296 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
place ? He says now that all the workmen are gone 
but our soldier, who is entirely recovered, and that 
the weather is cool, I can be" spared a few days as 
well as not. Sue can take care of the milk, and 
the cream will keep till I come back. I agree with 
him that it will be very pleasant to recreate awhile, 
but I can not go without him. Our soldier is so 
grateful for the attentions we paid him when he 
was sick, and so reliable a man, that I think Ed- 
ward may feel safe in leaving everything iu his care. 
August 23c?. — Home again ! Found everything in 
a satisfactory condition. The weather was cool, 
the cream rose well, and Sue ventured to try her 
hand at making butter in my absence, and really 
succeeded very well. I told her she should have 
it to take down to the store and sell on her own 
account, but advised herto work it over ouce more. 
We went to see an old friend of Edward's, about 
fifteen miles distant, and our visit was delightful. 
The ride through the country, now rich with all 
the pomps of .midsummer, was truly exhilarating 
to the spirits of us both. It is the first journey 
that we have taken since our marriage. How busy, 
how crowded, and how happy have these eight 
months of our married life been ! "We have both 
been blessed with perfect health, our table has 
been, with the exception of tea, coffee, and salt, 
supplied by the labor of our own bauds, and as I 
reflected on the past, that beautiful sentence of 
"the pious Hooker" was recalled to my mind, 
where he describes the farmer as "living nearer to 
God, and seeing more of His works than any of the 
less favored children of men, for he beholds the 
blessings of God blossoming out of the earth 
around him !" 
We started just after dinner and reached the farm- 
house about sunset, where we received a most 
hearty welcome. Edward had told me, during our 
ride, that most of the valuable ideas which he had 
about farming and housekeepiug, he had acquired 
during his residence with this family. The first 
year after he was of age, he worked for Mr. George 
during the summer and fall, and in the winter 
taught the adjoining district school, boarded with 
Mr. George, and paid his board by working before 
and after school. The family have always thought 
very highly of him ever since his residence with 
them, and when I made their acquaintance I could 
see why the respect and admiration was mutual. 
Their's is the best farmer housekeepiug I ever saw 
anywhere. It is Mr. George's ambition to have the 
best cows and the largest milkers of any dairyman 
in the county, and it is his wife's to send to market 
the largest firkins of the most perfect, golden and 
fragrant butter. She took three successive prizes 
for butter at the October fair, and if the three hand- 
some little silver cups and butter knives which she 
drew were cut out of solid amethyst, she would not 
think more of them. But I can see that her suc- 
cess is produced by the almost perfect arrange- 
ments and appliances for butter-making, as much 
as by the care that she herself bestows. The house 
is one which was planned throughout by Mr. 
George, who has the great advantage of knowing 
precisely what he wants, and possessing the ability 
to suit himself iu everything he does. 
The architecture of the farm-house is very much 
iu the usual style, having in the main part, four 
rooms below and four above. It is situated on a 
gentle slope which looks eastward, and the house 
fronts westward, being on the lower side of the 
road. At the rear of the house and attached to the 
main building is a lean-to, which is also of two 
stories, the first being a basement, of which the 
walls are heavy masonry. Here in the upper part, 
and on a level with the first story of the main build- 
ing are the kitchen, store-room and tool-house. 
Underneath is an ice-room, a small wash-room, 
back of which is the cellar door, and on the north- 
side is the milk-room or dairy. I was so much 
pleased with the arrangement that I made a plan of 
it, and Edward says that when he builds a new 
house it shall have all these conveniences. 
A, is the ice-house, entered by a large trap door 
from the tool-room floor above ; on one side of it, 
I, is a small ice-chamber, six feet by six, entered by 
a double door from B, the wash-room, and so sur- 
rounded by ice as to be a perfect refrigerator. C D 
is a door, also double, that opens into the cellar in 
the rear, which is not shown in the plan. The outer 
door of the w r ash-room has a low threshold, so that 
a large wheel-barrow can be trundled directly into 
the cellar from without, thus obviating the necessity 
PLAN OF BASEirENT OF LEAN-TO. 
of laying planks or props for it to run upon. K is 
a large kettle or caldron, set in masonry, and very 
near the outer door, so as to be convenient at hog- 
killing tirne,for soap-making, washing, cooking food 
for animals, and furnishing hot water for dairy pur- 
poses. L is a small lead pipe leading from a tank 
in the kitchen above, so that by turuing a faucet, 
the caldron maybe filled with water in two or three 
minutes. E is the milk-room, twenty feet square, 
with a shelf of masonry, S, on the top of which is a 
shallow trough, thoroughly lined on the inside with 
cement, so as to be water-tight. P is a pipe, also 
leading from the tank above, and throwing a small 
stream of water into the trough, which, after mak- 
iug the circuit of the shelf, and cooling all the pans 
alike, runs ont at p, whence it passes to the barn 
yard. There is a fall from P to p, of a fraction 
of an inch, so as to give a gentle and uniform cur- 
rent. The room is lighted by double windows on 
hinges, so the amount of external air to be admitted 
can be easily and perfectly regulated. There is a 
flue in the corner, and in winter an air-tight stove is 
used, by which the temperature of this apartment 
can be so perfectly adjusted that the thermometer 
which hangs there does not var.v ten degrees the 
year round. Fly screens are fitted into the win- 
dows in midsummer. The washing of milk vessels, 
and the ehurning,are all done in the adjoining room, 
the butter, when packed, is set into the ice cham- 
ber, and thus, whether in January or July, nothing 
affects the flavor, the quality, or the hardness of 
the butter, except changes in the food of the cows. 
The water, which is so admirably economized and 
skillfully applied, comes from a never-failing spring 
on the side of the hill above the house, and is con- 
ducted in pump logs. The tank in the kitchen into 
which it discharges, is divided into two compart- 
ments, one of which is always full, and supplies a 
uniform stream to the milk-room below. The other 
compartment supplies the kitchen, the caldron be- 
low, and its waste passes to the barn yard. All the 
labor of the house is strictly confined to these six 
apartments, the rooms of the main building being 
kept in perfect order, and pleasantly furnished with 
carpets, sofas, agricultural and other books, so that 
a visitor would never know whether Mr. George 
was a farmer or a gentleman retired on his fortune, 
unless he visited the working rooms in the rear. 
I noticed that Mr. George himself, his sons, and 
the laborers that are hired by the year, upon coming 
in from their work, left their heavy farm boots in 
the tool-room, where were also conveniences for 
washing, and wore light and clean slippers when 
they came into the nicely carpeted rooms. 
Like a model mother, Mrs. George is training her 
three daughters to understand every department of 
domestic industry. One week Man - , the elder, di- 
rects the dairy girl, and is held responsible for the 
quality of the butter, while Jane attends to the 
washing, ironing, and mending, and the clothing 
department generally, and Elleu presides over 
the management of the kitchen and pantry. 
From my observations of Mrs. George's methods 
of conducting the housework on a large farm, I 
have obtained some valuable hints for my own ben- 
efit, when by our thrift and economy our stock has 
become much larger than it is at the present time. 
A noticeable feature which I have seen also in 
other well kept houses is, that everything at Mrs. 
George's moves in an unchanging routine, which is 
probably the secret of her accomplishing so much, 
and doing everything so well. 
I observe that although the labors of the farm 
are confined to a set of apartments, the entire honse 
is open to her guests and the various members of 
the family, and their amusements, the conversation 
at table, the books they read, and their modes of 
entertaining their friends, are as high toned as in 
any family I have ever visited. 
His sons are taught to aspire to the ownership 
of a well kept farm, and a thorough understanding 
of all departments of agriculture as their most le- 
gitimate and praiseworthy ambition; and the daugh- 
ters all expect to become the wives of farmers. 
I cannot but think that if all were to look upon 
agriculture as this admirable family does, the young 
men of our country would not have such a procliv- 
ity to the cities, nor girls show a preference for 
white handed dandies and professional men. 
Reading for Boys and Girls- 
A father asks our advice as to suitable reading for 
boys from the age of 12 to 17. He has five sons, 
whose education occasions him a good deal of so- 
licitude, and wants a library of choice books for 
them in the departments of history, biography, 
travels, and natural science. This request opens a 
subject of great importance, and we have a few 
old fashioned ideas upon the subject, which are at 
the service of our readers. The books we had 
access to, at the age of twelve to fourteen, were 
Plutarch's Lives, Hume's History of England, Eol- 
liu's Ancient History, aud works of that stamp. It 
was the best thing perhaps that could have happen- 
ed, that we saw little of fiction until matnrer years. 
We think many of our Sabbath School books, and 
works especially written for the young, ran too 
much to fiction and small talk. There is no oc- 
casion to resort to novels for interesting reading. 
Historical writers have as much grace of style as the 
masters of fiction. Any boy or girl, of average in- 
telligence, would be charmed with Macauley's 
History of England, Bancroft's History of the 
United States, Prescott's and Motley's historical 
works, Irving's Life of Washington, Irving's Co- 
lumbus, Life aud Letters of W. Irving, Sparks' 
American Biography, and the travels of Stephens, 
and of Bayard Taylor. These alone would make a 
respectable library, and would be as much .is any 
child ought to read between 15 and 17 years of age, 
in addition to the drill of the school room and the 
reading of the papers. One of the pleasantest 
winters we remember was that iu which Irving's 
Life of Washington was read aloud in the family, 
for three evenings in the week, the children taking 
turns in the readings. All of Irving's most genial 
works may be read with profit, at a later age. 
There is mnch less need of private libraries now 
than thirty years ago ; for public libraries are great- 
ly multiplied in our cities, and villages, and the 
best thoughts of the best minds of the country are 
given to the public through our periodical literature. 
These papers and magazines are virtually circulating 
libraries, and a good selection of them should be 
found upon the centre table of every intelligent 
family. Farmers of course will see that the agricul- 
tural papers are well represented at their fire-sides, 
if they wish to cultivate rural tastes in their children. 
Pickling- Beans. — Robert Black, Xew 
Bedford. We know no better way than to pick 
them before they have any strings, soak in weak 
salt waterfor 24 hours ; prepare vinegar with spices 
as for other pickles, pour it hot on the beans, and 
then after 3 or 4 days pour it off and re-scald it. A 
little alum hardens them, but is not desirable, 
nor is the poisonous verdigris from the brass kettle 
that gives such a beautiful green to the pickles 
cooked in that metal. It is mnch better to have 
pickles of any kind wholesome, rather than make 
them attractive to the eye by injurious additions. 
