310 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Ijop/ Corner, 
For the American Agriculturist. 
THE BOY WHO LIKED HIS SEAT. 
On Wednesday after the Fourth, I was obliged 
to go into New-York. The cars were crowded 
with those who were returning to the city, after 
spending our national anniversary in the country. 
How much they must have enjoyed that day of 
release from city labor, and dust, and close 
streets bounded by high brick houses. How 
beautiful to them the green fields, the shady 
trees, and the soft-flowing river. How they 
gazed on the hills luxuriating in verdure, and 
the valleys rich with their treasures of wealth 
and beauty. “ God made the country,” and all 
his works are perfect. I pity those who are 
pent up in a large prison-city with nothing but 
a miserable ailanthus before their windows, 
which at all resembles the country, and who 
have to look up, up, up, before they can get a 
glimpse of the blue sky, and the fleecy clouds 
which sail majestically along, ever varying from 
one form of beauty to another. Thank God, 
my young friends, that he has given you a 
country home, and never leave it, unless stern 
necessity compels you to make your abode in 
the hot, crowded, feverish city. 
The cars, on the morning of the fifth, were, 
as I have told you, crowded, and it was difficult 
to find unoccupied seats. A gentleman and his 
wife entered a car, near the door of which were 
two seats, with only one person in each. The 
first was taken by a boy about fifteen. The 
gentleman politely asked him if he would sit 
with another gentleman, that he and the lady 
with him might not be separated. The first im¬ 
pulse of the boy was a civil one, and he started 
to rise; but the second thought was ungentle- 
manly, ungenerous, and extremely selfish. “ I 
like my seat very well,” he mumbled, and drew 
back to the window and looked out. Perhaps 
even then he began to feel ashamed of his rude¬ 
ness. 
The gentleman behind him immediately 
arose, and offered his seat It was accepted 
with a bow, and a “ thank you, Sir.” The lady 
was immediately behind the boy, and as she 
seated herself, she said to him in a low, kind 
voice, “ I fear you will never be a gentleman.” 
He made no reply, nor did he move his face from 
the window, but his very ears blushed scarlet. 
He was evidently ashamed. During the whole 
ride he kept nearly the same position, not being 
willing to meet the eyes of his fellow-passengers, 
for he must have observed their disapprobation 
of his ill manners, and before the cars were en¬ 
tirely within the depot, lie went out upon the 
platform to escape from observation. 
I hope the boy will never be rude in this way 
again, for he evidently was made unhappy by 
it. There is only one reason why I fear he will 
not profit by the well-merited rebuke he received, 
and that is because I saw one of his cheeks 
puffed out with a quid of tobacco. I confess I 
do not expect so much improvement from a boy 
who indulges in such a filthy habit, as from one 
who does not. 
A gentlemanly boy must always be happier 
than one who is rough and selfish. The boy in 
the car did not enjoy his ride, although as he 
said, he liked his seat very well. His impolite¬ 
ness made it unpleasant, and the remembrance 
of it will never afford him giatification. I hope 
none of you, who read about him, will be guilty 
of a similar error. 
Always try to be accommodating to those 
about you. If you are asked to do a favor, do 
it as if it gave you pleasure. You will never 
have occasion to regret it. Be civil to those in 
your father’s employment. Their love and 
respect is of value to you. There are very few 
sunk so low as not to appreciate true politeness. 
Above all others be polite to your parents, your 
brothers and sisters. Do not indulge in harsh 
words. 
Perhaps the boy of whose history I have 
given you a single incident, never read Peter’s 
instruction to the early Christians in his epistle 
to them, and did not know that the apostle con¬ 
sidered politeness of sufficient importance to be 
worthy of the attention of those to whom he 
wrote. “ Be courteous,” is his direction to 
them, and I cannot give you better advice on 
the same subject. Anne Hope. 
-»-*-•- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
DELAWARE BOY’S LETTER. 
McDonough, Del., July 17, 1854. 
Messrs. Editors :—You will probably be sur¬ 
prised in receiving another letter from me so 
soon, but as there seems to be so few boys who 
have the energy to write, and as I am derirous 
of improving myself, perhaps a few more lines 
will not be amiss, if they are not too imperfectly 
written. I supposed there were mistakes in 
my last letter, but did not discover them my¬ 
self, and therefore I did not correct them. I be¬ 
lieve there has been but one hoy’s letter in your 
paper since my last, which was a very good one. 
The writer speaks of the inattention which boys 
receive by editors and others. It is a deplora- 
able fact that very little interest is taken in the 
advancement of the rising generation. It is 
true, there are a sufficient number of schools 
established, but there is something else required 
to encourage boys to push forward in their stu¬ 
dies, and stimulate them to perform the duties 
of the school with energy. We must look.to 
editors to notice us by advising us as to the 
course we should pursue in our efforts to pro¬ 
gress, and occasionally giving space to a few 
lines through the medium of their papers. I am 
glad to say that some papers have adopted this 
plan; but few compared with the many. It 
would no doubt be an advantage to them, for 
they would gain many subscribers, for there 
are many boys who would willingly subscribe 
to a paper for the sake of having a letter pub¬ 
lished ; besides this there are numerous other 
advantages which would arise from so doing. 
If a boy tries to do the best he can, I cannoi 
see why it is that some editors will throw aside 
his letter. A “ man” does no more than his 
best. I suppose the cause may be attributed to 
the intelligence contained in men’s letters; but 
men were all boys once, and they should look 
back to the time when they were young and 
sympathize with us. But 1 have said enough 
about boys, and may be too fast, if so, please 
excuse me. I will now give you some account 
of the crops of little Delaware, as far as I am 
acquainted. In the first place, the wheat crop 
is injured somewhat by the rust throughout the 
State, and there will hardly be an average crop. 
Corn looks well, and if the wet weather con¬ 
tinues, there will be a large crop. Oats are 
rather light, in the early part of the season there 
was too much rain. The hay crop is excellent, 
and was secured in good season, while it was 
dry. There are a great many reapers used in 
this part of the country, but the only kind that 
is used to any extent, is McCormick’s and Hus¬ 
sey’s. The former is admitted to be the best, 
and contains several advantages over the latter. 
In the first place it is not so liable to choke ; 
secondly, it is much easier on the horses; and 
lastly, it is pulled off at the side, which leaves 
room for the horses when the grain is not 
bound. But in Hussey’s it is pushed off behind, 
and if, as is often the case, oats are too short to 
bind, they would have to be laid out of the way 
of the horses. The Hussey’s reaper is the most 
used, in consequence of its having been the first 
patented. But McCormick’s was the first in¬ 
vented, and it is that ingenious man, Mr. Mc¬ 
Cormick, who deserves the credit of giving the 
first idea of reapers, which has been so benefi¬ 
cial to the country. A great many in these 
parts give Mr. Hussey that credit, but ’tis false. 
The best mower used in this vicinity is “ Ketch- 
urn’s Improved,” which is good enough, and will 
answer on most any land, if it is not too stony. 
The’ Delaware Farmer’s Son. 
Here is a chance for some of our boys to crit¬ 
icise the style and some of the statements about 
reapers, &c. Who will do it? This letter was 
written on both sides of the paper. See our 
notes to correspondents on page 810. 
THE STRAWBERRY BOY. 
The following simple and unvarnished story 
is strictly true. It is given as a horticultural 
item, to illustrate the progress in early life of a 
young horticulturist in that branch of industry, 
Fourteen years ago last May, on Saturday at 
noon, a boy called at my dwelling-house to sell 
strawberries. He was a slender form, appar¬ 
ently about fourteen years of age, with a bright 
and intelligent countenance. The fruit was 
beautiful and tempting, but I had bought 
enough at market in the morning for dinner and 
for tea, and refused to purchase more. He 
observed that his strawberries had just been 
picked from the vines, and would keep for the 
Sunday. My wife was much pleased with his 
gentle and pleasant manners, and decided at 
once to purchase, and to engage a daily supply 
from him for the season. Upon inquiry we 
learned that, with his father and young brother, 
he cultivated vegetables and fruit to sell in the 
Cincinnati market, on a small place near New 
port, Kentucky; that he had a taste for horticul¬ 
ture and for books, and that no effort was spared 
to improve his knowledge in both. In summer 
he cultivated the soil, in winter the mind. 
For three years we were regularly supplied 
by this boy, from the earliest to the latest period 
of the season, with strawberries freshly gather¬ 
ed, of fine quality, and at moderate prices; then 
with raspberries in succession. 
The fourth year “we missed him on his accus¬ 
tomed round,” and feared that we should see 
him no more. My wife felt disappointed a good 
deal about it. He was so intelligent and oblig¬ 
ing, so gentle and engaging in his manners, that 
she had taken a great fancy to him. Besides all 
this, where could we supply our table with such 
fine strawberries, brought daily to the house ? 
Various inquiries were made, but nothing could 
be heard of him. Sbe only knew his Christian 
name; the other, if she ever had heard it, had 
escaped her memory. She recollected to have 
observed an occasional hectic flush on his cheek, 
and feared that the fell destroyer, consumption, 
had marked him for its own. Poor boy! she 
said, we shall never see him again; he has run 
his race, and will soon be forgotten. 
Years had passed away, and we had ceased 
to speak of him, when one day a young man of 
genteel appearance called at my store, and, pre¬ 
senting his hand, asked if I remembered him. 
In the hurry and bustle of business life, one 
forms so many acquaintances that it is not easy 
to recollect every name or face at first sight. 
I therefore answered that I did not. He replied 
that when a boy he used to supply us with 
strawberries, and then he inquired kindly for 
my wife and children. 
He stated that, by dilligence in his horticul¬ 
tural pursuits, he had saved some money, and 
