LADIES DEPARTMENT. 
257 
Cabins’ JDqjartmmt. 
RURAL PASTIMES, BY SOCIAL LABOR. 
No. 1. 
A few clays ago, iny dear kind unde, the “ Old 
Pennsylvania Farmer,” who “ weeds on both sides 
of the fence,” told.me he wanted to fulfil his pro¬ 
mise to the readers of the Agriculturist, to tell their 
wives and daughters what a Bee is; but just as he 
was setting himself to write (a pretty serious af¬ 
fair with him), he found both the Canada thistle, 
and the blue devils in several fields, about a mile 
from home; and as the owners would not attend 
to it, he must go to work with his weeding-chisel, 
instead of his pen. He seemed so troubled and 
puzzled about it, that I offered to relieve him. After 
reading to him what I had written, he said it would 
do famously, and that he thought it quite as good 
as if he had done it himself. So, with his appro¬ 
bation, I send for the Ladies’ Department, the fol¬ 
lowing account of the 
True Yankee Working-Bee.'- —The first I ever 
saw was in a wood, near a fine spring of water, 
where a stout-hearted young Vermonter and his 
pretty loving wife had lived during the summer, in 
a hastily-built shanty, but now wanted a more com¬ 
fortable protection from the cold and storms of the 
approaching winter. He therefore felled as many 
trees as he thought would be wanted; and his kind 
neighbors, for many a mile around, came and offer¬ 
ed their services to help him cut the logs, and put 
up his house. They assembled at the spring, in 
the dawn of a bright summer’s day, old and young, 
numbering about five and twenty, each depositing 
his dinner-basket in the shanty, and went to work 
with such good-will, that before night they had the 
satisfaction of moving the goods and chattels, few 
enough to be sure, into the good-sized house, leav¬ 
ing the finishing and beautifying of the interior to 
be completed by him and his thrifty wife, as time 
and opportunity might serve. 
It seemed as if the spirit of good feeling and the 
love of fun had taken deep root among these peo¬ 
ple, for nothing could be done without a Bee. A 
dozen or more men, from as many different farms, 
agreed to work together for each other during the 
summer and autumn ; they reaped, mowed, plowed 
out potatoes, and husked corn, for one to-day, 
who in turn on the morrow lent his strong hand 
to help some one else; nor are the men alone in 
their love for this kind of social labor ; their wives 
have also their own means of enjoyment, “taking 
comfort,” as they call it. For instance, when, by 
the diligent use of all her spare minutes, a woman 
has succeeded in finishing a neat patch-work bed 
spread, made of the odds and ends of pretty calico, 
saved from her gowns and the children’s frocks, 
the accumulation and work of years, she waits un¬ 
til the summer work is over, and then indulges 
herself in the long promised quilting-bee. The 
quilting-frame is borrowed, and the neighbors are 
invited, at least a week beforehand; bread and 
cakes are baked, and every nice thing made ready 
for the feast, the day before. The daily work is 
finished as soon as early rising and good manage¬ 
ment will admit of; the dinner is hurried rather too 
quickly for comfort, and before the last touch can 
be put to the arrangements, the guests begin to ar¬ 
rive. The first who come, sew the spread to the 
frame; the next help to stitch and “ lay it out,” 
amid bursts of admiration of its beauties; and loud 
and long are the discussions whether it shall be 
quilted in shells or diamonds, leaves, or feathers. At 
last, all is arranged, and all are accommodated with 
seats around the frame, often, in fine weather, under 
a spreading tree. The willing fingers fly, and veri¬ 
fying the old saying, that, “ many hands make 
quick work;” the quilting proceeds rapidly, enli¬ 
vened by many a merry song and cheerful tale; for 
every patch has a legend of its own ; one recalls a 
wedding, another the christening of the first-born, 
and yet another brings sad memories of the early 
dead, the youngling of the flock, not lost, but gone 
before; and the delicate colored chintz of his first 
frock is worked more neatly than the rest. Sup¬ 
per is soon over, and by eight o’clock the quilt is 
cut from the frame, and held up in triumph to the 
admiring eyes of the men, who now are admitted, 
and allowed to partake of the cakes, apples, and 
cider, before the party breaks up, with perhaps 
half a dozen similar engagements on their hands. 
E. S. 
CHANGE OF COLOR IN HYDRANGEAS. 
To change the color of the beautiful Chinese Hy¬ 
drangea, various expedients are resorted to, and 
among others the following, with complete success: 
—The red-flowering variety can be made to bear 
flowers of a deep blue by being planted in swamp- 
mud, and left in the open ground during the year. 
As far north as Pennsylvania, they bear the winter 
with little or no protection. They delight in a 
marshy situation, and will not thrive in boxes nor 
elsewhere, unless supplied liberally with water. 
Watering with soap-suds twice or three times a 
week, has also made them blue; but the color is 
not clear. The most beautiful shade of blue I have 
known, produced artificially, was on some remark¬ 
ably large plants, that were kept in the spring- 
house, with the branches tied up so as to occupy 
the smallest possible space, and the roots in the 
water in one corner. Here they were preserved 
from frost, and almost in a growing state all winter. 
Early in the spring, they were planted out in the 
shallow streamlet, near the spring-house, and were 
certainly the largest plants, as well as the prettiest 
“ blue hydrangeas” I ever saw. This plan of keep¬ 
ing the roots immersed in water, I by no means re¬ 
commend, though in this instance it answered per¬ 
fectly well; for when I made the experiment with 
one, the roots rotted, and the plant was with diffi¬ 
culty saved from death, by much after care; but 
those taken from the ground and put into boxes 
with a little earth, and kept in the mild humid atmo¬ 
sphere of. the spring-house, were very fine. This 
liability to change color when planted in what may 
be called their natural place of growth, has induced 
the opinion among florists, and with some justice, 
that their original color was blue. The same plants 
may be made to reproduce red flowers by putting 
them in common garden soil, and treating them in 
the usual way. 
Eutawah . E. S, 
