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£al)ics' pcpavtincnt. 



Fig. 1. 



LADIES' WORK STANDS. 



We give, this month, engravings of two Ladies' 

 work stands. The first consists simply of n liglit 

 frame covered with silk, or any other material that 

 may be preferred, and attached to a common stand. 

 Tills frame almost any one can make in an evening, 

 and it can be ornamented with fringe or tassels to 

 suit the fancy. The engravings and following re- 

 marks are from Downing's Country Houses: 



" Ladies' ivo7-k 

 tables, (tig. 1,) are 

 popular English 

 furniture for the 

 sitting-room, and 

 arc usually made 

 of mahogany or 

 walnut, and fitted 

 up with a silk bag 

 with a fringe, at- 

 tached to a frame 

 that draws out. 

 This bag is a very 

 convenient receptacle of various articles of needle- 

 work, which otherwise would, perhaps, lie about 

 upon chairs or sofas, to the dis- 

 comfort of all parlies, and the 

 detriment of the work itself. 



A pretty and more convenient 

 article for this purpose, and one 

 more suitable to the parlor, is the 

 basket stand, fig. 2, being easily 

 lifted and carried about from one 

 part of the room to another — 

 wherever it may be most agreea- 

 ble to sit. These are made in 

 various modes, either very taste- 

 fully and fancifully of rosewood 

 or mahogany, curiously carved, 

 for the villa ; or of rustic work, 

 varnished, in the Swiss manner, 

 or of bamboo, after the Cliinese 

 fashion, for the cottage. This style is cheap and 

 neat, but persons can exercise their taste in con- 

 struction." 



CREDIT THOSE TO WHOM IT IS DtTE. 



Fig. 



Messrs. Editors : — In a well written article in the 

 November number of the Genesee Farmer, entitled 

 " Agricultural Societies and Exhibitions," you com- 

 mended the conduct of the Rochester ladies for their 

 exhibition of breid at the Horticultural Show in 

 Rochester, as worthy of imitation in other Societies. 

 Tlie writer cannot commend the conduct of the 

 Roc'.iester ladies, and all others, too highly, who 

 seem disposed to excel in this most useful art, and 

 true feminine accomplishment, to produce witli their 

 own hands, in its utmost perfection, " the staff of 

 life." As is justly remarked, in the article alluded 

 to, many societies in this State, and in Massachu- 

 setts, during the present year have awarded premiums 

 for the best loaves of bread exiiibited. But some of 

 these societies, as we have reason to know, first 

 caught tiiis idea from the remark of the IIou. Mar- 

 SUALL. P. WiLDKR, of Boston, made in an address be- 

 fore tlie Norfolk Cpunty Society, of Massaciiusctts, 

 in the fall of 1849. And in fact, we think to him be- 



longs tht credit of introducing this important matter 

 to the notice of agriculturists, and their excellent 

 wives and daiigliters. Mr. Wilder has labored long 

 and done more, perhaps, to advance the interests of 

 horticulture tlian any other practical man in the 

 country. Aud agriculture, too, in many of its bran- 

 ches, has felt his influence. It is with a view, there- 

 fore, to credit those who are willing to devote their 

 time and talents for the benefit and improvement of 

 the agricultural interests of the country, that we for- 

 ward these few lines. 



I will say, farther, that the Norfolk Society, bo- 

 fore which Mr. Wilder held this language in 1849 

 — " No father should consider his son tocll educated, 

 till he knows how to gain his support from the soil ; 

 and no mother her daughter, however accomplished 

 in all other respects, until she knows how to make 

 good hread'^ — w-ere so impressed with the utility of 

 this part of female education, that at the next annual 

 exhibition of the societ}', held in September last, six- 

 ty-six ladies were competitors for the superiority of 

 their bread. They exhibited one hundred and sev- 

 enty-five loaves, and were awarded two silver cups 

 of the value of twenty dollars, by the President, two 

 silver cups of the value of twenty dollars by the So- 

 ciety, and two barrels of flour, of the value of four- 

 teen dollars. Other societies have caught the sug- 

 gestion, aud have been liberal in their lewards, and 

 another year will doubtless witness a distribution of 

 premiums by almost every agricultural society in the 

 country, for the best quality of bread, as well as for 

 the more fanciful products of a delicate hand. 



Dutchess. 



SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT. 



Messrs. Editors : — In your Ladies^ Department for 

 December were the following words: '• VVe hope the 

 little good seed sown has not been cast entirely by 

 the wayside." For myself I think that any one who 

 travels our public, or even our by-roads, will see 

 enough to convince him of the fact, that people in 

 general are improving, both in the taste and .style of 

 building. To you, and others of the same stamp, are 

 we indebted, in a good measure, for the improvement 

 in the public mind with regard to plans for building, 

 not only dwelling houses, but out-buildings also. 

 Where you would originally see a long, narrow, two 

 story house, half finished with an enormous amount 

 of room, and but precious little com.'"ort or convenience, 

 you now see a neat, tasty little cottage. Of late, I 

 have often seen, on passing along some of our back 

 road-s, a neat little love of a cottage, half hid among 

 the .stumps of ji newly cleared field, showing conclu- 

 sively to my mind, that the originator had got his 

 ideas of taste and beauty, one step above the old track. 

 May we not hope to see our brother farmers, and 

 all others, surely and steadily rising toward perfec- 

 tion in that most indei>endent of all callings, until our 

 lands, that now yield twenty, shall yield some sixty, 

 and some "an hundred fold." Aud not alone among 

 the ladie.s, will you find those to sympathize with you 

 in your work, but many, many, if not all, of the hard 

 working farmers who "take the Genesee Farmer, will 

 honestly and heartily sympathize with you in your 

 endeavors to raise the standard of American agricul- 

 ture. J. B. C.—Grolon, A\ Y., Jan., 1851. 



Trust him little who praises all 

 who censures all. 



■and him less 



