1870. 



2^W ENGLAND FAEMER. 



459 



diminishing, but the examining surgeons under 

 ■whose inspection a large part of our girown up 

 young men have passed within a few years, 

 tell us that but a small proportion of them 

 have sound and vigorous bodies. Now what 

 would tend more directly to improve the breed 

 than a liberal and generous encouragement of 

 the prize ring ? Progress. 



Massachusetts, Aug. 1, 1870. 



A WOMAN'S GAHDENINQ. 

 I have been out looking at my garden this 

 morning (July 7), and it did look so well 

 that I thought 1 would wiite and tell you 

 some of the things I saw there ; and I take 

 a greater pride in doing so, inasmuch as it 

 was partly the work of my own hands. But 

 now for what I saw in the garden. 



I saw tomatoes in blossom, squashes with 

 eight and tea leaves on them, quite large 

 watermelons, cucumbers, citron and musk- 

 melon plants, also a bed of beets that I think 

 cannot be beat around here, being at least 

 one-fourth of a yard high, a nice onion bed, 

 turnips, Kbol Rabi, cabbages of different 

 varieties, and everything else that go to make 

 up a well-stocked kitchen garden. As for the 

 flower garden, I think it will compare favor- 

 ably with almost any other about here. I 

 will now tell you what my part of the work 

 was. My husband thought he could not af- 

 ford to taake a hot-bed, so I did the next best 

 thing. I took quite a large door that I had, 

 and nailed laths around the edge, so that it 

 would hold the boxes on it, and retain the 

 moisture. I then made a great many little 

 pasteboard boxes, and without putting any 

 bottom in them, set them on it, and planted 

 the various sorts of seeds in them ; and when 

 they were large enough to set out, I slipped 

 them, dirt and all, out of the bottom of the 

 box without disturbing the roots at all, and so 

 there was nothing to hinder them from grow- 

 ing. 



I started all the melons, cucumbers, 

 squashes, cabbages, tomatoes and bell pep- 

 pers in this way. The beets and onions, 

 parsnips and carrots were sowed in the open 

 ground the 2d day of May, the peas were 

 sowed in April. Everything but the peas 1 

 planted myself, and I don't know as I am any 

 the worse for it, unless perhaps I have a little 

 more tan on my face and hands than most 

 people care to have ; indeed, one lady said to 

 me the other day, "Why, I would not be 

 tanned the way you are, for all you have in 

 both gardens !" Poor woman, she was neither 

 tan nor any other color, except a dead white, 

 and that is a color I do not fancy, the more so 

 as I carried that color in my own face too 

 many years. 



A certain amount or" outdoor labor, or ex- 

 ercise, or any other name you have a mind to 

 call it, is just as much a necessity (in my 

 opinion) for a woman, as it is for a man. To 



be sure, they cannot do much, but still they 

 should do something for exercise out of doors, 

 and what better can they do, than to culti- 

 vate a few flowers, or even work a little in the 

 kitchen garden, if necessary that they should. 

 But almost all the women, seem to be afraid 

 that some other woman will think "she is as 

 tough as an Irish woman" (as a great many 

 are fond of saying), or that she hasn't got 

 ailments enough, or isn't delicate enough, or 

 something else of that sort. 



Bm"; I will not say too much, for I have been 

 in the same boat myself — I used to think it 

 would be impossible for me to work in the 

 ga<rden as I have seen others, but I must say 

 that since I have tried it, I have enjoyed a 

 greater degree of health than when I staid in 

 so closely, and I really hope that others may 

 be induced to try my remedy for ill health. 

 Now don't say "the remedy is worse than the 

 disease," for you will fail to convince me, for 

 I know by experience that it is not. You will 

 not only enjoy better health, but if you are a 

 lover of flowers, you will reap a rich reward 

 for all the labor bestowed. 



In the garden flow'rets, neither scant nor few, 

 That bud and bioisom, all the summer through. 



— A. B., Monroe, in Maine Farmer. 



To Destroy Ants. — 1. Pour, copiously, 

 hot water, as near the boiling point as possi- 

 ble, down their burrows and over their hills, 

 and repeat the operation several times. 



2. Entrap the ants by means of narrow 

 sheets of stiff paper or strips of board, cov- 

 ered with some sweet sticky substance ; the 

 ants are attracted by the sweets, and sticking 

 fast, can be destroyed as often as a sufficient 

 number are entrapped. 



3. Lay fresh bones around their haunts; 

 they will leave everything else to attack these, 

 and when thus accumulated, can be dipped in 

 hot water. 



4. Pour two or three spoonfuls of coal oil 

 into their holes, and they will abandon the 

 nest. 



5. Bury a few slices of onions in their nests, 

 and they will abandon them. — Western Rural. 



Barns in France. — The barns at present 

 coming into use, are built of brick dove-tailed 

 into each other, no mortar being employed — 

 and the interstices, ample for ventilation, will 

 not permit the entry of vermin. The form 

 of the building is round, two or three stories 

 in height, with zinc roof. I have observed a 

 few days ago, an oat-bin, some two feet high, 

 standing in a corner of a stable, and occupy- 

 ing but little space. It is filled from the 

 top ; the cover being secured by padlock. 

 Outside is a graduated scale that marks the 

 quantity of grain daily withdrawn, and forms 

 a perfect tell-tale in the event of dishonesty. — 

 Paris Cor. California Farmer. 



