Newspaper Page Text
leaf pine on the poor sandy lands of Georgia.
By the time its first two leaves have attained a
length of 3 inches, its tap-root has descended
6 into the ground, and continues to penetrate
into the earth, when unobstructed, any distance
from 3 to 9 feet, and how much further we know
not.
Pines are endowed with a large quantity of
foliage, and their leaves annually fall, to decay
and form new mould. In 1,000 parts of these
leaves when thoroughly dried, we found 40 of
incombustible earthy matter; while the same
amount of pine wood gave only parts of ash.
If the trunks of pine trees consumed as much of
earthy minerals as their leaves do, these trees
would be very small, and could grow only on
land rich in potash, and the other elements found
in wood ashes. But while the exceedingly deep
roots of this tree find the mineral constituents
of vegetation far below the pasture of common
plants, and the reach of the farmer’s sub-soil
plough, these minerals, instead of being deposi
ted in the substance of lengthened roots, in the
trunk and branches of the tree, are nearly all
contained in its innumerable and peculiarly long
leaves, and with them, in the economy of Infi
nite Wisdom, go to enrich the surface soil, that
it may again become fruitful in bread-bearing
plants. No soil naturally poor in potash can
grow a dense forest of oak, hickory, walnut, ma
ple, beech and elm trees; for all these store up
potash in their trunks, limbs and roots, to a large
degree. But 100 parts of their leaves, which
annually fall to the earth, contain from 7 to 15
times more of incombustible matter than a like
weight of their wood. The bark of these forest
trees, and of all others so far as known, yields
much more ashes than wood. In the tree called
hemlock this fact is strikingly illustrated; for
while its wood yields very little ash, its bark
abounds in incombustible matter. This bark,
like that on one variety of hickory, is cast off,
and falls to the earth to rot and feed vegetation.
Professor Emmons has investigated this subject
of the distribution of the minerals in forest trees,
in their heart and sap wood, bark, Ac., in a very
satisfactory manner, and published the results
in his “ Agriculture of New York.” Forest cul
ture can be made more profitable in the Uuited
States than is generally supposed. There is
very little land that will not grow the equiva
lent of a cord of good pine wood a year, and
much that will produce a cord and a half in
twelve months. In connexion with the improve
ment of soils, the cultivation of good timber can
be prosecuted at a round profit. Wo are col
lecting facts on this too much neglected branch
of rural economy, and hope to bo able to furnish
some useful information on the subject in our
next report. A forest cannot be grown in a
day, and before seeds planted in 1850 can yield
much valuable timber, the United States will
contain fifty millions of inhabitants.
The overflow of rivers and smaller streams, and
artificial irrigation, should not be entirely un
noticed in this review of the principal means em
ployed by nature and man to impart fertility to
cultivated soils. River bottoms like those of the
Nile, Euphrates and Ganges, which are annual
ly inundated, were doubtless first cultivated in
wheat, rice, and other cereals. Under the most
favorable conditions, such bottoms or flats re
quired neither tillage nor manure of any kind to
yield an annual crop of grain. Pliny remarks:
“How easy is the husbandry of Egypt; for
there the Nile, serving the turn of a good hus
bandman, begins to swell and overflow at the
first now moon after the summer solstice. He
begins fair and gently, and so increases gradual
ly, as long as the sun is in the sign of Leo, and
rises to his full height. On entering into the
sign of Virgo his fury slackons, and then slowly
decreases until he regains his wonted channel.
“It is always observed that if he rises not
above twelve cubits high, the people are sure to
have that year a scarcity; and they make their
account for the same if he exceed sixteen cubits,
for the higher he rises the longer he is before
he is fallen to bis level; by which the seed time
is past, and men cannot sow the ground in due
seasou. It is generally understood that upon
the subsidence of the deluge they cast seed up
on the flooded land, and turn in their swine to
trample it into the soil when moist."
Cereals are grown by the above operation
without the aid of plough, hoe, or harrow. Tho
water stood long enough over the bottoms to
kill all ordinary weeds and grass; and the seed
wheat trampied in by droves of hogs, had the
advantage of all other plants. It is difficult to
imagine a more primitive system of grain cul
ture. But droves of swine could not always be
at hand to tread in seed at the time when their
services were indispensable. Some land would
become too dry before the grain was covered,
and the feet of hogs or cattle would fail to bury
it in the earth. In this dilemma, the ancient
Egyptian “ sarcle ,” as tho Romans called it, was
invented for digging up tho ground. This im
plement, from drawings and inscriptions, appears
to have been something between a modern hoe
and a pick-axe. A slight change in its structure
converted it into a rude plough, which was first
drawn by men and women. The subduing of
cattle to field labor, hauling the plough by their
horns or by their tails, was altogether an after
thought. Pliny remarks; “In Lower Egypt
the straw is never a cubit long ; the reason be
ing that the seed lies very dry, having no other
nourishment than the mud of the river; and
about Thebes, they are far better farmers, and
have better harvests; that part being, as indeed
most of Egypt is, low and flat." He goes on to
say: “The samo husbandry is practiced in Bab
ylonia and Seleucia, where the Euphrates and
Tigris overflow their banks in like manner, but
to better effect and greater profit, owing to their
more general use of sluices and floodgates. In
Syria, they have small, light ploughs on purposo
for making these shallow furrows and stitches;
whereas with us in Italy, in most places, eight
oxen at least are required for one plow; and, in
deed, to make speed with it, they must work till
they blow and pant again."
The breaking of American prairie at the west
with eight oxen, panting and blowing, would
even now look quite familiar to an old Roman,
could he witness the operation. The early his
tory of agriculture, and the kind of tillage that
prevailed in Egypt when its husbandmen fed
abundantly,through successive years of famine in
surrounding nations, the population of such im
mense cities as Thebes, claimed a passing no
tice. It is a curious fact, that the comparatively
independent wheat-growers of the iuundated
bottoms of tho Nile, Euphrates and Tigris cher
ished a sovereign contempt for the people who
depended mostly on their herds and flocks for
the means of subsistence. Joseph warned his
brothers, that when they came before Pharoah
they should say: “Thy servants’ trade hath
been in cattle, both we and also our fathers,
that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for
every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyp
tians." The rearing of “ cattle ’’ was more rep
utable than sheep husbandry; but corn cul
ture was the glory of kings before the time of
Abraham.
The science of agriculture and the true princi
ples of tillage are no better understood now by
tho mass of mankind than they were five thou
XECX SeWWKSEIf SXKX.It SX&KBIBK.
sand years ago. Thirty years of unremitting j
labor to establish agricultural schools in the
great State of New York have signally failed,
from the lack of popular sympathy and counte- :
nance. Without the aid of chemical research,
Jethro Tull, a century and a half ago, came as
near to a correct knowledge of the use and value
of mellowing frequently, and deeply stirring the
soil, as one can. With all his genius, talents,
and large experience, he fell inevitably into a
false theory about “ the pasture of plants,” and j
being a perfect substitute for manure.”
No man in modern times has had a clearer or
juster conception than Tull of the mechanical
results which follow the deep and thorough
“ pulveration of the soil.” Os the chemical ef
fects of tillage, he knew next to nothing; and it i
was his lack ofknowledge, as revealed by mod
ern science, that led him into error.
“By tillage,” says this distinguished writer,
“we can enlarge our field of subterranean pas
ture without limitation, though the external sur
face of it be confined within narrow bounds.
Tillage may extend the earth’s internal superfi
cies in proportion to the division of its parts;
and as division is infinite, so may the superficies
be. Every time the earth is broken by any sort
of tillage or division, there must arise some new
superficies of broken parts which were never
open before; for when the parts of earth are
united and incorporated together, it is morally
impossible that they or any of them should be
broken again only in the same places."
The above reasoning on mere mechanical prin
ciples is unquestionably sound; but when an
indispensable ingredient for making a plant is
absent from the soil, and not supplied by art nor
by the atmosphere, how can any degree of stir
ring or pulverizing the earth, create the lacking
element ? Can any human art or use of im
plements form a new atom by tillage ? When
all the available potash within reach of the
plough is consumed, what then ? While it is
apparent that something more than tillage may
be necessary, the father of drill husbandry to
tho contrary notwithstanding, it is proper to re
mark that but few farmers have brought their
practice up to the full appreciation of the bene
fits of frequently stirring the earth, and mellow
ing it, to tho depth of ten, fifteen or twenty inch
es. The object of the agriculturist is to make
tho most of all the elements of crops which his
soil contains. The raw materials of bread and
meat at and near the earth’s surface are the
gift of Providence; and it is not less the duty
than the interest of the husbandman to husband
them with great care and wisdom. To break
the undercrust, or subsoil, so that water, air,
and warmth may freely descend and ascend
about the roots of plants, and thus supply them
at all times with their appropriate aliment, and
enable them to grow in all directions, is the
crowning glory of modern agriculture. In many
places underdraining is also necessary. This is
particularly the case where a field lies in a bas
in, having higher land near it, whose water shed
carries a part of that which falls in rains into
the ground below and at a distance. In most of
the States, if not in all, where a soil contains no
more water than what falls upon it, underdrain
ing is rarely necessary. But the unevenness of
the surface, and the variable direction of many
geological strata, operate to convey the water
which falls on one acre or field into the earth
of another acre or field. This of course gives an
excess in certain localities, to be disposed of on
ly by drains or open ditches. The growth of
grasses and rushes peculiar to wet places will
iqdicute where draining is required to sweeten
tho soil. Viewed as a mere mechanical opera
tion, the farmer must see to it that his tilled
ground is neither too open nor too compact;
that its depth and friability are maintained by
the due admixture of sand, clay and vegetable
mould, aided by draining where necessary.
Sandy, porous soils are improved by the use of
a heavy roller and the treading ofsheep, hogs, and
young cattle, which should be fed on fields of this
kind. There are usually more fine particles of
earthy matter from eight to twelve inches below
the surface than at it, which, being brought up by
the plough, mingled with the surface sand, and
rolled after seeding, will much improve the tex
ture of tho soil. Old fields are more apt to be
come compact, heavy and lifeless, than too open
and pervious to air and water. How to reno
vate and rejuvenate an exhausted clay soil will
be be better understood after we have studied
the next chapter.
(to be continued.)
i»>
Musquit Grass Seed. —A friend not a great
distance from Marietta in this State, if we re
member rightly, sent us some months since a
bag of Musquit grass seed, whose letter got
mislaid and name forgotten, and we now desire
him that he may write us again, that he may be
paid for the seed in money or other seeds, as
he ought to be. 'We can do neither until we
can learn his name and residence.
Shoal Ford, Ala., Dec. 2, 1859.
Mu. Editor: —l see in your paper mention
made of various sorts of grass, among which
was a sort called Lucerne, which I have been
trying to get the seed of and cannot find it here
nor in Nashville. If you know any thing of that
sort of grass, and w here I can get the seed
please inform me, and oblige yours truly, Ac.
H. B. Cartwright, P. M.
Mr. N. LaTaste, of this city, keeps Lucerne
seed, and nearly all others required or desired,
for sale.
< •» “W—
--w Push forward your hogs as fast as pos
sible. If they had a good clover range in the
summer, they will bo ready to start off vigor
ously from the moment you begin to put them
upon corn. See that good walks are made in
every direction from the house, and be sure to
have walks through barn-yards raised so- high
as never to be muddy. Your cattle-yards should
slope toward tho centre in such away that
horses and cattle need not wade knee-deep in
going in and out.
Fruit and Fruit Trees. —Two of the best
farmers North communicate the manner in which
they secure good fruit. It is thus : They dig at
some distance from the body of some favorite
tree until they find a root, which they cut off
The part disjointed from the tree is then turned
up so as to appear above the ground. It sends
forth shoots the first season, and bears, in a few
years, fruit precisely like that upon the parent
tree. Jtot those whose trees are decaying, or
who wish to increase good varieties, try this ex
periment. It is but an hour’s work.
■ hi ■
Corn Cake. —Take cern meal and wet up
with boiling water and butter milk, equal parts;
make it thick as batter, and bako it in a hot oven
for the breakfast. To be eaten hot.
111
A Remedy for Ants. —Dip a sponge in water,
squeeze it dry, lay it on the shelf, sprinkle sugar
on it, and when the ants collect, throw the
sponge into hot water.
~—
TORKEYS AND CHRISTMAS.
The turkeys represented in the above engraving weighed, together, fifty-two pounds; and
they will form the basis of a good Christmas dinner. Much might be said in behalf of the
improvement of these birds; but the pith of the story would amount only to this: To have large,
fat turkeys, one must feed them well with nutritious food. Rice planters are said to raise very
superior turkeys, both in regard to the flavor and color of the flesh.
HOW TO FATTEN CHICKENS.
It is hopeless to attempt to fatten them while
they are at liberty. They must be put in a prop
er coop; and this, like most other poultry appur
tenances, need not be expensive. To fatten
twelve fowls, a coop may be 8 feet long, 18 inch
es high, and 18 inches deep, made entirely of
bars. No part es it solid—neither top, sides nor
bottom. Discretion must be used according to
the size of the chickens put up. They do not
want room; indeed the closer they are the bet
ter —proeided they all stand up at the same
time. Care must be taken to put up such as
have been accustomed to be together, or they
will fight. If one is quarrelsome, it is better to
remove it at once ; as, like other bad examples,
it soon finds imitators. A diseased chicken
should not be put up.
The food should be ground, oats; and may
either be put in a trough, or on a flat board run
ning along the front of the coop. It may be
mixed water or milk; the latter is better. It
should be well slaked forming a pulp as loose as
can be, provided it does not run off the board.
They must be well fed three er four times per
day—the first as soon after daylight as may be
possible or convenient, and then at intervals of
four hours. Each meal should bo as much, and
no more, than they can eat up clean. When
they have done feeding the board should be
wiped and some gravel may be spread. It caus
es them to feed and thrive.
After a fortnight of this treatment you will
have good fat fowls. If, however, there are but
four to six to be fatted, they must not have as
much room as though they were twelve. Noth
ing is easier than to allot them the proper space;
as it is only necessary to have two or three
pieces of wood to pass between the bars and
form a partition. This may also serve when
fowls aro put up in different degrees of fatness.
This requires attention, or fowls will not keep
fat and healthy. As soon as the fowl is suffi
ciently fatted it must be killed; otherwise it will
still get fat, but it will lose flesh.' If fowls are
intended for the market, of course they are, or
may be, all fatted at once; but if for homo con
sumption, it is better to put them up at such in
tervals as will suit the time when they will be
required for table. When the time arrives for
killing, whether they are meant for market or
otherwise, they should be fasted, without food
or water, for twelve or fifteen hours. This en
ables them to be kept for some time after being
killed even in hot weather. — [London Gardener.
A HOLE IN THE POCKET.
A great many men have a hole in the pocket,
and so lose all the little change they put in it*
And the worst of it is they do not know it—if
they did they could mend up the hole, and so
put an end to the loss. Every day they are mi
nus a few dimes, and they wonder how they
come so short. When bills aro to be paid, they
cannot imagine how they come to bo so short of
change. At the end of the year they are sur
prised to find so poor a footing up. They work
hard, rack their brains on plans, and still they
do not get ahead much. Bills accumulate, in
come diminishes, and still they do not discover
the hole in the pocket.
One man has had fences, gates and bars. The
cattle break through every now and then and
destroy crops, and occupying time in driving
them out. The pigs creep through the holes.
The horses get away. The boys and men and
servants and dogs are kept on the run after ro
guish cows and jumping horses and climbing
hogs. The stock becomes uneasy and does not
thrive. The crops are injured. The fences are
broken down. Time is consumed. The trouble
is, that man has a hole in tho pocket. One man
has no sheds, nor bams, nor granaries, nor tool
houses. His grain is much injured and wasted.
The rats eat his corn; and the damp weather
moulds it. His potatoes rot. His pumpkins are
destroyed, nis apples do him but little good.
His tools are rotted and rusted in the open
weather. His stock is chilled and stunted for
want of shelter. His trouble is, a hole in his
pocket, out of which slip all his profits, with
much of the fruits of his hard labor.
One man has poor plows, of the senile stamp
of his ancestors. He only skims the land with
it. He can’t afford a modern plow. He don’t
believe in subsoiling. Draining is the nonsense
of scientific fools. Drills are a humbug. Deep
plowing would spoil the land. So he plows and
sows as his grandfather did, on the worn-out soil
of his venerable ancestors. He has a hole in his
pocket, and will have it till he wakes np to the
importance of good tools and good culture of
himself and soil.
Ono man don’t take a paper; can’t afford it;
has no time to read; don't believe in book-farm
iag; likes the old ways best; denies all the sto
ries he has heard from rumor, about large cattle :
and crops and profits; doesn’t believe in now j
notions. For forty years he has planted his j
corn on the same ground; sown wheat in the j
same field; pastured the same land. He has
heard of rotation of crops, but doesn’t know what
it means, nor cares to know. A bad hole has
this man in his pocket.
And who hasn’t got a hole in the pocket. Read
er, havn’t you ? Look and see. Is there not
some way in which you let slip the dimes you
might better save; some way in which you
waste time and strength and mind ? If so, then
you have a hole in your pocket Indeed, many
a man’s pocket is like a sieve. Whose pocket is
a treasury, safo and sure ?—[ Valley Farmer.
A Great Wheat Crop.—ln 1858, the wheat
crop of Ohio, grown on 1.998,412 acres, was
17,655,483 bushels.
CULTIVATION OF THE IRISH POTATO.
Dr. Lee : The successful cultivation of the
Irish Potato is on important feature in our agri
culture, especially on small lots and farm 3 near
the city.
I will give you my plan for their planting
j and cultivation, and*believe it to be the best of
any yet adopted ; at least it has so proved in
my experience after trying well nigh every plan
that has been suggested.
Break up the ground deep, subsoil if possible,
run off the furrows about two and a half feet
distant, with a large turn plow; run back in the
same furrow, thereby throwing tho dirt out of
the furrow or trench both sides. Cut the Pota
toes, and drop tho pieces about ton inches apart
in the trench, eyes up; fill tho trench with fresh
or as is sometimes called green stable manure;
if mixed with saw-duSt, as used sometimes
for horses to bed on the better ; throw a little
dirt on the manure to protect from the sun and
wind. When tho plant gets about a foot high,
run very near it with a bull tongue plow; then
thin the dirt to them, making a large ridge with
a turn plow. That generally, will be sufficient,
unless there should be heavy beating rains, and
subsequently venr dry; then a second working
will be better. Leaves and straw should never
be used in plowing the ground, until all possi
bility of frost has past, as they accumulate fast
and cause the vine to be killed. A coat of
leaves and straw may, however, be put over the
ground late in the Spring to assist in retaining
the moisture. The best time for planting is du
ring the month of February, and should be va
ried according to the season.
I have succeeded better with the yellow pink
eye than any others, and have gotten them for
the last two years from J. Sibley A Sons, on
Warren block.
The red rough skins are very prrolific, but are
not so delicious for table use. L.
December 2d, 1859. ,
—————
HEAD WORK IN FARMING.
It is surprising how much muscular labor is
wasted every year, which might be saved, or
better directed. This is true in all kinds of bus
iness, and not the least in farming. For instance;
how many farmers toil on, year after year, with
scanty or imperfect implements of husban
dry! The modern improvements, which save
much labor, and do the work cheaper and better,
they will have nothing to do with. Improved
varieties of seed, they hold to be almost without
exception, humbugs. Draining and subsoil plow
ing are ranked in the same catalogue— they are
labor lost; but manuring cold, wet lands, and
plowing late in summer a few inches deep, gath
ering scanty crops— this is not labor lost I Ro
tation of crops, and manuring lands with refer
ence to the grain or roots to be grown on them,
they consider something like book-farming—a
very dangerous thing.
We never could see why fanners should not
think for themselves, and be able to give a sat
isfactory reason for every process they under
take. We never could see why they should not
endeavor to improve in all farming operations—
to learn the very best way of doing everything,
and then to do it so. It is told of a certain back
woods farmer, who had not yet found time to
clear the stumps from his fields, that his boys
oomplained bitterly of their troubles in plowing
and harrowing; the old fashioned ‘drag’ espe
cially troubled them by its frequent overtumings
while plunging among the stumps, and needing
to be set right side up at every few rods. ‘Boys 1’
said the enraged farmer one day, ‘take that har
row over to the blacksmith, and tell him to make
all the teeth twice their present length, and
sharp at both ends, and we’ll see what that’ll
do!’ The thing was done, the teeth now pointed
both ways, like those of a revolving rake. “Gee
up, Bill, now go along,’ ‘ But, father, it has up
set again, as bad as before.’ ‘ Nevermind, boy:
go right ahead, it will work well either side up.
See, now, what comes from a little thinking.’
And sure enough it did work, and the field was
harrowed in spite of the stumps. We might
have selected a more dignified example ot the
use of head-work, but this homely story will an
swer our purpose.
In the matter of rotation of crops, there is need
of forethought and management. Some farmers
neglect to manure largely, because of its expen
siveness; they would like to underdrain more
extensively, and to subsoil plow their lands, if
these things did not cost more time, labor and
money than they think they can spare. But
it costs no more to follow a good system of rota
tion of crops than it does to carry on a farm
without any such plan. Yet such a system may
bring the farmer three-fold greater and better
crops. Nor in devising such a plan, has he got
to depend entirely on his own experience or sa
gacity. Books and agricultural journals are at
, hand, containing the result of other men’s expe
{ rience, and all he has to do is to adapt such in
formation to the wants of his own case. A very
little head-work of this sort would pay well.
—^
Recipes for Lemon Pies. —One large, fresh
lemon, grated fine—the pulp rinced in half a
tumbler of water—yelks of 4 eggs, beaten thor
oughly— 6 tablespoonfuls of sugar—l table
spoonful of flour, stirred with the eggs—2 table
spoonfuls melted butter, all well beaten togeth
er—one crust. Bake until done. Then take
the whites of 4 eggs, with 3 tablespoonfuls of
sugar, well beaten —spread smoothly on pie—
return to tho over until slightly browned, Or,
one lemon, one teacup of sugar, one teacup of
sweet cream well stirred. Bake with two crusts.
Please try them.— [Country Gentleman.
HORTICULTURAL.
WM, If . WHITE, Editor.
SATURDAY, DEC. 10, 1859.
PLUMS
SCHENECTADY CATHERINE and MeI.AUOHI.IN
We give this week figures of two plums of
rather recent origin. We do not know that
they have been tested in our region (unless by
the curculio). We are indebted for the descrip
tions to Downing’s Fruits and Thomas' Fruit
Culturist.
(1). Schenectady Catherine This fruit origi
nated in Schenectady, N. Y. The tree is vigo
rous and profusely productive, with smooth grey
ish branches. Fruit small or nearly medium,
roundish-oval, narrowing to the eye, suture shal
low, on one side, skin reddish purple, slightly
netted on the sunny side, stalk three-fourths of
an inch long, slender; cavity deep, narrow
flesh greenish yellow, very juicy, sweet, rich, ex
cellent, next to the Green Gage in quality, and
ripening at the same time; the flesh seperates
freely from the stone. It often comes true from
seed. Valuable from its hardiness, productive
ness and excellent quality.
(2.) McLaughlin. Raised by James McLaugh
lin, Bangor, Maine. It is one of the finest of all
the new plums, the tree being very vigorous,
and the fruit of the most delicious quality,
scarcely inferior to that most excellent of all
plums, the Green Gage. Branches smooth, Fruit
large, nearly round, oblate, flattened atbothends ;
suture slight; stalk three-fourths of an inch
long inserted in a small cavity by a ring; skin
thin and tender, russety yellow, marbled with
red on the sunny side, and covered with a thin
bloom. Flesh dull yellow, firm, sweet and lus
cious ; it dings to the stone.
There are probably no plums better worthy of
trial than the above, in districts, if there are such,
where the curculio has not yet made its appear
ance.
WOMAN ANITFLOWERS.
Let woman summon around her home all the
beauty with which the Creator has endowed
this earth. Let her surround herself with a
wilderness of sweets, and there amid fragrance
and beauty she will find that the virtues which
are germain to the unpolluted heart w<il also
spring up. Her children will have more tender
ness and beauty of character, and will be far
less apt to go astray among the briars and bram
bles of vice and error. The effect of cultivating
beauty around her home will be to cause every
sentiment that sweetens her own existence to
spring up into newness of life, to bud and to
blossom in all its loveliness. She too will come
to prefer a display of rich colors in her garden
walks to such a display on her own person, and
learn to appreciate that habit which covers the
form in a profusion of huge and brilliant printed
flowers on muslin, and which seems to indicate
an absence of the flowers of sentiment, and an
absolute want of that taste which shows itself
in the cultivation of the garden.
We would have every woman both a lover
and a sedulous cultivator of flowers. We are
confident that many of those women who grow
and expand like weeds in the heated apart
ments of gaiety and fashion, and become dried
in heart and stale in sentiment, might be rescued
by a timely attention to flowers. They would
regain their lost freshness, the bloom would re
visit their wan and wasted checks, and fresh life
would circulate its healthful currents through
their chilled veins. The effect would be to re
clothe the saddened and attenuated victim of
fashion with beauty, and to cause flowers of
sentiment again to spring up in hearts which
had been overrun with weeds. Take a thin and
sallow and diseased person from the room in
which he has respired the unwholesome and
close atmosphere that there prevails, and place
him on the mountain side, and how long will it
be before the blood in his system, that has half
the time been congealed, and only flowed fast
under the impulse of fever, will go merrily on its
“ winding way” through arteries and veins, and
he will again become strong and vigorous? So
also one who has wasted her beauty and her
freshness, the tone of her heart and the refine
ments of her sentiments in those saloons in
which the atmosphere is full of moral disease,
and where fashion and folly dance hand in band
in positive mockery of all those qualities of
which men and women have a right to boast,
and which ally them to the angelic existences,
will, when transplanted like a blighted flower
to a garden, and there learns how to worship
nature instead of the painted idols she has been
accustomed to, soon begin to regain a portion of
the original loveliness of her nature, and may by
and by become entirely redeemed from the taint
that has stolen “fire from her eye and vigor
from her limbs.”— [Louisville Journal.
- • -»»♦•
Building Sites. —We may safely put on re
cord the following rules as worthy of being ob
served by that large class of persons who desire
to build, and who are not compelled to restrict
their selection of an appropriate site within cer
tain limits winch they cannot ever pass. For
such, the primary conditions of a desirable
homestead, are:
1. An undoubtedly healthy situation, and one
that is easy of access from the public road.
2. A Southern exposure, backed by a good
growth of forest trees to break off the force of
the winter winds.
3. A cheerful landscape view, especially to
the South and West.
4. Perfect drainage on all sides.
5. A dry subsoil, and one that is readily and
cheaply excavated.
231