201 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Domestic Department. 



Ff.jiale EnrcATiov : Amusements. — The amount 

 of time foolishly wasted by females is really dc]jlo- 

 rable ; at an age, too, in which their exertions are so 

 much needed. With due respect to your correspond- 

 ent " Eva," I think single-handed manufacturing in 

 families, though once an indispensable duty, Avould 

 be poor economy of time and labor in our day, when 

 superior fabrics may be produced bj' machinery, at 

 much less cost, though, under some circumstances, 

 an occasional buzz of the spinning wheel maybe ex- 

 pedient. Our duties, however, arc not diminished, 

 but, on the contrary, increased by the improvements 

 of the age in which we live. "Woman's sphere is 

 enlarged beyond the limits of the broad rim of the 

 spinning wheel, and is still enlarging. "While our 

 duties and responsibilities increase, we are held ac- 

 countable for much that our grandmothers never 

 dreamed of. 



" New occasions teach new duties; 

 Time makes olden good uncouth ; 

 They must upward still and onward. 

 Who would keep abreast of truth." 



The time is coming when domestic duties are ex- 

 pected to be performed upon scientific principles ; 

 and we arc bound to employ every means in our 

 power to make ourselves acquainted with the sci- 

 ences pertaining to our domestic affairs, A knowl- 

 edge of chemistry and dietetics, in a cook, is inval- 

 uable to a family. Information regarding the laws 

 of health, and life, and mental philosophy, is abso- 

 lutely necessary to the proper rearing of children. 

 The suffering I have seen and experienced for want 

 of knowledge, and the almost incredible advantage 

 gained by the apjdieation of a few practical ideas, 

 makes me very desirous for others, as well as myself, 

 that we should have " more light." 



I think, however, it is not proper that we should 

 always be in performance of the sober duties of life. 

 Nature does not bestow all her care on the sturdy 

 oak and mountain pine, but adorns the landscape 

 with an endless variety of fanciful colors and forms, 

 enlivens the whole with music, and the frolicsome 

 play of animated beings. Nor did she fail to im- 

 plant in the human mind faculties harmonizing with 

 the beaut3', melody, and gayety of external nature, 

 which find a legitimate sphere of action in ornamen- 

 tal horticulture, vocal and instrumental music, &c. 

 An evening dance of an hour in a family, in which 

 old and young, parents and children, may join, is at 

 once conducive to the improvement of social feelings, 

 and furnishes, at the same time, a wholsome relaxa- 

 tion from care, and greatly promotes longevitv and 

 health. AMANDA. 



— Am. Agriculturist, 



Keeping Lemons presii. — I have been a house- 

 keeper for some years, and never, till lately, have I 

 been able to keep lemons fresh and juicy for any 

 length of time. Eut with all my care, — now in 

 this closet, now in that — now wrapped in paper, 

 now packed in bran — now in a cool place, and 

 now in a dry one, — they would dry up and become 

 hard as wood. Of late, however, I have preserved 

 them perfectly fiesh three months in summer, by 

 ])lacing them in a closely-covered jar, or pot, kept in 

 the ice-house. 



Each lemon is wrapped up in paper, (perhaps they 

 would do as well without,) but opened and wijied 

 once in ten or twelve days, then covered again with 

 dry paper, and put back into the jar, or earthen ves- 

 sel, on the ice. MOTHER HUBBAIID. 



Otsego Co., N. Y., Feb. 24, 1849. 

 — Ibid. 



BoM3* Department. 



From the Illustrated Naticral History. 



Do Anim.\ls reason r The Alpine hares, says 

 Pennant, in August begin to cut great quantities of 

 soft, tender grass and other herbs, which they spread 

 out to dry. This hay, about autumn, they collect 

 into large heaps, and place either beneath the over- 

 hanging rocks, or round the trunks of trees, in coni- 

 cal heaps of various sizes, according to the number 

 of the society that make them. They select the best 

 of vegetables, and crop them when in the fullest 

 vigor, which they make into the best and greenest 

 hay, by the judicious manner in which they dry it. 

 The common squirrel makes a nest of moss and dried 

 leaves at the forks of a tree's branches, M-ith two 

 holes at opposite sides, and, as the wind varies, shuts 

 the hole towards it. It lays up magazines of nuts, 

 acorns, fruit, and berries for winter, never touching 

 them till wanted. The field-man collects large stores, 

 &e., in the same manner ; the German harvester 

 makes large chambers for grain, beans, and peas, eac'li 

 in a separate cell, sometimes a hundred pounds 

 weight in the whole. The tuition which quadrupeds 

 are capable of receiving, discovers a lower degree of 

 that improvabilitj' which distinguishes our superior 

 race, which, as far as it extends, resembles ours, al- 

 though at the same time it marks its specific differ- 

 ence by its unvarying limitation. Blumenbach's ape 

 would manage wood for the stove, and put it in with 

 as much judgment and economy as a servant. He 

 was often at the college, and used to examine the 

 pupils' specimens with amusing imitation and grim- 

 ace. One day he found a work on insects on the 

 table, which he studied with great gravity ; but a 

 person, on entering the room an hour afterwards, 

 found that the ape had, with great dexterity, pinched 

 out all the beetles of the largo plates, and eaten 

 them, mistaking the pictures for real insects. This 

 was an unlucky, but not a foolish action. Yosmaer 

 had an orang which was taught to eat with a spoon 

 and fork, and picked out his strawberries one by one 

 from a plate. Getting loose one day, it uncorked a 

 bottle of Malaga wine, drank it off, and put the 

 bottle in its place. Seeing others open its chain 

 padlock with a key, it put a bit of stick into the 

 key-hole, and turned it about in all directions to 

 unlock it itself. A black sow was taught to find 

 game, and to bark and stand nearly as well as a 

 pointer. When very young she became attached to 

 some pointed puppies, and the keeper resolved to try 

 her. He gave her some pudding of barley-meal as 

 her reward, and threw stones at her when she did 

 wrong. By this mode he soon taught her what he 

 wished. As soon as the game she pointed rose, she 

 always returned for her reward. The quadruped 

 animals, of their own will and nature, and from in- 

 born instincts, do actions Avhich require know ledge, 

 reasoning, and judgment in mankind. Keindeer 

 follow a leader which they implicitly obey ; antelopes 

 run in a regular file, led by an older one. Elephants 

 make their journeys on this plan. Many animals 

 are found to make defensive arrangements. A Cape 

 baboon having taken off some cloths from the bar- 

 racks. Lieutenant Shipp formed a party to recover 

 them. " With twenty men, I made a circuit to cut 

 them off from the caverns to which they alv.-ays fled 

 for shelter. They observed my movements, and de- 

 taching about fifty to guard the entrance, the others 

 kept their post. We could see them collecting large 

 stones and other missiles. One old gray-lieaded 

 one, who had often paid us a visit at the barracks, 

 was seen distributing his orders as if a general. We 

 rushed on to the attack, when, on a scream from 

 him, they rolled enormous stones upon us, so that 

 we were forced to give up the contest." When 



