 meaning two-faced, "looking before and af- 

 ter," — indicate the reflective propensities which 

 she encourages, and which, when duly exer- 

 cised, cannot fail to lead to good. 



Every first of January that we arrive at, 

 says an amiable writer, is an imaginary mile- 

 stone on the turnpike track of human life ; 

 at once a resting-place for thought and medi- 

 tation, and a starting point for fresh exertion 

 in the performance of our journey. The man 

 who does not at least propose to himself to be 

 better this year than he was last, must be 

 either very good or very bad indeed! And 

 only to propose to be better, is something ; if 

 nothing else, it is an acknowledgment of our 

 need to be so, — which is the first step towards 

 amendment. But, in fact, to propose to one- 

 self to do well, is in some sort to do well, pos- 

 itively ; for there is no such thing as a station- 

 ary point in human endeavors ; he who is not 

 worse to-day than he was yesterday, is better ; 

 and he Avho is not better, is worse. 



This will apply not only to moral duties, but 

 to all the practical duties of life ; to every ac- 

 tion, every act and efibrt of life. 



AVhat a happy influence does January exer- 

 cise on all the rest of the Year, by the famib 



