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DlsTVOTfiD TO AGRICUIiTURE, HOKTICDTiTUKE, AJJD EXNDHED ABT3. 



i\EW SERIES. Boston, Fell)niaiy, 1871. YGL. Y.— NO. 2. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Pi ni.isnERS, 

 Office, 3i Merchants' lio\r. 



MONTHLY. 



SIMON BROWN, 

 e. FLETOHEll, 



Editors. 



FEBRUARY THOUGHTS. 



. T ii o u c, II the 

 shortest month 

 in the year, 

 Febhuaky is 

 sometimes the 

 coldest. Last 

 year a storm 

 commenced on 

 the 8th day by 

 scattering snow 

 Hakes falling in 

 the morning. The wind 

 rose as the fall of snow 

 increased, and in the 

 evening the air was filled with 

 it so thickly that only for a 

 short distance could lar^ ob- 

 jects be seen. Then came 

 *"^l the northern l^last, roaring through 

 the trees, whirhng the dry Hakes into 

 &* the air and seeming delighted in 

 scattering them in every direction, or piling 

 them in masses under the stone walls, or filling 

 the highway so that man nor beast could pass 

 over it. It was "fun" to see it, backed by a 

 warm room, bright lights and an easy chair. 

 Tiie scene without recalled some experiences 

 when "snowed in" in the mountains, and gave 

 the comforts of social life new charms. No 

 position seems so thoroughly to bewilder the 

 senses and make all vague and uncertain about 

 one, as to be overtaken at night in an un- 



,f 



known region, and amid a trackless waste of 

 snow. If the heavens have obscured their 

 lights, every step the traveller takes must be 

 one of doubt and misgiving ; may lead to 

 difficulties that cannot be overcome. 



How vividly comes every thought of the 

 poet to one who has sunk exhausted on the 

 mountain side, and planned his hut of green 

 branches in the valley below, if a little rest 

 and reviving powers would enable him to get 

 to them. 



"Lone on the midnight ptccp, and .all .nghast. 

 The dark, vayfaring stranger breathless toils, 

 And, ol'tou failing, climbs aguiuBt the blast." 



We can have little good farming without 

 good stock. Ko stock, no manure ; no manure, 

 no crops ; no crops, no anything. We are 

 used up. So, the more cold the weather, the 

 more attention the stock will require. The 

 backbone of the winter is broken, so far as 

 days and weeks are concerned. But not so 

 of the weather. Old Boreas will not resign 

 the reins till after the first of March, but 

 blows, and freezes, and showers his snow 

 flakes upon us more freely than ever. We 

 nuist not anticipate the green grass too soon, 

 but huiband the resources of the bam as 

 th(jugli we knew that February, March, and 

 even the fickle April, would lecjuire as much 

 fodder as January itself. 



Keep all the stock .so that they shall have 

 soft, loose skins, and lively hair. If (hey [ire- 

 sent these appearances, they will, be penua- 



