256 



GAEDEN SEATS. 



Tlie present publisher, in taking possession of his 

 old and favorite journal, found among a pile of accu- 

 mulated papers, the following note or postscript at 

 the bottom of a letter: 



"I want to ask you, Mr. Editor, why you don't put 

 a Youth's Department in your paper, as you used to 

 do; I always liked to read it. Father sometimes us- 

 ed to complain that we soiled his papers that he wish- 

 ed to keep; but mother said the children got fifty 

 cents worth of good by reading them, so that if fa- 

 ther had to take another copy to keep, there was 

 nothing lost." George F . 



The father of the writer of this, sends us a good 

 club every year; and at the bottom of the letter con- 

 taining the list and money, the above note was made 

 by the son, George. Now, in answer to the above, 

 we have nothing to say, only that we suppose the for- 

 mer managers of the Farmer thought they could fill 

 the journal with matter of more general interest. 

 Perhaps in tiiis they were not correct. Teaching 

 Youth, even giving them a taste for readiiig, is a work 

 of no small importance, though the matter they read, 

 may not be as instructive as could be desired. 



On first taking charge of the Genesee Farmer, in 

 January, 1850, we wrote as follows: "We shall en- 

 deavor particularly to improve our Yourn's Depart- 

 ment. We shall endeavor to interest, and while in- 

 teresting, instruct the Youth. 



" Parents should teach their children to love and 

 practice gardening. It will learn them system and 

 order, patience and hope; it will give strength to the 

 body and the mind; it will improve the head and the 

 heart. It will teach them self-reliance — that success 

 is the reward of industry and perseverance, w'hile fail- 

 ure is the result of negligence. It will teach them to 



' Look from Nature up to Nature's God.' 



What affords pleasure like visiting the scene of our 

 childhood, and there beholding, growing ia majesty 

 and pride, the trees we planted in our childish glee. 

 What music so sweet as the shouting of the tempest 

 in their lofty tops." 



What we then wrote of the importance of garden- 

 ing for children, was true then, and is equally true 

 now. So, unless we hear some dissenting voioes 

 among the older members of the great Ge.nesee Far- 

 mer CosiPAxyy, we shall commence and continue a 

 Youth's Department. We shall not fill up this page 

 with childish or wonderful stories, but shall give such 

 information as will be at once instructive and enter- 



taining. As this matter was only called to our at 

 tention by the above hint, a few hours before goinr 

 to press, we ai'e unable to devote much time to th( 

 Youth this month, and we will only give a hint tc 

 boys, as to one way of shov/ing their ingenuity, am 

 making themselves useful in the construction of 

 GARDEN SEATS 

 In cities, where people have no gardens, they ant 

 the friends who may call on them to spend an hou 

 sociably with them, have to spend their time in thi 

 parlor or sitting-room, no matter how warm th( 

 weather may be. In the country, at noon, or in th' 

 evening, the farmer and his family are seen reclinin; 

 under the shade of spreading trees. The parlor i 

 deserted, and all enjoy the cool of the evening in th' 





open air. To be sure, some farmers would have di 

 ficulty in finding shade around their houses, but thes 

 are not the men you should imitate. Now there 

 nothing prettier or more con- 

 venient to sit in the garden, 

 or on the grass around the 

 house, than Rustic Garden 

 Seats. They can be made 

 by an ingenious boy out of 

 sticks from the woods, with 

 the bark on. By forming a 

 plan of 'what you will need, 

 you can select sticks of about 

 the right form, saw them to fit, 

 and nail them together. In . 

 some cases, willow can be used for bmdmg the parti 

 together. For the bottom, split sticks may be used 

 laying the flat sides down, and if vou wish to mab 

 the seat quite ornamental, every other stick may b: 

 peeled of its bark. We give jjlaus of two seats, on 

 formed by the side of a stump or tree — the tree forir 

 ing the back, and the other in the form of a chaii 

 We hope the boys will try their hands at this wort 



