210 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
mail bags, and were so much dried and bro¬ 
ken by hard usage of the letter, that we 
found it impossible to examine them. We 
imagine there must have been some smash- 
up on one of the southern railroads.— Ed.] 
For the American Agriculturist. 
YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS. 
It has been customary of late to decry the 
present system of education for young la¬ 
dies, as one peculiarly adapted to unfit them 
for the practical duties of life. T do not in¬ 
tend to deny a fact so palpable ; but, per¬ 
mit me to say a few words in behalf, and for 
the encouragement, of the victims of this 
system. Among them are not a few noble, 
high-souled, intelligent women, whose natu¬ 
ral energies, although misdirected, have not 
been cramped, and who, triumphing over 
the effects of want of early practical train¬ 
ing, become of that band of glorious women 
whose price, Solomon tells us, “ is above 
rubies. - ’ It is with the hope of assisting this 
class of my fair countrywomen in the ardu¬ 
ous task of becominggoorf housekeepers, that 
I now address them. 
The first difficulty from which you suffer 
is, your utter ignorance of the minutiae ap¬ 
pertaining to every-day work. Your pre¬ 
vious education (or want of it) having almost 
entirely unfitted you for the task of properly 
governing and directing a household, you are 
in danger of exacting either too much or too 
little of your domestics—both of them grave 
faults. 
Again, there is the physical disability un¬ 
der which you labor when you attempt as¬ 
sistance occasionally, and the constantly 
recurring feeling that you are doing that 
which is of very little importance to any one, 
accompanied by a half-suppressed sigh of 
contempt for the occupations in which you 
are engaged ; and last, though not least, is 
the feeling of humiliation with which you 
regard your ineffective efforts when, 
*• Night and silence overshadowing all,” 
you review the failures of the day. You 
feel exhausted, mind and body, by labors 
which any well-trained or strong-armed do¬ 
mestic would have accomplished in one-half 
the time with one-fourtli the effort, and nat¬ 
urally wonder whether the sum total of them 
all has recompensed you for the loss of val¬ 
uable time and the irritation of temper con¬ 
sequent upon the inefficiency of both leader 
and subordinates. It will seem harsh, per¬ 
haps, to remind you that there is no “ royal 
road to learning” here, any more than else¬ 
where, and that good housekeeping is not 
learned in a day, a month, or a year. 
The desire, natural to every high-minded 
woman, to fulfill perfectly the duties of her 
station, impels you to efforts beyond your 
endurance, and the exhaustion which suc¬ 
ceeds leads you to undervalue your own 
labors and the effect which they have upon 
the comfort and happiness of those around 
you. 
I will suppose you animated by one of the 
holiest feelings of woman’s nature—the de¬ 
sire of proving, under all circumstances, a 
ministering angel to him to whom at the 
altar you vowed unswerving and unchang¬ 
ing affection. Actuated by such motives, 
failure is hardly possible. 
You have unconsciously imbibed the idea 
that all employment which does not directly 
tend toward mental improvement, is a waste 
of valuable time and beneath the dignity of 
an intellectual woman ; while, at the same 
time, conscience tells you that nothing which 
adds to the comfort or pleasure of your 
household can, of itself, be trifling or unim¬ 
portant. 
It is these conflicting views of duty which 
render you irresolute and inefficient. You 
doubt whether time devoted to study may 
not possibly be stolen from other and more 
onerous duties ; or you are disturbed by the 
harassing fear that your mind, by dwelling 
too much upon the details of your menage, 
may lose those habits of studious applica¬ 
tion which you have been successfully cul¬ 
tivating. 
You are upon both sides of the question. 
A few moments given to mental relaxation, 
even on “busy days,” will send you back to 
the performance of homely duties with a 
keener relish for your employment, and give 
greater zest to your desire for improvament 
in the practical education which you have 
but just commenced. 
An accomplished friend of mine once said, 
that her early married life was rendered 
miserable by her permitting the cares of her 
household to interfere so entirely with her 
mental culture, that she was conscious of 
daily losing some portion of the careful¬ 
ly horded treasures of intellect. But that 
now, experience had convinced her that she 
gained instead of losing, by devoting a few 
moments every day to study—that her nee¬ 
dle moved none the less swiftly when timed 
to the spirit-stirring strains of Korner, and 
that the menial offices of sweeping and dust¬ 
ing were none the worse performed, when 
the same hands varied their employment by 
drawing forth the inspired music of Mozart 
and Beethoven from piano or organ. 
Let none of my fair readers be terrified 
into imagining that my remarks are only 
applicable to those of their own sex who 
have earned the reputation of being blue¬ 
stockings. Nothing can be farther from my 
intentions. There are many sensible parents 
who, while they pay due attention to the 
formation of the mind, the character and the 
heart of their daughters, yet so far neglect 
their duty to their children as never to in¬ 
struct them practically in the ordinary house¬ 
hold duties. In a country like ours, where 
fortune’s favors are proverbially fickle, the 
beggar of to-day not unfrequently becomes 
the millionaire of to-morrow, or vice versa; 
and in view of these facts, it is self-evident 
that the charms of finished manners, or the 
the more exalted pride of a cultivated intel¬ 
lect, are not of themselves sufficient, in the 
hour of adversity, to sustain even a well- 
disciplined mind in the contemplation of 
those trials and cares which must now de¬ 
volve upon herself. At the same time, the 
consciousness of her ability to perform these 
duties in a manner worthy of her character 
as the loving wife and tender mother, will 
support her drooping energies and cheer her 
flagging spirits, at a season when less solid 
acquirements are diregarded, or remembered 
only with a pang of regret at their useless¬ 
ness. Eliza. 
For the American Agriculturist 
THE HOOT CHOP. 
I have always been of the opinion that 
farmers were “ missing it ” by paying so lit¬ 
tle attention to the raising of roots ; and the 
high price of hay the past winter has im¬ 
pressed this subject on my mind with more 
force than usual. The high price of stock, 
and the value of any thing that will feed or 
fatten, must be a very strong inducement for 
the farmer to try raising root crops, and test 
their value. 
There are quite a variety of roots which 
may be raised with profit, as food for horses, 
swine, sheep and neat cattle. I have tried 
the different varieties of turnip, and consider 
the Ruta-baga the best for feeding stock. 
For table use, the white French I think is 
best. But, in my estimation, no other roots 
are so profitable for stock feeding as the 
carrot and Mangel Wurzel, especially the 
latter, which I believe, with a fair trial, will 
stand at the head of the root family as food 
for neat stock and swine. I have fed swine 
on them during an entire winter, and they 
grew and did well, with no other food. For 
neat stock, and milk cows in particular, they 
are of much value in increasing the quantity 
and quality of milk. 
If farmers would give their attention to 
this matter, they would be enabled to keep 
many more animals on the same farm than 
they now do. In England the root crop is 
of nearly as much importance as that of hay 
for wintering stock, and in many parts of the 
kingdom a field of turnips is considered in¬ 
dispensable for wintering sheep. 
Ruta-bagas thrive well in almost any rich 
soil, and their yield is often enormous. I 
have gathered five bushels from a square 
rod of ground ; and have thought that three 
bushels were of as much value for stock as 
100 pounds of good hay. I am confident 
farmers will find it for their interest to give 
this subject more attention. And if they but 
once give it a fair trial, I am very sure that 
but few will be found without a goodly patch 
of ground devoted to raising roots. 
Salisbury, N. H. JAS. FELLOWS. 
Agricultural Enthusiasts. —Every pro¬ 
fession has its enthsuiasts; and agriculture 
in all its departments has them in abundance. 
Of those who are especially interested in 
cultivation we have teachers of deep and of 
shallow culture—of tilth without manure— 
and of manure applied in the liquid form, or 
as top dressings in the solid form. In other 
divisions of the subject we have devotees of 
plant improvement and animal improvement. 
Poultry has absorbed the whole regard of 
many; and there is many an ill cultivated 
farm occupied by men celebrated as breed¬ 
ers of stock, to prove that it also too exclu¬ 
sively engages all the energy of the tenant. 
Agricultural improvement owes a great deal 
to enthusiasts. It makes progress piece¬ 
meal in the hands of those who are thus in¬ 
terested in but pieces of its whole extent. If 
it had not been for Bakewell, and for Col- 
lings, the one giving a lifetime to the im¬ 
provement of the sheep, the other to the im¬ 
provement of the Teeswater breed of cattle, 
not only would sheep and cattle not have 
been what they are, but British agriculture 
generally would not have attained its pres¬ 
ent powers of food supply of more than twen¬ 
ty millions. Amateurs as well as farmers 
