1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
31 
tices of good cultivation from being applied to 
it." This is a very good rule for the planting 
of shrubs and flowers, as well as of trees. 
»-. — ■»» — ►-» 
large Rhubarb from Seed. 
Hugh Miller, of Charlevoix Co., Mich., wrote 
to the Am. Agriculturist, Oct. 11 : " The Linnfeus 
Rhubarb seed received through your Seed Dis- 
tribution iu the Spring, was planted in common 
garden soil of fair quality, and appears to have 
produced two or three new sorts. The largest 
kind is a dark green, and some of the stalks 
measure, at this date, 12 i inches from the ground 
to the leaf, and 4j inches in circumference at the 
bottom. The stalk is round on the under side, 
and flat above. The leaf is 20i inches long, and 
21i inches across." This is certainly a re- 
markable growth from seed the same season. 
As we distributed many thousands of packets 
of seed, it is quite likely that several improved 
seedlings have been produced which will be 
worth propagating and diffusing elsewhere. 
The quality of the stalk, or of its juice, as well 
as size of growth, must be taken into account in 
deciding upon the merits of the new seedlings. 
TOE M(DO§MI(D3LID 
Smart Parents have Dull Children. 
The truth of this, as au almost universal rule, can 
be substantiated in every community. We should 
naturally expect the contrary. Striking character- 
istics are, in part at least, transmitted from parents 
to children. Why then, do so few sous and daugh- 
ters of intelligent, active, and successful parents 
develop equal energy and achieve equal success ? 
Probably the following suggestions explain the 
difficulty and indicate a remedy. With rare excep- 
tions, a man's success depends less upon his natural 
abilities and opportunities, than upon his self reli- 
nnee, and consequent exertion of his powers. These 
traits are mainly developed in youth. Take au 
Illustration. We have a friend, an equal partner in 
a firm doing business iu one of the large marble 
blocks in this City. His natural intellect is not 
above average. Left au orphan at the age of four 
years, he fell into the hands of an uncla who was 
Btriet to austerity in his moral rule, but otherwise 
careless, and the boy was left mainly to shift for 
himself. To obtain pocket money, and much of his 
clothing, he peddled apples, gingerbread, etc., at 
shows, general trainings, and similar gatherings, 
and also made and sold various simple mechanical 
articles. The strict discipline of his uncle kept him 
out of vice, but the necessity of depending upon 
his own exertions, and the early practice of laying 
out his own plans and enjoying their results, de- 
veloped ingenuity, foresight, and self-reliance. At 
manhood he came to New-York and entered a store 
as porter. His strict moral habits, and his developed 
abilities, were soon noted, and he was made clerk 
iu the packing department. From this he was pro- 
moted to the selling, and then to the purchasing de- 
partment, and upon the death of one of the part- 
ners, was gladly taken in as one of the firm. His 
business abilities, with his small savings, were con- 
sidered a full equivalent to the greater money cap- 
ital invested by the other partners. 
Thus it has been in numberless instances. The 
children of the poor, thrown upon their own re- 
sources, have risen to competence and wealth. 
Their disadvantages have educated their abilities. 
But what has this to do with the subject of the pres- 
ent article ? A good deal. Those parents who are 
" smart " themselves, generally do most of the work 
themselves, or at least take the whole direction of 
it. That active mother finds it easier to do her 
housework, than to leave it to the daughter. The 
daughter knows that mother will look after it, and 
exercises no care or oversight. The father looks 
after every thing himself. The son is a mere ma- 
chine worked by the father, and thus he grows up, 
incapable of successfully directing his own powers. 
Though naturally sharp, his faculties are dulled 
by inaction, and inherited talents are of little avail. 
Our opinion is, that while parents should abate 
nothing of strictness of discipline in general matters, 
they should throw their children more upou their 
own resources. Let the sou have his plot of ground, 
his animals, his own personal property, entirely 
uuder his own direction, for the care of which he 
shall be wholly responsible, and upon the proper 
management of which shall depend somewhat of 
his own pleasure and profit. Let the daughter at 
an early age have the oversight of certain depart- 
ments of household labor, particularly those which 
relate to her own comfort. Let them thus grow 
up habituated to the exercise of their owu thinking 
aud planning powers, and their natural abilities will 
develop aud give them a measure of success iu adult 
years, which will do credit to their inherited talents. 
About Pocket Handkerchiefs. 
• The pocket handkerchief, though not a promi- 
nent article iu the outfit of a lady or gentleman, is 
yet worthy of some little attention. Care, but not 
fastidiousness, in minor points, marks refinement 
in either sex. It would excite ridicule for a well- 
dressed lady to display an old-style cotton pock- 
et handkerchief, blazing with red and yellow de- 
vices, such as are in great request at the South for 
turbans for the negresses; 
aud all the more justly, be- 
cause a neat linen article can 
be had at no greater cost. 
To make the apron, or the 
fingers perform the service 
required of a handkerchief, 
is an abomination not to be 
tolerated in decent society. 
For persous afflicted with catarrh, silk handkerchiefs 
are preferable to linen, being softer, and less apt to 
chafe the skin ; they are also more serviceable. 
Care should be taken not to keep them in use an 
unreasonable length of time because they do not 
easily show soiled places. They collect dust and 
other matter offensive to cleanliness as readily as 
linen, even if it he not manifest to the eye. 
A neatly ornamented border or marking for the 
handkerchief for ladies is desirable. Expensive 
lace edgings and exquisite needlework, costing 
large sums, only show a love of ostentatious dis- 
play, not in accordance with good taste. Accom- 
panying this article are several original designs for 
ornaments around the name, or initials of the own- 
er, to be marked upon the coruer, which will be ac- 
ceptable to the ladies. These designs can easily be 
traced upon the linen with a fine-pointed pencil, by 
laying it upon the paper, and holding it against the 
window pane. Afterward they can be readily work- 
ed with the needle, or drawn with indelible ink. 
«-■ — i*_ .-» 
A Child allowed to govern those who should re- 
strain him in infancy, will usually grow up without 
the power of self-government, and be a slave to 
his own passions, or the tool of designing men. 
Children on the Floor. 
The floor is always the coldest part of a room iu 
the first story, except in the few instances where 
the cellar contains an unshielded iron furnace that 
heats the whole air there, and the floor above. 
In our owu dwelling we use just such a furnace, at 
the expense of extra fuel, aud to the detriment of 
vegetables and food stored in the cellar, because by 
this means the floors of the room above arc kept 
warmed for the baby and the smaller children, and 
for the feet of all, young and old. Another cellar 
is used for the storage of most vegetables aud 
fruits. When the sun is shining into a room, stir 
up a little dust, and observe the currents of air. It 
will be seen that the warm air from the stove or 
register constantly rises toward the ceiling, while 
the cold air from the cracks and crevices about the 
doors and windows flows downward and along the 
floor. Young children, therefore, when sitting or 
frolicking on the floor, are in the coldest part of the 
room. The. feet of those sitting or standing, are 
also the coldest. If, added to this, there is a cold 
cellar, or cold current of air beneath the single lay- 
er of boards in the floor, it is no wonder that the 
hands and feet and bodies of children get so cold, 
while the persons sitting or standing feel comforta- 
ble. There is perhaps no help for the currents of 
cold air; but when the baby is set on the floor, or 
the youngsters are playing there, they may be made 
more comfortable, by spreading an extra carpet or 
piece of drugget, or even a blanket under them. 
In the morning, and whenever the Are gets low, or 
the floor, or the air of the room is unusually cold, 
the children should be elevated — the babe in the 
crib, and others on chairs. Every lady knows (hat. 
her feet are warmer wheu placed on a foot stool, 
even if but a few iuehes high, than when they are 
upon the floor. The higher position of the head, 
neck, and arms, explains why these are warmer 
than the lower extremities, though the latter are 
well covered, while the former are bare. This may 
seem a small matter for discussion in the Agricul- 
turist, but on attention to such Utile things much 
of our comfort and health often depend. At any 
rate, while yon yourself feel warm, don't forget that 
the baby on the carpet is in a colder region, and 
may be actually suffering while you are warm. 
Boots and Shoes— Warm Feet. 
Those who have half a dozen active children, 
more or less, to keep shod, have probably found out 
ere this, that leather has gone up in price almost 
(but not quite) as rapidly as printing paper. If any 
one can tell us how to get cheap shoes, or any kind 
of shoes that will not cost about a dollar a month 
for each youngster, he will confer a special favor, and 
we will hasten to publish the fact for the benefit of 
the rest of mankind. Much cau be done to lessen 
the expense of shoe leather, even at the present 
prices, by judicious selection and proper care of 
boots and shoes. A great mistake is made in buy- 
ing thin shoes, with thin soles, for girls, while boys 
are provided with thick-soled high boots. A pair 
of strong boots will last a girl longer than several 
pairs of thin ones, and will allow her to enjoy the 
air aud exercise which are necessary to health. 
There is no reason why the feet of girls and women 
should be more thinly clad than those of boys and 
men — " Fashiou kills more than the sword." 
Some of the means taken to preserve leather are 
injurious to it, while others are injurious to the 
feet. It is not desirable that a boot should be 
thoroughly waterproof; when this is the case, the 
perspiration is confined, and the feet rendered un- 
comfortable and unhealthy. The " waterproof or 
varnish blacking" so frequently used, is injurious 
to the leather, rendering it less pliable. It confines 
the perspiration, and keeps the feet cold by mak- 
ing the leather and stocking better conductors of 
heat. All those preparations which claim to ren- 
der leather waterproof should be discarded. The 
