Give the Boys a Chance. 
A boy fourteen years old wrote us that, 
wanting a little money that should be all 
his own, he bought a pig last spring with 
his saved-up pennies, and managed to buy 
enough mill feed to keep it growing all sum¬ 
mer, and last fall he earned the corn to fat¬ 
ten it by husking nights for every eighth 
bushel. He sold the pig for $20, and his fath¬ 
er took the money, saying the boy had no 
use for it and that he would give him anoth¬ 
er pig in the spring. The boy asked if that 
was right. We wish we could say “No !” 
loud enough so that every father in Amer¬ 
ica could hear. Legally, no doubt, the fath¬ 
er had a right to the money; but morally 
he had no more right to it than he would 
have to any other boy’s money. That boy 
had worked full hours for his father, and 
had taken time from his sleep to earn the 
•orn that made that pig, and in the sight of 
an honest God it was theft for that father 
to take the money. Not only this, but the 
father who would so treat his boy is as near¬ 
ly a fool as would be he who should give a 
young colt its first lesson in harness hitched 
to a stump or an immovable load. A few 
such lessons crush the ambition all out of 
a boy or colt either, and while no one Jso 
treats an animal, the country is full of such 
examples with the boys. We know a hun¬ 
dred such fathers. They seem to think that 
the boys have no rights that they are bound 
to respect; that the entire end and aim of 
boyhood is to add a few dollars to their 
wealth, and when the boys, utterly disgust¬ 
ed, leave home, they wonder why their 
boys take no interest in the farm. 
Fathers, this is all wrong. Those boys 
are given you to fashion into men. One 
full grown, honest, intelligent man is worth 
more to the country, and should be to the 
father, than the whole farm. Your whole 
study should be not how to squeeze a few 
more dollars out of the boys, and to this 
end, dwarf them mentally and destroy their 
ambition, but, how can you make them 
more thoughtful, more ambitious and more 
intelligent than yourselves. Nothing pays 
better than to encourage the boys—except 
to teach them honesty—and this you can¬ 
not do by defrauding them, and nothing so 
encourages one to thought and care in his 
work as a pecuniary interest. Don’t fail, 
therefore, to give the boys a direct interest 
in something on the farm, and then see to 
it, as you would prize their integrity, that 
you deal honestly by them in divining the 
profits. With how much more complacency 
will you leave, when you come to die, a 
full grown, prosperous man—your son, than 
a paltry bank account. Deal justly, deal 
liberally, deal encouragingly with the boys. 
—Rural New Yorker. 
How I Raise Early Celery and 
Keep it till Spring. 
An experienced gardener, of Detroit, 
Michigan, gives some valuable experience: 
I sow my seed in hot-beds about the first 
of March. The bed must be in good con¬ 
dition, that the seed may germinate quick¬ 
ly, for celery seed takes thirty days, gen¬ 
erally, in open ground to germinate. Seed 
must not be sown too thickly, as the plants 
should be stocky. I have tried to ger¬ 
minate the seeds by keeping them moist 
and warm before the first of March, but 
I found the above date safest, for if sown 
earlier, there is danger of the celery run¬ 
ning to seed. About the 15th to 20th of 
May, if the ground is in order and the 
weather suits, plant out in ditches six inch¬ 
es deep, on the richest spot you have. The 
only thing wanted to grow celery success¬ 
fully is plenty of cow or hog manure and 
moist land. The soil must be good down 
to at least twelve inches. About the 1st 
of July we commence to bank up, slowly, 
if dry; if moist, draw up as high as you 
can; if really dry weather, so that the soil 
is too dry to stick if drawn up to the plants, 
I use foot-boards sixteen feet long, pressed 
on each side against the celery, and sticks 
driven in to keep in place. This mode 
bleaches the celery best, but if soil is used, 
the stocks or heads are a great deal heavier. 
I have tried to keep celery in the following 
way and have kept it till spring. Pitted in 
hot-beds the same as if pitted in the old 
fashion. After the bed is filled, the sash is 
put on; give air once or twice a week; if 
so cold that the boards are not sufficient, 
straw or mats can be put on. Looked after 
in this way, it can be kept till spring.— 
Practical Fanner. 
