Design^ U imjjnh all Classes inJmslefr in Soil Culture. 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN -Washington 
C AAKWE JUDD, A. M., ) 
EDIfOR AND PROPRIETOR. > 
m 
$1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. 
SINGLE NUMBERS lO CENTS. 
VOL. 5YL 3.] 
NEW-YORK, MARCH, 1857. 
[NEW SERIES—No. 122. 
tgpBusincss Office at No. 191 Watci-st. 
g?For Contents, Hernis, Arc. see yag^ 12. 
jgpNotes to Correspondents, page G8. 
jgpiFwr Business Notices, see page G8. 
jgpFor Advertisements, seepages G9-7I. 
WORK FOR THE WJNTH. 
Joyous, the impatient husbandmui perceives 
Relenting Nature, and nis lusty 
Drives from their stalls, to where the well-used plow 
Lies in the furrow, loosened from the froet. 
There unrefusing, to the harnessed yoke 
They lend their shoulder, and begin their ioil 
Cheered by the simple song and soaring lark. 
Meanwhile recumbent o’er the shining sha.e, 
The Master leans, removes the obstructing ci.vj. 
Winds the whole vyork—and side long lays the ^ltwhc 
This is Thomson’s picture of a March 
scene among the farms of old England. The 
poet has given to the scene a little of the rose 
color of fancy, even though the season there 
is more forward than with us. Nature in¬ 
deed begins to relent upon our shores in this 
month, but very little plowing is done ordi¬ 
narily, until its last days. If it thaws by day, 
it freezes by night, and not much progress is 
made in relieving the ground of the deep 
frosts, that have accumulated in the winter 
months. Still it is manifest, on every side, 
that the reign of the frost king is broken. 
The rivers and lakes are unbound, and the 
great cakes of floating ice go down the rivers 
in majestic procession to the sea, covering 
many square leagues of its waters. The 
vessels, so long ice bound in port, again 
spread their sails to the breeze and the 
streamers again thread the winding chan¬ 
nels of our inland waters. It is a beauti¬ 
ful sight to see these signs of returning life 
and activity, after the long and dreary win¬ 
ter. 
Remote from the sea and nayigable wa¬ 
ters, the indications of the changing season 
are quite as manifest. One by one, the 
great snow barriers laid upon the highways 
go down before the advancing sun. The 
morning light comes earlier, and prolongs 
its stay at evening, as if loth to part with the 
world it was wakingto new life and beauty. 
The buried meadows and stubble fields 
emerge from their long darkness beneath the 
snow. The banks under the walls gradually 
disappear, and in sunny and sheltered spots, 
the grass cautiously thrusts its green blades 
through the dead stubble of the former year. 
It is a glad sight, to see these patches of 
verdure starting under the walls, and upon 
the hill sides, and extending their domain 
over the sere fields. Along the watercourses 
the willows give the first indications of life, 
and the young buds start out armed with 
furs, as if afraid to venture into the frosty 
air. This doubtless is one of the beautiful 
provisions of Nature to guard these early 
buds against injury. 
In the forest, too, there is a silent quick¬ 
ening of the buds, though it is hardly yet 
perceptible to the eye. The sap begins to 
move, and the harvests of the sugar fields 
of the north are now gathered. In the maple 
orchards, all is life and bustle. The sunny 
sides of trees are tapped, and from the 
smooth elder-spouts, the forest nectar drips 
into rough home-made troughs. The con¬ 
tents of these troughs are daily gathered up, 
and carried to the boiling house in pails by 
hand, or poured into barrels, and drawn by 
oxp u upon a sled. The kettles are kept boil¬ 
ing while the sap runs, and the sap is sugared 
off into pans of various sizes, making solid 
cakes, fn this way many families supply 
themselves with all the molasses and sugar 
used at home, and make a surplus for mar¬ 
ket. This harvest comes at a seasoh of the 
year, when other larm work is not pressing, 
and for those who have a good supply of 
rock-maple in the forest, it is perhaps the 
cheapest method of furnishing sweetening 
for home use. The price of a clean light- 
colored article of maple sugar is al¬ 
ways high in the cities, and large quantities 
are disposed of by confectioners. The city 
demand has led to greater care in the process 
of manufacture, and parties studying clean 
sap-vessels,kettles and neatness in the pro¬ 
cess of crystalization are amply rewarded for 
their trouble. 
Forests in which maple trees abound are 
sometimes thinned out, leaving nothing but 
the maples for this manufacture. Rough 
lands are sometimes planted with young 
maples for this purpose. In mountainous 
districts, remote from sea ports, lands thus 
treated will perhaps pay as well as in any 
other crop. The maple flourishes admira¬ 
bly in very rough rocky soils, and such 
lands in many parts of the north will pay 
better for generations to come hi forest, 
than in anything else. Maples grow rapid¬ 
ly and may as well be planted as any other 
variety of wood. It is a favorite wood for 
fuel, forming a clear light blaze, and a hard 
coal retaining its heat for a long time. It is 
also an excellent wood for timber, and im¬ 
mense quantities of it are used in the manu¬ 
facture of chairs, washing boards, various 
articles of cabinet work, and agricultural im¬ 
plements. We would say then to thpse who 
are making clearings in the forest and devot¬ 
ing all wood to indiscriminate destruction, 
SPARE THE ROCK MAPLES. 
They will certainly pay well for wood and 
timber in another generation, and may be 
the cheapest resort for sugar, as they un¬ 
doubtedly now are in many farming dis¬ 
tricts, It is by no means settled that the 
new cane which promises so well, will 
be our cheapest source of sugar, even if 
sugar can be made from it, with profit. Or 
if it gives a profitable return of sugar and 
syrup, south of the forty second parallel of 
latitude, it is not certain that it will yield 
sugar enough to pay for cultivation in higher 
latitudes, and in the coldest parts of the 
country. There are many unsettled ques¬ 
tions in regard to this plant, so that, the 
good old sugar trees of the Indian should 
still be cherished among us, as a matter of 
economy, if not of taste. The general sub¬ 
ject of 
THINNING FORESTS 
receives far too little attention. The slov¬ 
enly method of cutting wood where it can 
be got with the least trouble, is to be repro¬ 
bated. Nor do we believe the method some¬ 
times recommended of cutting a forest 
clean, as you go, is a good rule for all cases. 
It may be advisable in those cases, where the 
forest is uniformly old, and most of the trees 
are growing worse rather than better for 
timber. But this is the character of very 
little forest land in the older States. Al¬ 
most all of it is secon or third growth of 
timber, and contains a great many thrifty 
saplings from five to ten years old, that, if 
cut, will only put back the subsequent crop 
of wood many years. Silas Brown, one 
of the best farmers in Massachusetts, says 
in a recent communication in the N. E. 
Farmer, that he has been in the habit of 
cutting wood for market for forty years as 
one of the most profitable productions of 
his farm, and that lie has paid critical atten¬ 
tion to the succeeding growth. “At the 
time of removing the old growth, young 
white pines had sprung up, and had ad¬ 
vanced in all sizes, from one foot up to 
some twenty feet in bight, on some of my 
lots ; on other lots there was no appearance 
of young progeny. We were very careful 
to save all the young trees possible, instead 
of indiscriminate havoc. The advantage of 
saving the saplings will be readily discerned 
by every practical wood grower ; the young 
trees carefully preserved from injury, while 
cutting off the old growth, will soon take a 
start, and be in advance of the forest, which 
is to spring from the seed, some 5, to 15 or 
20 years. This advance in the growth is 
