190 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
DECORATING THE GRAVE. 
There is a kind of pathos touching tenderness of ex- 
pression in these sweet and fragrant emblems of affection, 
which is calculated to perpetuate a kind of soothing 
sympathy between the living and the dead. They speak 
of cords of life too strong for even the grave to break 
assunder. The practice, no doubt, gave rise to the an- 
cient custom which prevailed in the East of burying in 
.gardens, and is one which conduces to the gratification 
of the best feelings of our nature. It prevailed generally 
in and about the Holy City, and also among the Medes, 
Persians, Greeks and Romans. The Persians adopted it 
from the Medes, the Grecians from the Persians. In 
Rome, persons of distinction were buried in gardens or 
fields near the public roads. Their monuments were de- 
corated with chaplets and palms, and garlands of flowers. 
The tomb of Archilles was decorated with amaranth ; the 
urn ofPhilopcea was covered with chaplets ; the grave of 
Sophoeels with roses and ivy; — that of Anacreon with 
ivy and flowerets. Baskets of lilies, vi flets and roses, 
were placed in the graves of husbands and wives — white 
roses on unmarried females. In Java the inhabitants 
scatter flowers over the bodies of the friends; in China, 
the custom ot planting flowers on the graves of their 
friends is of very ancient date, and still prevails. 
In Tripoli, the tombs are decorated with garlands of 
roses, of Arabia jasmine, any orange and myrtle flowers. 
In Schwytz, a village in Switzerland, there is a beautiful 
little church in which almost every grave is covered with 
pinks. In the elegant church yard in Wirfin, in the val- 
ley of Salza in Germany, the graves are covered with ob- 
long boxes, which are planted with perrennial shrubs, or 
renewed with annual flowers and others are so dressed on 
Jete days. Suspended from the ornaments of recent graves 
are little vases filled with water, in which the flowers are 
preserved fresh. Children are often seen dressing the 
.graves of their mothers, and mothers wreathing garlands 
for their ehildren. . 
A late traveller, on going, early in the morning, into 
one of the grave-yards in the village of Wirfin, saw six or 
seven persons decorating the graves of their friends, and 
on some who had been buried twenty years. This custom 
also prevails in Scotland and North and South Wales. An 
epitaph there says : 
“The village maidens to her grave shall bring 
The fragrant garland, each returning spring ; 
Selected sweets ! in emblem of the maid. 
Who underneath this hallowed turf is laid.” 
In Wales, children have snow-drops, primroses, violets, 
hazel-bloom, and willow blossoms on their graves. Per- 
sons of mature years have tansy, box, ivy and rue. In 
South Wales, no flowers or evergreens are permitted to be 
planted on graves but those which are sweet scented. 
Pinks, polyanthus, sweet-williams, gilly flowers, carna- 
tions, mignonette, thyme, hyssop, cammomile and rose- 
mary are used. 
In Capul, burying-grounds are held in veneration, and 
were called cities of the silent. The Jews called them 
houses of the dead. The Egyptians visited the graves of 
their friends twice a week, and strewed sweet basil on 
them and do so to this day. 
While the custom of decorating graves and grave- yards 
with flowers and ornamental trees and shrubs has prevail 
^d so long and extensively among ancient and civilized 
nations, some of the American aboriginies will not per- 
mit a weed or blade of grass, nor any other vegetable, to 
.grow upon the grave of their friends. 
A fool in a high situation is like a man on top of a 
monument — everybody appears small to him, and he ap- 
pears small to everybody. 
EIGHTNING — CHEAP CONDUCTING RODS, &c. 
A CORRESPONDENT of “ The Country Gentlemanf 
says : 
“Numerous experiments have been made, that fully 
prove our earth’s atmosphere to be filled with electricity. 
Kites, vertical metalic rods, and other appliances, are used 
to conduct the fluid silently and harmlessly to the ground, 
when found in a normal and quiet condition. It is only 
when disturbed by currents and counter- currents of wind 
and rain, that it becomes alarming or dangerous. When 
the fluid is forced into collections of greater or less ca- 
pacity, by the wind, and surrounded by dense clouds 
saturated with water, which is a powerful conducting 
medium, we see some of the most brilliant, beautiful and 
marvelous phenomena to be met with in the whole study 
of the physical sciences. The sudden transit of the vivid 
flash from cloud to cloud, and the reverberating echo of 
the rolling thunder when at a distance, ottly inspire us 
with admiration and wonder, without exciting our fears. 
But when the sweeping storm approaches our dwellings, 
agitating and tossing the electricity of the air into a fear- 
ful state of excitement, and lighting up the whole heavens 
with electric fires, and the close proximity of the crash 
of appalling thunder warns man to seek a place of safety, 
he shows his total ignorance of the facts and laws of elec- 
tricity, who betakes himself to the very place where 
danger is most impending. If taught in our elementary 
schools, and made familiar by articles and discussions in 
our family newspapers — no person would, in case of a 
thunder storm, take shelter under a high tree, or sit near 
the fire-place, or an open door or window, or in contact 
with the bell wire ; but would seat himself in the middle 
of the room, as far from the chimney as possible, and at a 
point the greatest distance from the highest point of the 
building. 
“ If a rain cloud, surcharged with electricity, is forced 
down low enough to come in contact with any obstacle, 
as a tree, a house, or a bam, the whole volume of electric 
fluid is let loose, and its gigantic and terrific fury is seen 
upon everything in its path to the earth. Therefore, in 
order to protect eur houses perfectly, there should be no 
high point left without a conductor. It is a mistake to 
consider a house with two or more chimneys, safely pro- 
tected with one rod. Each chimney, observatory, or high 
point of any building should have a conductor extending 
up, an invitation to any surplus accumulation to pass 
silently down, or when at times the whole mass is stirred 
up to madness by the raging tempest, to be ready to catch 
the death dealing bolt and conduct it safely to the ground. 
Persons feeling unable to purchase as many conductors 
as they need at five or ten dollars a piece, can supply 
themselves at from fifty cents to one dollar each, that will 
be fully equal if not better than those hawked about the 
country by peddlers, who are making fortunes at the ex- 
pense of farmers and others, who are not aware of the 
fiict that soft iron wire m one continuous length, is a much 
safer conductor than even a larger rod put together in dif- 
ferent lengths by links or screews. The cheapest and 
perfectly safe conductors, are made from 1-4 inch wire, 
that costs less than half a cent per foot. Sharpen one end 
with a file, and allow it to project three feet above the 
chimney or highest point of the building, and fasten it 
securely with staples around glass cr bone insulators. 
Let the lower end terminate in the well or cess-pool if 
possible ; if neither are convenient, dig down until it will 
always rest in damp earth, pointing out from the building. 
The cheapest and strongest insulators are made by saw- 
ing off, at proper lengths, the leg bone of a sheep, or other 
animal of suitable size.” 
