housewife's department. 467 



and position of the judicious and sensible Housewife, do we see anything un- 

 seemly or incompatible in her possessing that knowledge of Horticulture, and 

 of the practical management of the Garden, and Nursery, and Orchard, which 

 are all indispensable to a good supply and regular succession of vegetables and 

 berries and fruits for her table. Too often does it occur by the death, and, alas ! 

 sometimes by the indolence or worse habits of another, that much coarser and 

 more onerous duties than those which belong to the dairy and the garden, de- 

 volve on the widow or the wife. On this ground, a knowledge of what belongs 

 to these departments may well be coveted and aimed at by every well-bred 

 woman of good sense, while personal attention to them may be safely recom- 

 mended, were it only on the ground of their tendency to promote health, by 

 that exercise in the open air which their performance superinduces ; and no less 

 on the score of that mental expansion and improvement which may be expected 

 to follow when these duties are pursued with some attention to the principles 

 and the laws of Nature, that belong to and regulate the growth of peas and 

 strawberries, and the manufacture of bread and of butter, no less than the revo- 

 lution of the Earth, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the motion of the heav- 

 enly bodies. 



The difficulty that most frequently stands in the way of an adequate supply 

 of butter, and poultry, and vegetables, and fruits, and the want of which should 

 be esteemed disreputable in every country establishment, is not so much that 

 the Housewife is either too indolent or too proud to give to such matters her 

 personal attention — though truth compels the acknowledgment that such is 

 sometimes the case — but it much more frequently results from unwillingness 

 and failure in another quarter, to supply the means and the help that are in- 

 dispensable. 



It is a maxim among all men of sense, that whatever is worth keeping is 

 worthy of being well kept ; and in no case is this more emphatically true than 

 in respect of all that belongs to the Housewife^s Department. No more can 

 blood be got out of a turnip, than chickens from hens, or butter from cows, or 

 vegetables from gardens, or fruit from orchards, where little or no provision is 

 made for feeding them — no houses or fences for their shelter and protection, and 

 no force supplied for their cultivation and management. What say you, dear 

 Madam ? We ahnost fancy we hear you answer, as Sammy Veller says, " them 's 

 my sentiments." 



Well, with the blessing of Providence, as long as we can hold a pen, and enjoy 

 the honorable privilege of giving counsel in what concerns your Department, 

 we will stand up for its dignity, its importance, and its title to respect and sup- 

 port ; and yet more, because even yet more important, it shall be our pleasure, 

 as it is our duty, to throw into the columns appropriated to your particular use, 

 what may appear to us best adapted to qualify you for, and give you " aid and 

 comfort " in the discharge of that highest of all human functions — the office of 

 Mother ! 



Garden Calendar — March. — If the spring be forward there is a busy scene : ground is to 

 be dug for the early sown crops ; roots, shrubs and fruit-trees are transplanted, ninning vines are 

 ehorteued and scoured to their supporters, walks newly graveled, or covered witli tan, edgings 

 reset. Peas are sown. Potatoes for the early crop planted. Windsor and longpod beans 

 planted ; a few early radishes and beets sown ou a warm border. Cabbage and lettuce plants 

 from the autumn sowing are set out. Cauliflowers may be set out, if you are provided with 

 boxes to protect them. Asparagus seed sown and bods may bo made. A small sowing of early 

 turnip may be made. The hot-beds will now require more water, air is indispensable ; if kept 

 too close the plants will be drai'-n and unable to bear transplanting. 



This and the succeeding month are favorable for transj)lanting fruit-trees. If the reader have 

 -occasion to purchase, let us caution him against doing so from any but a responsible nurseryman- 

 (8C7J 



