sowing; but a promptness of decision, when the soil and the weather invite, "is the time for the skilful to be bold." In a very dry season, steeping would doubtless be attended with beneficial effects. Thistles generally indicate a good soil, though they are never suffered to grow in any well managed farm; and even by the road sides they should be prevented from seeding. In March, the Farmer dresses and rolls the meadows; spreads Anthills; plants Quicksets, Osiers, Sallows, Willows, &c.; sows Flax Seed, artificial Grasses, Beans and Peas, Broom and Whin Seeds, and Grass Seeds among Wheat; he also ploughs for and sows Oats, and Hemp and Flax. A dry season is very important to the Farmer, that he may get the seed early into the ground; hence the adage that "A_peck of March dust is worth a king's ransome." There is a great and hitherto unexplained difference in soils, which renders it impossible to lay down precise agricultural rules for every place. One of the most remarkable circumstances attending soils is, that where the special pabulum fitted for the nourishment of any particular plant is present, there that plant will be found, and how it comes there is a mystery; it appears, flowers, seeds again, and flourishes in despite of the repeated efforts of the Farmer to extirpate it. On the contrary, seeds artificially sown with the greatest care, and at the properest time of year, on soils unsuited to their nature, will always grow badly, and never last there, but becoming fewer and fewer will dwindle away and be lost. We cannot easily trace the origin of many plants which spring up spontaneously wherever the soil is prepared for the reception of their seeds by proper manure, but the fact is unquestionable. The best indications, perhaps, of the varieties of soil, are the particular weeds which grow naturally on it. In some places Mayweed, in others Cockle; in some Poppy, in others Wireweed, prevail most. In Sussex, about Tunbridge Wells, and East Grinstead, there are no Corn Poppies for example, while a few miles South and West, and particularly in Surry, the fields are quite red with them all the Summer months-varieties depending on eternal and immutable laws in the vegetable economy, of which Virgil is mindful: Continuò has leges aeternaque foedera certis We shall conclude our observations today with the following curious Table, by making himself master of which, the Farmer may judge of the comparative probabilities of wet weather in each month of the year: it is extracted from Mr. Howard's Climate of London: Table of the Monthly Averages of Rain. The wettest month, in a long run of years, appears by this method to be November; and the driest to be March. March 13. St. Nicephorus, C. St. Euphrasia, V. St. Theophanes, A. C. St. Kenascha, V. St. Gerald. St. Pulcherius. rises at vr. 12. and sets at v. 48′. St. Nicephorus, the Patriarch of Constantinople, died in exile in a monastery of his own constructing in the year 828, and in the 70th year of his age. The planet URANUS H was discovered by Herschel in 1781. This planet has been called after his name in some Calendars, and has also been called Georgium Sidus. FLORA. The peerless DAFFODIL Narcissus incomparabilis now begins to blow, and is a beautiful ornament to the Spring garden: it has a double and two single varieties. The Narcissus laetus and N. odorus also flower at this time, together with the early Jonquil, and many other kinds of this pleasing genus, of whose numerous species the first is the early Daffodil. The nodding and pendent flowers of this plant, wet with a morning shower, remind us of Milton's line: Bid Daffodillies fill their cups with tears. FAUNA. About this time Spiders begin to appear in the gardens, for in Winter they are only seen in houses; and this species, indeed, which inhabits our dwellings, is quite distinct from the garden Spiders. These are a very interesting tribe of insects, in spite of their ugly appearance, and the general dislike which most persons, especially females, attach to them, is common with Earwigs and other unsightly insects. Naturalists have found out this curious propensity in Spiders, that they seem remarkably fond of music, and have been known to descend from the ceiling during concerts, and to retire when the strain was finished; of which the following old verses, from the Anthologia Borealis et Australis, remind us : To a Spider which inhabited a Cell. In this wild, groping, dark, and drearie Cove, Joying like me to heare sweete Musick play, Wherewith I'd fein beguile the dull dark lingering day. March 14. St. Maud, Queen of Germany in 968. SS. Acepsimas, Joseph, &c. Martyrs. St. Boniface, Bishop of Ross. O rises at vi. 10'. and sets at v. 50. St. Maud was daughter of Theodoric, a Saxon Count; and, though so highly esteemed for her devotedness to the service of Heaven, was married to Henry the Fowler, son to Otho Duke of Saxony, a man as much devoted to hawking as his wife was to prayer. Our Saint died in the year 968. Equiria juxta Tiberim.-Rom. Cal. Rule of Health for Spring. It was formerly so regular a custom to be blooded about this time, that a few observations on the best mode of preserving the health and averting disorders at this unwholesome time of year, may not be unacceptable to the reader; for it is certain that Spring has its peculiar diseases, such as Fevers of an intermittent character, Boils and Carbuncles, Eruptions of the Skin, and others. We know of no specific remedies for these complaints; but the following rule of conduct with respect to diet, sleep, air, exercise, &c. is best calculated to keep the body healthy, and to guard against the occurrence of prevailing maladies: 1. Keep the stomach and bowels regular by small doses of aperient medicine, taken whenever the functions of the bowels seem inactive. 2. Eat at regular times, and do not wear out the digestive powers of the stomach by eating anything between meals. A breakfast at nine, a dinner at five, and tea or coffee at eight, are all that is required; and suppers are universally bad, particularly for nervous and irritable constitutions, as they produce indigestion, bad sleep, and low spirits next day. 3. Take exercise at this time of year between breakfast and dinner; but after dinner sit quiet and converse with your company, as motion after eating disturbs the digestion of the food. As the Spring advances, you may take exercise before as well as after breakfast, and again after tea. 4. Avoid all strong liquors, particularly when fasting. 5. Too much of any sort of food, but particularly of meat, is apt to produce weakness and numerous diseases, which many people erroneously suppose it will counteract. 6. Guard against cold winds and sudden changes of weather, so common in Spring, by wearing flannel next the skin. 7. Nervous people should keep in doors when the wind blows from the East, particularly in Spring. Such winds often cause Headaches which we get up with in the morning and falsely ascribe to other causes. A writer on the effects of winedrinking thus concludes an elaborate discussion of the tendency of that beverage combined with repletion:-" The drinking spirituous and fermented liquors, together with a full diet of irritating food, are practices which have been reprobated by the common sense of all ages, as injurious to the welfare of mankind, and which the strictest physiological inquiry has shown to be the principal cause of that combination of bodily and mental disorder which exhibits itself under every conceivable form of human misery, which appears to be every where increasing, and which, in its twofold operation of destroying the power of procreation, and subsequently the individual, must be condemned as an evil which strikes at the root of existence; and which, if it should ever become universal, seems capable of cutting off man from the face of the earth." Lines on Health, by Thomson. Ah! what avail the largest gifts of Heaven, How tasteless then whatever can be given! While he whon Toil has braced, or manly play, As light as air each limb, each thought as clear as day. O who can speak the vigorous joys of health! March 15. St. Abraham, Hermit, anno 360. rises at vi. 8'. and sets at v. 52'. St. IDUS.-Annae Perennae fest. Julius Caesar occisus in Capitolio.— Rom. Cal. Ovid thus alludes to the celebration of the Feast of Anna Perenna, and the holiday assemblies near the Tiber:Idibus est Annae festum geniale Perennae, Haud procul à ripis, advena Tibri, tuis. Virgil, as a sequel to his very natural observations on the prognostics of weather, deducible from the various appearances of the Sun, goes on to describe the dire and appalling tokens of Heaven's displeasure at the murder of Julius Caesar in the Roman Capitol : Sol etiam extincto miseratus Caesare Romam, Tempore quanquam illo tellus quoque, et aequora ponti, Obscoenique canes, importunaeque volucres Signa dabant. Quoties Cyclopum effervere in agros Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam, Flammarumque globos, liquefactaque volvere saxa? Audiit, insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes. Et moestum illacrymat templis ebur, aeraque sudant. |