302 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Dec. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



S. W.'s Reply to Milk-Maid and Dairy-Maid. 



The Editor of the Farmer is at fault for thus 

 keeping baclv so long from the Ladies' Depart- 

 ment, two strictures on my article in the April 

 number of this journal. Who'd 'a thought that 

 such an admirer of the life-like poetry of th 

 Ayrsliire Plowman as myself, could be thus 

 accused of denying to the rural fair ones of our 

 land, either the genius or the privaleges of 

 music and poetry. When I sketched the supe- 

 rior attractions of the girl as milk-maid, com- 

 pared with the milk-maid as pianiste, I only 

 related an historical fact, for the truth of which 

 (and it is true) your fair correspondents ought 

 not to make me accountable. When I said that 

 among the number of those girls who essayed on 

 the piano, very few attained to respectability in 

 execution, upon my word it was only town and 

 village girls, not farmers' daughters, that I had 

 in my eye. I meant nothing more than to pre- 

 vent the rural fair one from falling into a like 

 mistaken accomplishment. But it is the misfor- 

 tune of my character, if not its curse, to be for- 

 ever misunderstood by my rural friends, both 

 male and female. 'Tis true I did venture to 

 warn the farmer's daughter against the danger 

 of fashionable pretension — its awkward mistakes, 

 its deformities, its discord, its miserable carica- 

 ture of the beautiful and true — and to hold up to 

 her view the respectability and beauty of a 

 domestic life which unites physical ability with 

 intelligence in that harmonious combination, 

 without which there is no true respectability nor 

 true life. 



" Tho head and front of my offending 

 Hath ihis extent, no more." 



But methinks my fair critics have, as the 

 French say, grand tori, when they shew so much 

 ill will towards the village belle ; just as though 

 her poor superficial accomplishments were worth 

 a single jealous or envious impulse — as though 

 her practiced self-possession, her knowledge of 

 the latest fashions, of the last novel, or her 

 capacity of "sleeping in the morning," was a 

 matter ibr envy, even to the most crude of the 

 rural fair ones. 



To the " Milk-Maid's" wrongs I reply, if the 

 struggle between fashionable show and poverty 

 is stronger in the village than in the country, she 

 ought to bless her stars that she is of the country. 

 If she can " cook a better meal" than the village 

 belle, she is so far the more respectable for this 

 positive accomplishment. If she knows nothing 

 about music, she is in no danger of being called 

 a pretender or a caricaturist of sweet sounds ; 

 and she is the more respectable in her entire 

 ignorance than she would be in a mere superfi- 

 cial training and practice. 



But as the " VVayne County Dairy-Maid " is I 



•, spirited girl, let me also say, for her 



benefit, that she will have a happier life by just 

 as many hours as she rises earlier than the "city 

 miss;" and that the hour slie snatches for music 

 will be sweeter in proportion to the labor that 

 precedes it. S. W. 



Buckwheat Cakes. — The griddle on which 

 cakes are baked should never be touched with 

 grease. Firstly, because it imparts a rancid 

 taste to the cakes. Secondly, if a cooking stove 

 be used, it fills the kitchen, if not the whole 

 house, with the smell of burnt grease— to say 

 nothing of the parade, and boasting to one's 

 neighbor's, by betraying what we aie to have 

 for breakfast. Wash the griddle with hot soap 

 suds ; scour with dry sand, and when heated for 

 use, rub it well with a spoonful of fine salt and 

 a coarse cloth. It will then be ready to receive 

 the cakes. After each cake is removed, the 

 salt rubbing must be repeated. If the first does 

 not succeed, try it again, and you will ever after 

 follow this advice of an 



Old Housekeeper. 



Books on Agficultiire, &c., &c., 



For sale at the Office of the Genesee Fanner, Rochester. 



TiiK Publisher of the Farmer has just received a large assort- 

 ment of works pertaining to Agriculture. Horticulture, and Raral 

 and Domestic Economy which will be sold at the lowest pricef. — 

 The names and prices of a portion of the books are annexed :— 



American Farmer's Encyclopedia. $3 50 in leather— cloth $3 



.A.merican Shepherd, by Morrell. $1. 



American Agriculture, by Allen. $1. 



American Poulterer's Companion, hj Bement. $1. 



American Veterinarian, by Cole. .50 cents 



Buisfs Kitchen Gardener. 75 cents. 



Duel's Farmer's Companion. T.'i cents. 



C'haptars Agricultural Chemistry. 50 cents. 



Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. $1 50. 



Domestic Animals, by R. L. Alien. Cloth, 75 cents ; paper.SOcts 



Domestic F^conomy, by Miss Beechor. 75 cents. 



Farmer's and Emigrant's Hand-^cok. $1. 



Fruit Cultui-ist, by J. J. Thomas. 50 cents. 



Gardener's Farmer's Dictionary. ?1 60— leather, $1 75. 



Farmer's Manual. 50 cents. 



Horse's Foot— and how to keep it sound. 25 cents. 



Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry. $1 25. 



Loudon's Ladies' Flower Garden. $1 25. 



Liehgig's Agricultural Chemistry, (new edition.) $1— paper 75 cto. 

 Agricultural and Animal ("hemistry, (pamphlet edi- 

 tions.) 25 cents each. 



Parsons on the Kose. $1 50. 



Prince on the Rose. 75 cents. 



Rural Economy, by BoussingaiiU. SI 50. 



Stable Economy, by Stewart. $1. 



Scientific Agriculture, by Rodgers. 75 cente. 



Smith's Productive Farming. 50 cents. 



Treatise on JWlIch Cows. 38 cents. 



Treatise on Guano. 25 cents. 



Youatt on the Horse, (new edition,) . ?;1 75. 



Vouatt on the Pig. 75 cents. 

 (J5J- All orders by mail will receive prompt attention, and the 



books forwarded as desired. Address D. D. T. MOORE, 

 J»fay 1. 1848. RochesteV, N. 'V'. 



To Agents and New Subscribers. 



Peh9o?<s ordering the Farmer will bear in mind that we supply 

 back numbers of the volume, in all cases. We are occasionally 

 desired to send from thy middle of the volume, but cannot con- 

 sistently deviate from our publi.shed terms. As a title page and 

 index are given at tlie close of each year, all should preserve tho 

 entire numbers for binding and future reference. 



THE NINTH VOLUUE of the Farmer, (for 1848,) just 

 completed, and for sale bound. Price, .')0 cents in marble 

 paper and cloth backs — or G2i cts., in boards and leather. — 

 A very liberal discount to Agents, Booksellers, &c. 



