Year: 1877

The farmer looks forward to the season


of spring as that which must brighten or
darken his prospects of n favorable har-


vest. The operations of agriculture are


so varied, says an exchange, and depend
SO much on conditions of the weather,


that anxiety regarding the planting sea-
son is always justiiable. The passing


winter is being regarded as exceptionally
severe by those not engaged in farming.


Intense cold, heavy SHOWS and rains,


destructive foods and violent gales, have


marked its progress and lent to its his
tory very sad interest in view of the
! loss of life along the coast and the de-
vastation caused on the Ohio and other


rivers. The season has presented to


metcorologists one of those instances of


sudden and extraordinary compensations


by which nature adjusts the atmospheric
equilibrium which has been subjected
to a series Of disturbances through
several years. The extreme warmth of
f. last summer resulted in many evils to
the farming class. In the West the


growing crops were injured by pro-


longed periods of drought or were cut


down by the voracious swarms of grass
/ hoppers, which divested some extensive


districts of every trace of vegetation.


The potato bug extended the area of its


destructive operations from the Rocky


mountains to Cape Cod. The various


crops suffered in their several districts
from an excess and want of moisture,


and the whole agricultural interests of the
country felt the stagnation of business


caused by our political uncertainties and


the difficulties that arose out of the ques-
ton of cheap transportation.
Now, however, n more cheering pros
pect presents itself, for, after the severe
winter, we are pretty certain to enjoy n
fine spring season, extremely favorable
for farming operations The heavy
SHOWS have brought to the soil important
chemical additions which cannot fail to
increase its fertility. 1t has also blank
eted the face of the country eastward Of
the Mississippi with good non-conduct-
ing covering, by which radiation of heat
has been checked and vegetation conse-
quently protected from the destructive
effects of the intense cold. The larvae
of the grasshopper and potato bug have
been probably destroyed in the regions
where these insects are most destructive.
Although paragraph is being extern
sively copied from Western paper to
the effect that an experimental thawing
of some masses of earth has proved that
the grasshopper eggs have not been de-
stroyed by the recent severe cold, no I'm.
favorable deductions can be drawn from
the fact, if it is fact, because the condi-
tons of the alleged test were peculiar to
it and will not attend the natural and
very gradual thawing out of the soil dur
ing the coming spring. It is possible
that some regions thickly covered with
snow may develop a grasshopper crop,
but the great area of the northwest and
wast has not been so covered during this
winter Our political doubts are on the
eve of being dissipated by constitutional
means, and there can be no question
about the early settlement of the trans
portation problem on basis satisfactory
to all parties interested. With these
cheering considerations before lis we look
forward to renewed activity in the fields,
which will be rewarded with abundant
harvests when the year grows older.