64 
[February, 
AMERICAN AGRIC(JLTURIST. 
ratum , in some instances successfully ; but in the 
offspring neither L. spcciosum, their grandfather, 
nor L. auratum , their father, had produced any ef¬ 
fect whatever on the pure white of their petals ; 
yet the anthers had been affected, taking a choco¬ 
late tinge from the father; and as before many of 
the flowers were imperfect. Some of the best of 
these flowers were now tried in the third genera¬ 
tion, with pollen both of L. auratum and L. specio- 
sum ; but not one would bear seed. 
Moreover our American Lilium superbum was fer¬ 
tilized, under every precaution, with the pollen of 
six foreign species; seeds were abundantly pro¬ 
duced in some instances, though in many the pods 
contained only chaff ; several hundred bulbs were 
raised, but when these came to bloom, not a single 
flower of them all was distinguishable from that o£ 
the pure L. superbum. Nor in this case was there 
any mark of the male parent to be found In the 
stem, or leaves, or bulbs. All this is very curious 
indeed. We knew that offspring might take a great 
deal more after one parent than the other. But 
that the female sex should be so prepotent in 
Lilies, is a quite unexpected result. That in so 
many cases the influence of the male parent 
should be imperceptible is most wonderful. 
83?“ For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Light in the Dwelling. 
One need not be very old to recollect when kero¬ 
sene, or some other product of petroleum, or coal, 
was first introduced. What a blessing it has been ! 
Formerly one of the attractions of city or town life, 
was the.ability to use gas, but now the humblest 
farm-house may be quite as brilliantly, and more 
pleasantly lighted than the most costly city dwell¬ 
ing. The blessing is so general, and so much a 
mattef of course, that we hardly appreciate it, but 
let us put aside our lamps and use the tallow dips, 
or even the lard-oil lamps, or the “ star,” or other 
candles, for one evening, and we shall be very un¬ 
willing to return to them. Even the commonest 
kerosene lamps are a great improvement upon any 
mode of lighting that had gone before, and the 
great benefits of kerosene—which we use as a 
general term for the best illuminating oil—were to 
the farmers, and their families, rather than to those 
who lived in towns large enough to sustain gas 
works. With the brilliant light now at command, 
the evening is made much more valuable to the 
farmer and his family. Aside from the general in¬ 
crease of cheerfulness which abundant light brings, 
reading and study can go on quite as well—in fact, 
better than in day time—for in the, day, an active 
person feels that he should be out, and astir ; the 
evening seems the proper time for study, and our 
present light is a great help. When we have a good 
thing we like to tell others of it, and seven years 
ago this month, we described and figured (Feb., 
1871) the “ German Student Lamp.” We had been 
temporarily residing in the city, and though the 
house was supplied with gas, we used this lamp 
with kerosene in our study, as being in every re¬ 
spect, including cheapness, greatly superior to gas. 
The article was written after two or three years’ use 
of the lamp in the country, and having that, we did 
not feel auy inconvenience from the absence of gas. 
While the “ German Student Lamp ” seemed nearly 
perfect, there were some inconveniences attending 
it, especially in the device for raising and lowering 
the wick—which sometimes would work, and at 
other times would not. The mechauical arrange¬ 
ment for this purpose was crude and imperfect, and 
that was the only fault in a lamp that gave a light 
for study use, far superior to any gas-burner we 
ever met with. Recently we have been using the 
“Cleveland Safety Library Lamp,” made by the 
“Cleveland (Ohio) Non-Explosive Lamp Company,” 
and we can apply all our commendations of the 
“German Student Lamp” to this—and a little 
more besides. The difficulty we fouud with the 
otherlamp—the management of the wick—has been 
completely removed in this. The mechanical ar¬ 
rangement for controlling the flame is perfect in its 
working, and the amount of light is easily and cer¬ 
tainly adjusted. The lamp, of which an engraving 
is here given, has the same general appearance of 
the “German Student,” but the oil reservoir is much 
larger, and less frequent filling is required. All the 
metal-work is nickel-plated, thus insuring an ele¬ 
gant appearance, and ease of keeping it in order. 
The “ Cleveland Non-Explosive Lamp Company,” 
who make this lamp, apply to the fount which 
holds the oil, as they do to all other lamps made by 
them, a safety guard of wire gauze, to prevent ex¬ 
plosions in case unsafe oil is used. While it is well 
enough to have this, absolutely safe oil is now so 
easily to be procured that we can not advise the 
burning of any other in any lamp. If there is 
any lamp for burning kerosene that will give a 
more satisfactory light than this “Library Lamp,” 
we should be very glad to make its acquaintance. 
--mix®. --— 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Putting Children to Bed. 
Ten years ago an old friend told me that her ba¬ 
bies had cried more over going to sleep at night, or 
taking their daily naps, than about all their other 
troubles put together. She said this after express¬ 
ing surprise at the cheerful way in which my year- 
and-a-half-old boy went up stairs for a nap, and the 
quickness with which I returned to the parlor. 
Possibly she followed too strictly advice often 
given in print to mothers, something like this : 
“ Have a regular hour for the child’s nap, or for its 
bed time, and when that hour comes, put it in its 
little crib and leave it there to go to sleep without 
further attention.” Bad advice, I think. 
Being of a tender heart, my friend more likely 
rocked or soothed it to sleep herself, but the at¬ 
tempt to establish regularity may have been very 
trying to both mother and child. I came very near 
carrying this thing too far myself. Regular habits, 
for children of all growths, are an excellent thing 
in most respects, but their formation should be 
coaxed rather than forced, and many times “ the 
play is not worth the candle.” 
I thought I must train my first baby to good and 
regular habits. It would be convenient for me, 
and wholesome for him, if he would go to bed for 
the night as early as six o’clock, and several times 
I labored with him two or three hours, in the vain 
endeavor to make a wide-awake baby go to sleep. 
A more experienced neighbor taught me better. 
She remarked, “ Perhaps you never can teach that 
child to go to sleep alone in his crib. I would 
not try too hard.”—“But,” I said, “Mrs. Brown’s 
baby goes to sleep in that way, and always has done 
so.”—“All babies are not alike,” she said smilingly, 
“as I have good reason to know.”—She went on to 
tell me some of her own experience. She supposed 
that babies must be rocked to sleep, unless they 
went to sleep while nursing, until she happened 
once to lay her first child, six weeks old, upon the 
bed, just as she had put on its night-gown, being 
suddenly called away to wait upon a neighbor at the 
door. When she came back to the baby, to her as¬ 
tonishment and admiration, the little thing was fast 
asleep. Next night she put it in bed awake, and it 
fell asleep without resistence, and always thereafter 
did the same, never disturbed unless there was loud 
talking in the room. This was so charming, the 
mother thought she would have her next little 
daughter behave in the same way. But no amount 
of coaxing or perseverance could reconcile daughter 
number two to being put to bed awake. 
Danger ill Trying Too Hard. 
Night after night the poor baby screamed and 
sobbed itself to sleep, almost breaking the heart of 
its loving and conscientious mother : at the end of 
a week of such agony, being no more inclined to 
yield than at first. Then the mother concluded 
that she had mistaken the path of duty, and gave 
up the contest, fearing a lasting injury to the dar¬ 
ling’s health from such excessive excitement. 
“ Did she conquer you ? ” I asked.—“ I feared 60 
at the time,” replied the mother, “ but there is not 
a more obedient child, or a better girl in the world 
than my Daisy.”—I believed her. But, since then, 
our gentle, conscientious Daisy, in her early woman¬ 
hood, has suffered from long and dangerous illness, 
followed by aperiod of distressing mental weakness 
and aberration, which was, I have no doubt, con¬ 
nected in the child’s vital or nervous history with 
that week of protracted and severe mental excite¬ 
ment in her baby-hood. Other similar cases have 
come within my knowledge. We do not know how 
many of the brightest and best minds have suffered 
great injury from the conscientious endeavors of 
their own loving mothers, to train them up in the 
way they should go. I have heard of one baby who 
froze its hand one winter night, though it had pre¬ 
viously screamed long and loud, because it was an 
inflexible rule of its parents, not to go near it after 
it was once tucked up warm for the night in its 
crib. Mrs. Stowe tells of a baby that pulled the 
pillow over its face and smothered itself to death, 
when crying itself to sleep alone. 
Going to Bed vvlien .Sleepy. 
I have had little difficulty with the bed-time busi¬ 
ness. The little ones go to bed when they get 
sleepy, and as there is usually an early breakfast to 
which they like to get up, they are sleepy early in 
the evening. The bed feels good to a sleepy child, 
unless mere sleepiness has degenerated into cross¬ 
ness. If a child is half sick as well as sleepy, it 
probably wants its mother’s arms. If little ones 
are taken arbitrarily away from their playthings or 
pleasures because “ it is bed-time,” they learn to 
regard bed-time as a natural enemy. As a little 
one’s bed-time draws near, the elder members of 
the family should be considerate, and not propose 
or introduce new amusements or pleasures, which 
it will be hard for the little ones to leave. If any¬ 
thing that would have interested the little one hap¬ 
pens after it has gone to sleep, it ought not to be 
mentioned afterward in a way to make the child 
feel that it has lost something by going to bed early. 
Last night, for a wonder, my youngest boy went 
to bed crying, because he wanted to sit up and see 
papa. He is seldom awake when his father comes 
from his work at about seven in the evening, and 
until quite lately he supposed that papa was only at 
home a little while in the morning. He was so 
sleepy he could not keep awake, and finally con¬ 
sented, with tears, to go to bed as usual—only usu¬ 
ally he says after a yawn, putting his hand in mine, 
“ I guess 1 had better go to bed now.” I had only 
just kissed him and wiped away his tears, when I 
went to the door and saw “ papa ” coming. I stood 
there until he came in, and whispered to him to 
kiss the little one if he was awake enough to notice 
him, but not to wake him more with play or talk. 
Behold, the child was already asleep, and then I 
cautioned all not ti tell the baby boy that his papa, 
came as soon as he had gone to bed lest, he should 
