186 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
BOYS, HELP YOURSELVES. 
Don’t be alarmed at the above, boys. We 
don’t intend to write you a chapter on obe¬ 
dience, and all that. We take it for granted 
that you are already good and obedient. 
Bad boys are too full of mischief, and care 
too little for self-improvement, to spend any 
lime in reading a paper like the American 
Agriculturist, which has nothing at all 
in it about Jack Sheppard and other reck¬ 
less boys like him, to stimulate their wicked 
wishes and designs. So we will let them 
pass, and say a word to good boys. 
Our text says, “ help yourselves.” We 
wish you could really appreciate how much 
is implied in those two words. Perhaps we 
can best communicate what we wish to say, 
by a story or two : 
While traveling at the west in 1850, we 
arrived at a village hotel late one evening, 
and found it already over-crowded with 
guests. We were stowed away in a third 
story room with two other persons, both of 
whom, like ourself, were anxious to go for¬ 
ward by an early train, and we gave orders 
to be called at 4 o’clock in the morning. 
On awaking at the appointed time, we 
were not a little amused in observing the 
conduct of our fellow lodgers. As they had 
necessarily walked some distance in the 
dark the evening before, their clothes had 
become well spattered with mud, which was 
quite visible now that it had become dry. 
Mr. B. got up quietly, took a small billet 
of wood from beside the stove, and rubbed 
oft the dried mud, and with a small broom 
brush finished the operation, so that his pants 
looked “ as good as new.” 
But not so with Mr. L., the other traveler. 
As soon as he discovered the condition of 
his clothes, he ran to the bell and gave it a 
violent pull. For some reason the servant 
did not answer his call at once. The bell 
was pulled again and again, until the cord 
broke. Mr. L. then thrust his head through 
the door into the hall, and called at the top 
of his voice, “Waiter! waiter!” and in doing 
so waked up unseasonably half-a-dozen 
sleepers in adjoining rooms. While this 
was going on, Mr. B. had calmly finished his 
toilet, and we started for the door just in 
time to escape all but the first instalment of 
a volley of wrathful maledictions heaped 
upon the head of the unfortunate waiter, be¬ 
cause he had not come sooner to brush L.’s 
clothes. 
B. took his carpet bag in his hand, and we 
walked leisurely along to the railroad depot, 
about one hundred rods distant. After being 
seated, and the engine whistle had blown as 
a signal for starting, we looked out of the 
car window towards the hotel, and saw L. 
coming down in breathless haste, with a man 
following him carrying a small traveler’s 
bag. The cars started “ on time,” and the 
last we saw of L., he was swinging his hat 
for the conductor to hold up, which of course 
he could not do. Mr. L. was left behind, 
although he had asked us, before going to 
sleep, to be sure and awaken him if the 
servant did not, for he “ would not miss 
going in the first train for fifty dollars.” 
Now, boys, we need not tell you what 
were our thoughts as we journeyed on that 
morning, nor what they have been hundreds 
of other times when we have seen just such 
characters as the one we have described. 
You will say at once that Mr. L. was not to 
be pitied; that he might have brushed his 
own clothes—might have “ helped himself.” 
So we say—though we think he was to be 
pitied. Somebody neglected to give him a 
proper training while a boy. His mother, 
his sisters, or a servant, had probably always 
brushed his clothes for him. They did it 
in kindness—but was it a kindness! Would 
it not have been better for him if he had been 
taught—had been compelled —to help him¬ 
self! 
If we were asked what habit boys or girls 
should first learn in order to be sure of suc¬ 
cess when they grow up, we should at once 
answer, teach them to 
Jtigr HELP THEMSELVES, 
Boys, if you really wish to be prospered 
in after life, cut out and paste up over your 
table, or where you can always see it, and 
then strictly observe the following motto : 
NEVER ASK YOUR FATHER, MOTHER, BROTHER’ 
SISTER, SERVANTS, NOR ANY ONE ELSE, 
TO ASSIST YOU IN DOING ANYTHING WHICH 
YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO YOURSELVES! 
And under this, put the following rule: 
What I WILL do I CAN do. 
In “ Our Drawer ” we find the following 
story, which illustrates what we have been 
talking about above, and we print it here 
instead of saying anything more at this time. 
The story begins with 
OPEN THE GATE. 
“ I wish you would send a boy to open the 
gate for me,” said a boy of ten years old to 
his mother, as he paused with his books un¬ 
der his arm. 
“ Why, John, can’t you open the gate for 
yourself !” said his mother. “A boy of your 
age and strength ought certainly to be able 
to do that,” 
“ I could do it, I suppose,” said the boy; 
but it is heavy, and I do not like the trouble. 
The servant can open it for me just as well.” 
What is the use of having servants, if they 
do not wait upon us ! thought he. 
The servant was sent to open the gate. 
The boy passed out and went whistling on 
his way to school. When he reached Ills 
seat in the academy he drew from his bag of 
books his arithmetic and began to look at 
the sums. 
“ I can not do these,” he whispered to the 
next scholar; “ they are too hard.” 
“ But you can try,” replied his compan¬ 
ion. ' 
“ I know I can try,” said John, “ but it’s 
too much trouble. Pray, what are teachers 
for, if it is not to help us out of difficulties! 
I shall carry my slate to Mr. Helpwell, the 
usher.” j 
Alas! poor John. He had come to an¬ 
other closed gate—a gate leading into a path 
of useful knowledge. He could have opened 
it and entered in alone ; but he Had come to 
the conclusion that it was as well to have 
gates opened for us as to exert our own 
strength. The result was a decision that he 
had no genius for such a kind of study. 
The same was true of Latin. He could 
have learned the declensions of the nouns, 
and the conjugations of the verbs, as well as 
others of his age ; but he got other boys to 
do his exercises, and what was the use in 
opening the gate to the Latin language when 
others would do it for him. Oh, no ! John 
Easy had no idea of tasking his mind or 
body when he could avoid it; and the con¬ 
sequence was that the numerous gates re¬ 
mained closed to him all his life—gates to 
usefulness—gates to happiness ! Children, 
you should early learn that it is always best 
to help yourselves.— Ed. 
POTATOES—BUTT ENDS VS. SEED ENDS. 
John Brown of Long-Island, communicates 
the following to the Granite Farmer: 
“ Several years ago I made some experi¬ 
ments to satisfy myself concerning the dis¬ 
puted point as to which is the best portion 
of a potato to plant in order to obtain the 
largest and best yield. The exact result 
has been lost, and as I have often since 
heard and read assertions directly contrary 
to the conclusions which I then deduced, I 
resolved to repeat the experiments. Last 
spring I planted four rows of equal length, 
side by side, with two varieties of potatoes. 
In one row I planted none but the seed ends, 
so called, including about one-third of the 
potatoes, and in the next row I planted the 
butt ends of the same potatoes. I had one 
row of seed ends and one row of butt ends 
of a variety called Peach Blows. The yield 
of these four rows was as follows : 
Pink eyes, butt ends.217 pounds. 
“ seed ends.170 “ 
Peach blows, butt ends.225 “ 
“ seed ends.179 “ 
The potatoes raised from the butt ends were 
much larger than those from the seed ends, 
and appeared to be from a week to ten days 
earlier. This result corresponds with that 
of my former experiment. Had the whole 
field been planted with butt ends the yield 
would have been more than 500 bushels to 
the acre. I also planted two rows next to 
the above ; in one of which I put only large 
potatoes, half a tuber in each hill, cut length¬ 
wise so as to divide the eyes equally, and in 
the other row I dropped only small potatoes, 
one in each hill. From the former I dug 181 
pounds, and from the latter 134 pounds. I 
should add that the average yield of the field 
was about 180 pounds to the row ; .and that 
large (not the very largest) potatoes were 
used for seed cut lengthwise with a half of 
a tuber in each hill.” 
Jewels eor Eternity. —Are your jewls the 
grateful hearts of the poor! If they are, 
then they will never lose their lustre, but 
shine brighter and brighter and brighter the 
longer you wear them. I would railier have 
one grateful tear from a famished child that 
I had fed, than all the jewels that glisten on 
the queen’s brow. I would rather car¬ 
ry light and joy to one desolate home, than 
call the kingdoms of the world my own. 
