160 



Domestic Economy. 



Vol. VIII. 



rial can, at this season, supply a soup to be 

 compared to okra, or gumbo soup, for its 

 simple, digestible, and palatable qualities. 

 But, unfortunately, as well for our health as 

 our morals, especially in hot weather, we 

 are emphatically the most carnivorous peo- 

 ple on the globe. Have what else we may, 

 it would seem as if every mother's son of 

 us, besides his daily bread, must each have 

 his ' pound of flesh.' 



"A native of Asia Minor, whence, accord- 

 ing to Pliny, it was introduced into Greece, 

 and afterwards into Italy, the plum thrives 

 in a soil containing a goodly portion of sand 

 and mellow loam, neither too wet nor too 

 dry. Abercrombie is of opinion, that any 

 fertile garden or orchard soil, is suitable for 

 its growth. The modes of propagation are 

 by budding and grafting; but the former 

 is generally preferred, because of the ten- 

 dency of this tree to gum from large wounds. 

 Grafting is performed as early as practicable 

 in spring, and also in June and the begin- 

 ning of .luly; budding at the usual season, 

 during the months of July and August. 

 The plum tree should not be too much 

 pruned, or it will grow too luxuriantly to pro- 

 duce fruit, and will sometimes gum and 

 spoil. Hedges of the mirabelle, a small 

 round cherry-shaped plum, are to be found 

 in the vicinity of Ghent, and the stocks are 

 used by the nurserymen to bud nectarines 

 and peaches on. In our climate, the plum 

 has been liable beyond most of the fruits, to 

 depredations of the same insect that injures 

 the peach. The fruit becomes perforated, 

 soft, diseased, and falls from the tree. Ex- 

 coriations deface the trunk, and gummy exu- 

 dations impair its vigor and vitality. All 

 these evils are within the control of human 

 care and industry, and require tliem as cer- 

 tainly as do the diseases of the human body. 

 A proper attention, it is believed, to the 

 roots in spring, — baring, exposing for a few 

 days, and fortifying them with suitable com- 

 posts, such as mixtures of ashes, cow-dung, 

 whale-oil, lime, &c., or laying a pavement 

 of flat stones, or bricks, or large gravel, to 

 the extent of a diameter of two or three 

 feet from the trunk — is said to afford an ef- 

 fective protection against the fatal attacks 

 of this insidious foe." 



Domestic Economy. 



In travelling over New England, one is 

 frequently struck with examples of thrift, 

 comfort, and humble independence, the di- 

 rect results of industry, sobriety and fru- 

 gality, as instructive as they are beautiftil. 

 A benevolent mind always contemplates 



them with unmingled pleasure. They pre- 

 sent themselves often in circumstances to 

 ordinary view the most inauspicious. The 

 conditions, which appear most unfriendly to 

 success, seem to constitute the very grounds 

 or occasions of it. The courage is kindled 

 and the resolution strengthened, in propor- 

 tion to the difficulties to be met ; and, in a 

 manner the most encouraging to honest la- 

 bour and strict temperance, they show the 

 power of man, in a high degree, to com- 

 mand his own fortune. Massachusetts is 

 full of these examples. I do not know that 

 they are not as common in other places. It 

 is impossible, however, that they should exist 

 but in a condition of freedom, where a man 

 has a freehold in the soil ; where, una wed 

 either by overgrown wealth or oppressive 

 power, he wears the port and has the spirit 

 of a man; and where, above all things else, 

 he has the voluntary direction of his own 

 powers, and a perfect security in the enjoy- 

 ment of the fruits of his own toil. 



It will not be without its use, if it does 

 no more than present to the imagination a 

 charming picture of rural comfort and inde- 

 pendence, if I refer particularly to one in- 

 stance which strongly attracted my atten- 

 tion. In one of those beautiful valleys in 

 which Franklin county abounds, where the 

 surrounding hills in June, are covered to 

 their summits with the richest herbage, and 

 dotted over with the rejoicing herds, at the 

 foot of the hills, near a small stream wliich 

 here and there spreads itself like a clear 

 mirror encased in a frame of living green, 

 and then at other places forces its gurgling 

 waters through some narrow passes of the 

 rocks, you may find an Immble unpainted 

 cottage, with the various appurtenances of 

 sheds and styes, and barns around it. Three 

 or four stately trees present themselves in 

 front of it. The door-yard is filled with 

 flowers and shrubs ; and the buildings seem 

 to stand in the midst of a flourishing and 

 full-bearing orchard, the trees of which are 

 clothed with living green, with no suckers 

 at their roots, unadorned with the nests of 

 the caterpillar, unscathed by the blight of 

 the canker-worm, and with their bark clean 

 and bright, indicating alike the health of 

 the tree and the care of the proprietor. 

 Every part of the premises exhibits the most 

 exact order and carefulness. No battered 

 axe lies at the wood-pile ; no rotten logs, no 

 unhoused sled, no broken wheels, no rusted 

 and pointless plough, encumber the road- 

 way; no growling sow, with her hungry 

 and squealing litter, disputes your entrance 

 into the gate ; no snarling dog stands sentry 

 at the door. The extended row of milk-pans 

 is glittering in the sun ; and the churn and 



