378 
boys’ department. 
flowers in every poor man’s path, to elevate his 
thoughts above the mere necessities of life ; and so 
I suppose felt a great awkward, shame-faced boy, 
who, with cheeks crimsoned by health and modesty, 
made his way rather unceremoniously through the 
crowd, and presented, in a common red flower-pot, 
a fine, healthy young rose-bush, covered with buds 
and flowers just bursting into bloom, saying in a 
clear, joyous tone, “ these, Mrs. * * *, is the cutting 
you gave me the first day you came to live here. 
Didn’t it grow nice ?” Need I say how different was 
the smile that greeted this gift of the heart, as it 
was passed from one to another for the tribute of 
praise, and then placed in the sunny window ? 
The remembrance of these donation visits long 
remains to cheer the heart of the good man whose 
life is spent in going about doing good in this hum- 
.ble sphere of a country clergyman, and if he cannot 
command the delights of highly intellectual society, 
he has at least the comforts of rational conversation, 
and social enjoyments, such as these, which like 
sunbeams play among the clouds of his life of 
trials. E. S. 
Eutawah. 
TO COOK SEAKALE. 
After being well washed, tie it in small bun¬ 
dles for the convenience of taking up, and drop it 
into a saucepan of boiling water, in which a little 
salt, according to taste, has been dissolved. Keep 
it boiling. In about 25 minutes it will be done 
enough, which may be known by trying it with a 
fork. Sir Humphrey Davy tells us that the reason 
why vegetables and fish should be plunged into boil¬ 
ing salt and water, is, that this solution boils at a 
higher temperature than fresh water; and that the 
sudden scalding fixes the albumen, mucilage, and 
other nutritive parts of the viand, instead of their 
being macerated and sodden, and so partly lost in 
lukewarm water. The most economical mode of 
serving seak'ale is to lay it in a vegetable dish with 
a strainer at the bottom, and to send up in a small 
tureen any sauce that may be desired at the same 
time. The usual way is to lay it on sippets of 
toasted bread, and pour over it some white sauce, 
or melted butter made with milk instead of water. 
Marrying.— {C If ever you marry,” said an 
uncle, “ let it be to a woman who has judgment 
enough to superintend the work of her house; 
taste enough to dress herself ; pride enough to wash 
herself before breakfast; and sense enough to hold 
her tongue when she has nothing to say.” 
Bogs’ 0rpariment* 
GOOD ADVICE TO BOYS. 
Well, boys, another year is drawing to a close, 
and it is important that you IoqJc back and see what 
has been done the season past and what you are 
to do before hard winter sets in. Have you kept 
any account of the crops you have raised, the ani¬ 
mals you have reared, or of any of the experiments 
you have tried upon your fathers’ farms ? If you 
have read attentively all that has been printed for 
your benefit in the Agriculturist, and heeded it, you 
have learned a good deal about work, and have had 
considerable amusement too. Have you raised a 
little patch of vegetables or a few fowls for your 
minister ? He has been feeding your minds with 
religious and useful knowledge through the year, 
and it is no more than right that you should do 
something for him and his children in return. Have 
all your farming and gardening tools been carefully 
cleaned and stored away in readiness for spring ? 
See that all rusty spots are properly scoured and 
oiled, and that the tools be put away secure from 
moisture or wet. How is it with those two-year- 
old heifers that came in last summer ? Were their 
calves taken from them when a week old, and fed 
on skim-milk and Indian meal ? Were they milked 
clean, and do you continue to milk them as long as 
they will give a gill at a time ? This will make 
them hold out and be good milkers much longer 
than they otherwise would, when full-grown cows ? 
It is winter now, and I trust you are ajl at school 
every day. This is the time for study as well as 
for amusement or play. Instead of wasting your 
time on dead languages, learn how to read, write, 
and spell the English, without missing a word; 
and study geography, arithmetic, botany, entomo¬ 
logy (the history of insects), geology, book-keep¬ 
ing, chemistry, and mechanics. When you under¬ 
stand the essentials of these branches, it will be 
time enough to attend to Latin and Greek. 
In learning English, it would be a profitable ex¬ 
ercise to write an account of your experiments on 
the farm ; get your teacher to correct your composi¬ 
tion, write it over again, and send it to the Agri¬ 
culturist for publication. In so doing you will 
vastly improve your style and will soon acquire a 
taste and aptness for writing, attainable, perhaps, 
by no other means. 
Attend to geography until you become familiar 
with the position, boundaries, and general features 
of all the chief countries of the globe, particularly 
of the territory of the United States. Study arith 
metic and book-keeping until you are able to mea 
sure, estimate, and keep an account of every opera 
tion of the farm, or of the common concerns of ? 
farmer’s life. Make yourselves acquainted witi 
botany, sufficient, at least, to be able to distinguisl 
and write the names of all the trees and plants tha J 
are essential to a garden or farm ; and with entomo 
logy, until you know the names and habits of ah 
the insects injurious to vegetation, meat, wool, &&. 
and the means by which they may be exterminat'd 
or destroyed. In a like manner geology and che¬ 
mistry should be understood sufficiently to be able lo 
distinguish the names and properties of all the rocks 
and kinds of soil on the farm and vicinity, and to 
have a practical as well as a theoretical knowledge 
of the composition and application of all kinds of 
fertilizers or manures that are specially adapted to 
any class of soil or rotation of crops. In studying 
mechanics, you must become familiar with the 
laws of motion, as well as those of friction and gravi¬ 
tation, and with what are technically called the 
“ mechanical powers.” By acquiring these, and 
the handy use of the ordinary tools, employed in 
working wood, much time and expense may be 
saved on a farm in making and repairing imple¬ 
ments and tools, that would otherwise be lost. 
S. A. 
