344 Transactions of the American Institute. 



the majority of the club detcnniiie what crops or vegetables shall be 

 cultivated — every member to feel bound to cultivate all these, and 

 at liberty to add others at his pleasure — every man to manage his 

 business in his own way, subject only to the condition that at the 

 stated meetings of the club, when each member's " school " patch 

 is to be examined by all, life shall be ready to state v)hat he has done 

 for each variety of plants cultivated, and why he has done it. If one 

 has planted his squashes in hills because his father so taught him, or 

 another has placed each plant by itself becaause he can thus see that 

 each has its due proportion of ground to take root in, and sunsliine 

 and air for its leaves ; if one has cut off all laterals from the main 

 branches because they draw away the sap and strength of the plant, 

 and another has left them, or some of them, because they assist the 

 principal branch in sending down roots from the joints, and thus 

 keep the whole in place, undisturbed by winds, let each give his 

 reason, whether it be habit, tlieorj^, or the result of his experience ? 

 and to all let there be given a generous, and respectful consideration. 

 This is, of coarse, a mere outline. Those who care for such matters 

 can easily till up the plan with constantly increasing details of interest 

 and importance. A valuable aid or instrument in this study is a 

 pocket lens, which will cost about seventy-five cents. Let each 

 member procure one for himself, and all his boys and girls, too, if 

 they take an interest in the family work ; make the school-patch a 

 frequent topic of conversation among the younger members, and 

 enlist their thoughts and feelings in this emulative contest. Soon 

 will follow a desire for the better and accurate information embodied 

 in books, and then these will be of great usefulness, and both tlie old 

 and the young will find pleasure and intellectual exercise in the, as 

 generally managed, dull and monotonous employments of the farm. 



Cuke for Hen CnoLEEA 

 ITancy P. Mills, Chandlerville, 111. — I see a reqiiest for some one 

 to prescribe for hen cholera. Use the following receipt : » To a pint 

 of corn meal add a tablespoonful each of alum and black-pepper ; 

 beat up fine. Feed poultry on that and you will have no cholera. 

 If any are so bad they cannot eat put it in their mouths, and push it 

 down their throats with the finger. This treatment has never failed 

 me. 



New Uses foe IIusks. 



A gentleman, from Richmond, Ya., said he was engaged in the 

 liusk hetcheling business. He uses up 1,500 tons of corn husks 



