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RURAL HOURS. 
wliole year, leaving no time for weeds to extend themselves ; even 
there, these noxious plants are not unknown, and the moment the 
soil is abandoned, only for a season, they return with renewed 
vigor. 
In this new country, with a fresh soil, and a thinner population, 
we have not only weeds innumerable, but we observe, also, that 
briers and brambles seem to acquire double strength in the neigh- 
borhood of man ; we meet them in the primitive forest, here and 
there, but they line our roads and fences, and the woods are no 
sooner felled to make ready for cultivation, than they spring up 
in profusion, the first natural produce of the soil. But in this 
world of mercy, the just curse is ever graciously tempered with a 
blessing ; many a grateful fruit, and some of our most delightful 
flowers, grow among the thorns and briers, their fragrance and 
excellence reminding man of the sweets as well as the toils of his 
task. The sweet-briar, more especially, with its simple flower 
and delightful fragrance, unknown in the wilderness, but moving 
onward by the side of the ploughman, would seem, of all otliers, 
the husbandman's blossom. 
Thursday, 1th. — There was an alarm of frost last evening, and 
cautious people covered their tender plants, but no harm was 
done. It happens frequently, that late in May or early in June, 
we have a return of cool weather for a day or two, with an alarm 
about frost, at a very critical moment, when all our treasures are 
lying exposed ; some seasons, much mischief is done to the gar- 
dens and crops, but frequently the alarm passes over and we arc 
spared the evil. It seldom happens, even after heavy frosts at 
such unseasonable times, that the blight is half as severe as peo- 
ple at first suppose ; things usually turn out much better than 
