1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
189 
the fence is too low, its hight may be greatly in¬ 
creased by allowing the slats to project above. If 
slats have to be sawed for the purpose, they should 
be of stuff fully half an inch thick, and cut two 
inches wide—or wider if desired. The ordinary 
slats are two and a half or three inches wide, 
and if placed upon the board fence at their own 
width apart, form a very serviceable barrier. 
Thermometers. 
If a thermometer is only to show us the tempera¬ 
ture of the air, whether out-doors or in, it makes 
but little difference how it is mounted, provided it 
is properly secured against accidental breaking. 
But we often wish to have water or other liquid at 
a given temperature ; it is impossible, especially in 
warm weather, to churn properly and not know the 
exact condition of the cream, and other cases are 
occurring in which the thermometer must take a 
part. For these varied uses the old style of ther¬ 
mometer will not answer, on account of the diffi¬ 
culty of properly cleaning it, if for no other reason. 
A quarter of a century ago we used to know in the 
laboratory what was called a “chemical thermome¬ 
ter,” a costly instrument, to be used with special 
care not to break it. The thermometer, scale and 
all, was completely enclosed in a glass tube ; this 
could be placed in boiling acids and other destruc¬ 
tive liquids, and remain uninjured; a rinsing in 
water perfectly cleansed it and made it ready for 
another use. Within a few years the costly “Chem¬ 
ical Thermometer,” or one of precisely the same 
construction, has been offered for common use at 
an astonishingly low price, and while it can serve 
every purpose of the common thermometer, it may 
be used in many cases in which that can not be, 
and there is no reason why it should not come into 
general use, as it will serve every purpose to which 
~ a thermometer can be put. The engraving 
shows one of these instruments. The bulb 
and tube filled with mercury are as in any 
other thermometer; the graduated scale is 
upon paper, and attached to the tube of the 
thermometer; the whole is then enclosed in 
an exterior glass tube, all save the bulb, which 
is in part or in whole exposed. The outer 
glass tube or case is closed above, and has a 
ring to admit a cord or wire by which to hang 
it up. Those offered for sale, like other 
styles, have a very narrow range, or very long 
one, according to the uses for which they are 
intended. Having watched the makers of 
common thermometers, and knowing how 
many times more difficult it is to make one 
like this, we are utterly at loss to know how 
such an instrument can be made to retail 
for a dollar. Indeed, the Dairy Supply Co. 
sell those for use in the dairy, equally well 
made, but with shorter range, for 75c. Of 
course, common thermometer.-, mounted in 
wood, may be sold for 25c.—but these glass 
encased ones require great skill to make 
them. When the retailer and the importer have had 
their profit, when the duty is paid, and the merchant 
upon the other side gets his profit, we wonder 
how much of the 75c. gets to the poor work¬ 
man, who wears his life away over the blow-pipe. 
The Cultivation of the Quince. 
To judge from our correspondence, there is a 
newly awakened interest in Quince culture. Some 
ask for books upon the subject, and others inquire 
as to the probable profits of a Quince orchard. 
There is not enough to be said on the subject to 
require a special volume ; the standard works on 
fruit culture—Barry’s, Thomas’, Downing’s, etc.— 
each give the needed instructions. We have no 
data from which to give the probable returns from 
an acre in Quinces. The attempts at anything like 
proper cultivation have been comparatively few; 
but, judging from the prolific character of a few 
trees of our own, and the price which really good 
fruit brings in the market, we have no doubt that, 
take a series of years, the Quince will be found 
quite as profitable as any other orchard fruit. 
Quinces bear so well, in spite of bad treatment, that 
it is a popular notion that neglect suits it best. 
This is a great mistake; there is no fruit that re¬ 
sponds more promptly to good culture, and we 
would advise no one to undertake the cultivation 
of quinces unless they intend to cultivate them. 
The land should not be a low, wet, out-of-the-way 
piece, good for nothing else, but such soil as will 
yield good returns of any farm crop, and it should 
be put into good condition by manuring and plow¬ 
ing. There are two methods of training the 
Quince—or, rather, one method, the other being 
the absence of training. It is advised by some to 
allow the tree to grow in a bush form, with several 
stems from one root. The alleged reason for this 
is, that if the borers destroy one stem or trunk, 
there will be others left. The proper method is, to 
grow the Quince in a tree form, with a clean trunk 
and regular head; then the borers can be kept out, 
or killed if they ever get in, a matter well nigh im¬ 
possible when each tree presents a thicket of stems. 
It is true that it is some 
trouble to form a head, 
but it has to be done 
but once, and the ad¬ 
vantages warrant it. 
The soil being well pre¬ 
pared, set the trees at 
12 feet apart. The first 
step in forming a head 
is to get a stout stem. 
If the young trees are 
weak, it will be better 
to cut them back severe¬ 
ly and secure a new 
growth. The object 
should be to get a 
strong stem, at least an 
inch in diameter, upon 
which to form a head. 
If the stem is weak, 
give it a stake. Look 
out for borers, the 
presence of which is 
readily detected, as the 
bark is so smooth. Al¬ 
low no suckers to grow. 
As to varieties: the 
best known and most 
generally cultivated is 
the Orange, also called the Apple Quince. The 
Pear-shaped Quince is preferred in some markets, 
but it is not so good a bearer. Rea’s Seedling has 
been very satisfactory with us; it is a fine large 
fruit, and the tree bears well. A quite new variety, 
the Champion, which originated in Connnecticut, 
promises to be valuable and worthy of consideration. 
XW° For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
What Exercise do Your Boys and Girls 
Take. 
There are Gadgrinds of both sexes who may say 
that “ my boys get enough exercise in doing the 
chores all the year, and as soon as spring opens 
they can get it behind the plow and harrow, or, later, 
in the hay and harvest fields ; they are tired enough 
with the exercise of their work.” As to the girls, 
it may be said: “ The daily routine of the house, 
the sweeping and dusting, the table setting, and the 
dish-washing, give a plenty of exercise ; but if they 
need any more they can help on washing days, and 
find a use for all their strength.”—We would not 
say that the ideas implied in these answers are 
the rule, but that it is far too generally the case 
that mere work is looked upon as exercise, and 
that it will at all answer for or accomplish the pur¬ 
pose of exercise as recreation. For exercise to be 
beneficial it must not only be of a kind unlike 
the usual daily occupation, but it must have the 
co-operation of the mind. Mere muscular move¬ 
ment, that is not work, but made solely for exer¬ 
cise, without engaging the mind also, is of very 
little use. Many years ago the writer lived in the 
city, and in that portion of it where there were 
numerous (and very high-priced) schools for young 
ladies. In these schools a part of the regular pro¬ 
gramme was the morning and afternoon walk. 
These girls went out in pairs, the youngest in front 
and marshalled by two or more teachers. One 
teacher at the “ head of the column ” regulated 
the pace, the other at the rear kept an eye on all in 
front of her. To see these poor girls, each pair at a 
stated distance from the pair in front, and fated to 
look at their shoulders—for looking to the right or 
left would be seen by the “rearguard” and re¬ 
ported at headquarters ; to watch them as they 
moved along at a snail’s pace—the pace gov¬ 
erned by that of the smallest child—up one street 
and down the other, and back home—this done 
morning and evening, day in and day out—seemed 
to us a most melancholy burlesque upon exercise, 
and was probably as near the real thing as the 
mental cramming which the poor girls received did 
to education. If those girls could have had only a 
city back-yard where they could have taken exer¬ 
cise as they pleased —without the horrid formality of 
these walks—what a difference. We hold that ex¬ 
ercise is of little value that works the body and 
neglects the mind. The side-walk promenades re¬ 
ferred to presented only so many squares to be 
walked around. Suppose that the same distance 
had been accomplished in the country, with at the 
end a locality where Bluets, wild Violets and 
Spring Beauty could be gathered ! It being ad¬ 
mitted that the mind shall be concerned as well as 
the body, if we would have useful exercise, the 
question presents itself how can this be best ac¬ 
complished. The utility of rambles, with flowers as 
the object, has been alluded to, and other branches 
of natural history offer the same advantages. But 
it is desirable to have exercise and recreation nearer 
home; something that requires little or no prepa^ 
ration, and at the same time something in which 
the boys and girls (both old and young), and those 
of the neighbors, too, if need be, may join. It was 
because it offered all these that Croquet acquired its 
popularity so suddenly, and retained it so long. It 
not only is a social exercise, but, in requiring some 
skill, occupied the mind in the endeavor to accom¬ 
plish something—to get the better of the opposite 
players. But, like all good things, Croquet has had 
its day, and there is a desire for something new. In 
England, the leading out-door games, besides Cro¬ 
quet, are Lawn Tennis and Archery. Lawn Tennis, 
probably for the reason that it requires consider¬ 
able preparation and some one who knows the laws 
of the game to instruct others, seems to have taken 
very little foothold in this country. Archery, on 
the other hand, is yearly increasing in popularity. 
As affording exercise for both body and mind—as 
being a social game, admitting of any number of 
participants—as a home game, one that is possible 
on the lawn, or elsewhere close at hand—as a game 
AN ARCHERY PARTY. 
