1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRIOIJLTURIST. 
431 
Trades for the Boys. 
Not long ago a New York acquaintance of 
ours inserted a four line advertisement in one 
of the dailies for a Book-keeper. He received 
responses from six hundred and seventy-three 
applicants, nearly all of whom asked for very 
moderate wages, much less than he was will¬ 
ing and expected to pay. Recently we had oc¬ 
casion to advertise for three employes for the 
business department of the American Agricul¬ 
turist, and ever since we have been fairly del¬ 
uged with replies. Were all of these letters 
to be opened, one person would be occupied 
not a little time daily in assorting and an¬ 
swering them. If there be such a condition of 
affairs in the dull summer month of August, 
how large must be the number of fruitless 
seekers for clerical positions during the ac¬ 
tive periods of the year, when so many flock 
to the metropolis in quest of employment. 
Turning now to the trades, we discover that 
there has been a most active demand for men 
in every branch. Superintendents and mas¬ 
ters tell us that, owing to the large number of 
buildings going up, they have been unable to 
secure a sufficient supply of good workmen. 
The erection of many structures has been 
postponed owing to this scarcity of skilled 
artisans, and the latter have been able to 
almost command their own terms. Plumbers 
and masons have received and continue to 
receive two, three, four, and even five times 
as much per week for their services as ordi¬ 
nary clerical labor receives. While the lat¬ 
ter goes begging, mechanical skill is far above 
premium. 
This seemingly unnatural condition of af¬ 
fairs is not due to any unexpected demand 
for artisans, but to the growing ambition of 
both parents and sons to have the latter 
“ rise” in the world, to be somebody, as it is 
termed. Youths merging into manhood de¬ 
sire to wear store clothes rather than outfits 
of the workshop. They do not wish to 
handle the hammer, saw, trowel, and other 
tools as their fathers did, and the fathers 
share in their feelings. And so the work of 
crowding clerical channels goes on until now 
many thousands of men in New York alone 
bitterly regret that they did not learn some 
trade, which would always have commanded 
them work and good wages, and have made 
them independent and not subject to the 
fluctuating fortunes of this or that business 
house where they may be employed. 
The pulpit and the press cannot engage in 
a better work than in combating these false 
ideas as to the nobility of manual labor. In 
a comparatively young and wonderfully 
growing country like our own, the artisan, 
like the farmer, is and will continue to be a 
most important factor; and we have heard 
no more wise and sagacious remark than that 
recently made in our hearing by a very 
wealthy father, viz., that he was going to 
have all his sons learn a trade of some kind, 
so that they should have something to fall 
back upon, in case misfortune or adversity 
ever overtook them in the business which he 
should leave them. 
ored to be faithful, it is, to warn people that 
Paris Green and London Purple, while they 
will kill Potato Bugs, are equally deadly to all 
other forms of animal life, including man, 
and our caution has been repeated again and 
again. 
Never Too Late. 
Whatever adversity may have overtaken 
him, or whatever unfortunate habit may have 
fastened upon him, no one is too old to take a 
fresh start, and again make a man of him¬ 
self. To all such as are deterred from mak¬ 
ing further efforts against fate, by the feel¬ 
ing that they are too far advanced in life, we 
would recommend a perusal of Samuel Smiles’ 
writings, as proof of what will and determina¬ 
tion can accomplish at any age of life. Benj. 
Franklin was fifty before he fully entered 
upon the study of natural philosophy. Dry- 
den and Scott were not known as authors 
until each was in his fiftieth year. Dr. 
Arnold learned German at an advanced age, 
for the purpose of reading Niebuhr in the 
original. Handel was forty-eight before he 
published any of his great works. Alfiere 
was forty-six years old before he began the 
study of Greek. James Watt, when between 
forty and fifty, while working at his trade of 
an instrument maker, in Glasgow, learned 
French, German, and Italian, to enable him 
to peruse the valuable works on mechanical 
philosophy, which existed in those languages. 
In his old age Robert Hall became desirous 
of accurately judging of the parallel drawn 
by Macaulay between Milton and Dante. He 
accordingly proceeded to learn the Italian 
language. 
The Care of the Feet. 
What a vast amount of human suffering 
might be prevented did parents properly care 
for the feet of their children. We do not now 
refer to the matter of cleanliness, too often 
disregarded, but to those points which affect 
the development of the feet, and directly 
concern the future comfort of the individual. 
Fortunately the days in which the foot was 
squeezed into the smallest possible shoe, or 
boot, have gone by. But life-long trouble 
may result from wearing shoes that are too 
large. When a shoe fits badly, and there is 
with every step a constant concussion or rub¬ 
bing, the skin thickens at that point. At 
first this trouble may belong only to the sur¬ 
face skin or cuticle, but after a time the true 
skin is affected, and in some cases even the 
muscles may become involved, and painfully 
diseased. "These troubles, when small, are 
called corns, when larger and on the ball of 
the great toe, “Bunions,” and on the heel, 
“Ribes.” All have the same origin, an un¬ 
due, long continued local pressure, and are 
all of the same nature, being an attempt to 
resist this pressure by a thickening and hard¬ 
ening of the skin, while the parts below be¬ 
come exceedingly sensitive and painful. 
Corns of whatever kind may result from a 
pressure of too tight a shoe, or the frequent 
rubbing of one that is too loose. 'Young 
people should always have well fitting shoes, 
and if they wear woollen stockings all the 
time, they will be more likely to escape corns 
than with cotton ones. 
To cure corns, the first thing to be done is 
to remove the cause ; that is, avoid the pres¬ 
sure. So long as the irritating pressure 
exists, application of plasters, etc., will be 
of little service. A different shoe, one that 
does not touch and rub the part, will often 
effect a cure. A thick buck-skin, with a hole 
cut to admit the com, and distribute the 
pressure to the surface around it will often 
afford relief. In a corn, not only is the skin 
unnaturally thickened, but the flesh below is 
irritated and sensitive, hence any remedy must 
first be directed to the removal of the hard¬ 
ened skin, which may be done with a razor, 
taking care always to not cut too deep. Some 
corns extend downward, like a peg, pressing 
upon the tissues below ; these are excessively 
painful, and may give rise to serious ulcers. 
In every city and large town there are skilled 
chiropodists, and where a respectable one is 
at hand, it is better in such cases to con¬ 
sult him. But avoidance is better than any 
of the many remedies, none of which can 
be effective so long as the cause remains. 
Soft corns between the toes are often dis¬ 
tressingly painful. These are also produced 
by undue pressure, or by friction due to 
badly fitting shoes ; they are kept moist by 
prespiration, and are usually very sensitive. 
They are often cured by simply wearing a 
plug of cotton wool between the toes, which, 
by relieving the pressure, removes the cause, 
and the cure takes place. Benefit is said 
to result from wetting the cotton with Tinc¬ 
ture of Arnica, or in Spirits of Turpentine, 
but having found the cotton alone efficacious, 
we have not tried either. 
A corn upon the sole of the foot sometimes 
occurs. To cure this, wear a large shoe or 
boot in which is placed an insole of binder’s 
board, thick paste-board, in which is to be 
cut a hole, properly large, just where the 
corn touches. This distributes the weight 
over the whole sole and relieves the pressure. 
Children, especially boys, often suffer 
greatly from chilblains. In their fondness 
for winter sports, especially skating, children, 
if their feet are not actually frozen, let them 
get very cold. While the feet are very cold, 
they go suddenly to the fire and warm them. 
The consequence is a derangement of the 
circulation in the feet, and a painful itching 
and burning, which are apt to return when¬ 
ever the feet become cool, and are afterwards 
warmed. In cases where the system is not 
in good condition, chilblains may become 
very troublesome, and require the care of a 
physician. It is said that kerosene is very 
efficacious in relieving the pain from ordinary 
chilblains. We have found relief in the use 
of a wash of one part of Muriatic Acid in 
seven parts of Water, but that was before 
kerosene came into common use. 
The nails of the toes should be properly 
trimmed at frequent intervals. Young peo¬ 
ple are apt to overlook this, and by neglect 
the nails, upon great toes especially, get a 
curvature inwards that may cause great 
trouble in after life. Where the nails 
get this curvature, a tendency of the edges 
to curve inwards and to form a cylinder, 
they cause one of the most painful affections 
possible. This trouble often results from too 
short a shoe, and allowing the nail to grow 
too long. Where the trouble is slight, the cut¬ 
ting of the nail deeper at the center than at 
the corners will relieve it. If the nail is very 
thick and hard, it should be scraped in the 
center by means of a piece of broken glass, 
and, when thin enough, the comers may be 
lifted and a bit of cotton or lint put under 
each comer. 
Poison—Potato ling's — Poultry.— 
A correspondent in Stark Co., Ill., thinks 
that we should caution our readers as to the 
use of poison on potato vines. He used Lon¬ 
don Purple to kill Potato Bugs; he suc¬ 
ceeded in killing nine young turkeys. If 
there is one thing in which we have endeav¬ 
The Suggestions on this page are worthy to be Framed and kept for Daily Reference. 
