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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



the Nova Scotia potatoes are worst of all. — Essex 

 County Mercury. 



Remarks by Editor N. E. Farmer. — From our 

 own observation and experience, we do not think 

 that the main cause of the potato rot has abated ; yet 

 the predisposing or secondary causes have been less 

 Bevere the present season. Warm and wet weather 

 Is a powerful predisposing cause, and the weather, in 

 the summer and early part of the fall, was very warm. 

 From the time of planting potatoes in the spring to 

 a period sufficiently late for harvesting, we had no 

 excessive rains, and but little hot weather during the 

 time of rains. 



Considering these circumstances, our potatoes rot- 

 ted as much as usual before digging, and some of 

 them are now rotting in the cellar, though we dis- 

 posed, at the time of harvesting, of those most liable to 

 rot. This is an important subj ect, and farmers should 

 have correct information on it, in order to guai'd 

 against the rot in future, for a great deal may be 

 done to avoid it, by a judicious selection of soil and 

 manure, the mode of planting, and the time of plant- 

 ing and harvesting, and in the selection of hardy 

 varieties, which is the most important and the easiest 

 mode of avoiding the malady. 



^Domestic IBepartment. 



Education. — Every person must bo self-educated 

 to a great degree. Most people think, therefore, that 

 education does not begin till the child is sent to 

 Echool, and is conducted solely by the teachers em- 

 ployed for that purpose. This is a sad and very 

 injurious mistake. Education begins in the domes- 

 tic circle ; the eyes of the mother are the first teacher. 

 Father, mother, brothers and sisters, servants and 

 visitors, all aid in the great work. These home in- 

 fluences have no small effect in the intellectual de- 

 velopment of the pupil, and they often so entirely 

 furnish the foundation of the moral character, that 

 no subsequent teaching or discipline can change its 

 nature or bearing. To these influences the most 

 earnest eff'orts of moralists and ministers of the gos- 

 pel aie merely secondary for good, and useless against 

 evil. Let home influence bo that of firm and gentle 

 government, producing the habitual impression on 

 the mind of the child, that the will of the parent is 

 right and absolute law ; let the child have learned 

 cheerfully and happily to yiekl to this, and that 

 child will infallibly be a lovely pupil, esteemed and 

 cherished by its teachers ; will be a docile and rapidly 

 improving scholar ; will grow up to be a law-abiding 

 and valuable citizen, and most likely an humble and 

 devoted Christian. 



But, as is too much the case in our day, let the 

 home influence bo that of too nmcli indulgence or 

 neglect ; let every thing be just as the child chooses ; 

 let the opinion and choice of the child rule that of 

 the parent; let the child say, I won't, or I don't 

 want to do this thing, or that thing ; I won't go to 

 tills school, this teacher, or attend to this study ; 

 and if the child is corrected for impertinence or idle- 

 ness, let the parent join in blaming the teacher as 

 cruel and brutish, and it needs no prophetic foresight 

 to predict, that the child will be a dunce in the 

 school, a rebel against the discipline, a bad, unruly 

 citizen, a tyrant in his own house, without one deli- 

 cate '.rait of moral goodness, probably never a true 



Christian, or at best a self-conceited " trouble in 

 Israel." 



This is the plague of all the schools at the present 

 day. The children govern at liome, and if they can- 

 not govern at school, they Avon't go any longer, and 

 parents let them do as they please. — American Spec- 

 tator, 



Apple Custard. — To make the cheapest and best 

 every-day farmer's apple custard, take sweet apples 

 that will cook, (such as every farmer ought to have 

 through the summer, fall, winter, and spring,) pare, 

 cut, and stow them ; when well done, stir till the 

 pieces are all broken ; when cool, thin with milk to 

 a proper consistency, and bake with one crust, like 

 pumpkin pie. Egg may be prepared and added with 

 the milk if handy, though it will do without. No 

 sweetening is necessary. It may bo seasoned with 

 any kind of spice to suit the taste — the less the 

 better. H. 



— Ohio Cultivator. 



BojJs' ?Bepartment. 



The beautiful Total Abstinence Boys. — An- 

 cient history tells us of four boys, of great beauty 

 and intelligence, that were carried captives from 

 their native country, and presented to the king, a 

 mighty monarch, to stand before him as his moat 

 honored servants. These favored youths were pro- 

 vided with every moans which the court of this great 

 monarch could furnish for making them skilful in all 

 wisdom, cunning in knowledge, and understanding 

 science, beautiful in person, and accomplished in 

 manners. The richest fruits and most delicious wines 

 were given to nourish them. But they were lads of 

 greater wisdom than even those persons who were 

 set to perfect and polish them. xVnd when the 

 wine was brought them to drink, they decided among 

 themselves, "none for us." It is not said that they 

 signed a pledge, but they formed a total abstinence 

 society, and it was impossible for those who were 

 set over them to break their rank. " If you pine 

 away," said they, " Ave shall endanger our heads to 

 the king." " But," said the boys, " give us Avater 

 to drink ten days, and then if our countenances look 

 not better than the countenances of those Avho drink 

 Avine, deal Avith us as you see fit." The experiment 

 Avas eminently successful. Their countenances Avere 

 fairer than all the children Avho partook of the king's 

 delicacies. 



For the character of these youths, Avhen they be- 

 came men, look into your Bible, in the book of 

 Daniel. — Bombay Temperance Advocate. 



jSealtl). 



The Evil of Late Hours. — The rising sun draws 

 forth (lualities from earth and vegetation most con- 

 ducive to the moral and physical health of the Avak- 

 ing man ; the invisible air is laden Avith properties 

 Avhich stimulate his powers and refine his faculties. 

 This, then, must be the proper period for quitting 

 the bed-chamber, into Avhich the breath has been 

 exhaled for many houi-s, and the pores have been 

 rapidly emitting their secretions ; the conjoined eff'ect 

 being such as to render the air mephitic and unfit 

 for inhalation into the lungs. Miss the morning air, 

 and you daily miss the most A-aluable draught of 

 medicine that can be prescribed. The most subtile 

 logician cannot gainsay this fact ; but even Avere it 



