170 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
during August and September, for several 
years. They devour every particle of stalk 
and leaf with as much relish as neat stock, 
and with as much benefit. It makes cheap 
pork, and of excellent quality. Plant half an 
acre of Sweet corn, and feed it out in those 
months to your fattening swine, and we ven¬ 
ture to say, you will not need our exhorta¬ 
tion to repeat the experiment. 
GRAFTING 
is yet in season, the first of this month. It 
is a very simple process, jjlf an old tree 
is to be furnished with a new top, not more 
than one third of it should be grafted the first 
year, and this should be the top branches. 
The scions take much more readily upon 
new, than upon old wood, and for this rea¬ 
son, some cut off the old branches and force 
them to make new shoots for the purpose of 
grafting next year. We have found this 
the best method. But grafting alone will 
not renew old trees. They should be dug 
around, and manured. Save all the old bones 
and dig them in, about the roots of your fruit 
trees. Dry bones so treated, be assured, will 
rise again, not indeed in the shape of bones, 
but recoined and beautified in the shape of 
delicious fruits. Scrub the old trunks with 
soap and water, and then stand by and see 
how they will grow and repay your care. If 
any of your young trees do not thrive, even 
with good treatment, better take them up 
and try again. Sometimes they are so in 
fested with lice, that a new tree is the only 
remedy. If the tree has sound roots, and it 
is only stunted by long neglect, good care 
and grafting may bring it into a thriving con¬ 
dition. If you have seedling pears scattered 
about your woods and pastures set them out 
in nursery rows and graft them. These 
stocks are sound, and make very vigorous 
trees. In a few years they may be loaded 
with fine Bartlets and Seckles. 
THE SMALL FRUITS. 
It is not yet too late to plant Raspberries, 
Blackberries and Currants. Nothing pays 
better than these berries. Make the soil 
deep and rich. 
A SUCCESSION OF PEAS 
is very desirable. Plant the Champion of 
England to succeed the Early June’s or 
Prince Albert planted in April. 
HAVE A GOOD GARDEN. 
Variety is the spice of life. The farmer’s 
table should have this spice. It is his busi¬ 
ness to supply food to the race, and he 
should give to his household daily, a fair sam¬ 
ple of his skill in his business, upon the saffie 
principle that the shoemaker wears a gen¬ 
teel boot, or the tailor a fashionable coat. 
The farmer’s table should be his best adver¬ 
tisement. It is good policy and good econ¬ 
omy. Beef, pork and potatoes will not bring 
out of laborers the maximum of work. The 
human system craves a variety of food, and 
enough of it. Therefore plant and sow this 
month lettuce, parsley, onions, parsnips, rad¬ 
ishes, tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, cab¬ 
bage, cucumbers, squashes, &c. Let it be 
no fault of yours, if you do not have the 
best garden in your neighborhood. 
THE ORNAMENTAL. 
If your garden i3 not yet laid out accord¬ 
ing to some plan, it is time to do it. It need 
not be completed at once. You can ap¬ 
proach each year nearer to your plan until 
it is completed. Let every tree planted, 
every path made, every wall laid, have ref¬ 
erence to the shape you mean it shall take 
when the garden is finished.—E®. 
MAY WORK FOR FEMALES. 
BY ANNA HOPE. 
Spring brings with it multiplied cares and 
duties, not onlv to the farmer, but to the 
housekeeper. The smoke and dust of win¬ 
ter must disappear before whitewash brushes 
and scrubbing brushes, and the aspect of the 
dwelling be rejuvenated by its mistress, as 
Nature without is by Him who has promised 
that seed-time and harvest, summer and win¬ 
ter, shall not cease. There are various 
methods of attending to this department of 
housekeeping. 
Some ladies emulate the hurricane or the 
fierce thunder-storm. Everything in the 
house is whirled suddenly out of place, and 
furniture and carpets, looking-glasses and 
pictures are found, if found at all, in chaotic 
confusion. Every window in the house is 
open, and the baby and the other children 
enjoy all the advantages to be derived from 
strong drafts of air and unaccustomed expo¬ 
sure. Mattresses and featherbeds lie on the 
wood-pile, and blankets and comforters 
swing on the lines. There is not a quiet 
spot to be found. Mops and brushes are the 
enjoyments of the day; and tiny children, 
with tiny rags, are running here and there, 
to have their part in the pleasurable excite¬ 
ment. Woe to the gentlemen of the esta¬ 
blishment, if he chance to make his appear¬ 
ance. He is not, at present, lord and mas¬ 
ter, but is subject to being driven about from 
one place to another, till, like Noah’s dove, 
he finds there is no rest for the sole of his 
foot; but, unlike Noah’s dove,he can find no 
ark to which he may return, and be lovingly 
taken in. 
Night comes. The bed-chambers are per¬ 
fumed with soap-suds, and smell delightfully 
fresh and clean. To be sure—there are no 
carpets on the floor, and no curtains at the 
windows, and there is not much of the sem¬ 
blance of home ; but hope in the heart is 
strong, and it promises better things. What 
is that peculiarcough that disturbs the weary 
sleepers? It cannot be mistaken ; baby has 
the croup, and demands speedy and efficient 
attention. Baby is not the only sufferer. 
Every other child has taken cold, and so 
have the adult members—for days they must 
suffer from their needless exposure. In 
wearisomeness the work so energetically be¬ 
gun is completed, and order is gradually re¬ 
stored to the household. Disasters so seri¬ 
ous as croup do riot always follow these 
earthquake cleanings, but I never knew one 
to take place, that did not result in colds and 
serious discomforts of some kind. 
There is a “ more excellent way ” in house¬ 
cleaning—and that is a more quiet one. Be¬ 
gin in the attic, if convenient, and put that 
in order for summer. Then take unoccu¬ 
pied chambers, or those unwarmed by a fire, 
disarranging only one or two in a day 
Finish these before attempting others. So 
continue to do, till the work is all done, and 
the cellar itself nicely whitewashed. Much 
unnecessary confusion is thus avoided, and 
the general arrangements of the family are 
not broken up. The comfort of home is not, 
even for a time, destroyed, and the gentle¬ 
men, absent during the day, at hard work in 
the fields or on pressing business, are not 
molested in their enjoyment of domestic life. 
They may not even know a revolution is go¬ 
ing on in the house. 
In making clean the interior house, do not 
forget the yard about it. Have that neatly 
raked, and the dead leaves and twigs re¬ 
moved to the barn-yard or the bonfire heap. 
Cultivate in your children a love for well- 
kept grounds, and for agricultural employ¬ 
ment. Give them gardens of their own, and 
let them plant as they please, offering 
them, of course, the advice and instruction 
they need. Encourage them in their plans. 
Teach them to observe the various modes of 
growth in different plants. Sympathize with 
them in the pleasure which they feel when 
their seeds sprout and show themselves 
above the earth. Let your daughters enjoy 
the same privilege of cultivating a garden 
for themselves as do your boys. Do not 
teach them that they must plant nothing but 
flower seeds; but let them, if they wish, 
have corn and potatoes, beets and carrots. 
Advise your sons to pay some attention to 
flowers, for they need their refining influence, 
quite as much as do your more gentle girls. 
Do not use the pruning-knife too freely on 
your shrubs and young trees. Nature is a 
wise mother, and when she sends out branch¬ 
es near the ground, she does it for a good 
purpose. Do not make bloomers of your 
trees any more readily than you would make 
a bloomer of yourself. I should, myself, 
never trim a tree, unless its situation render¬ 
ed it necessary, and even then it would be 
done with reluctance. I doubt if even our 
fruit trees would not do better, to permit the 
branches to grow low, and thus protect the 
trunk from the fierce heats of summer. 
If you have not a good strawberry bed, it 
is not even now too late to make one, if you 
live north of New-York. Have the ground 
properly prepared—the March number of 
the Agriculturist, if yon have it, will tell you 
how to have it done—and then children can 
set the vines as well as older persons, and 
will enjoy the work. 
Early Asparagus. —A correspondent at 
Stonington, Ct., writes, April 12 : “ We have 
had three cuttings of asparagus this week. 
Can you beat that ?” 
No sir. Perhaps some of our readers 
can. If so, let them speak out.— [Ed. 
A lady made a complaint to Frederick the 
Great of Prussia. “ Your Majesty,” said 
she, “ my husband treats me badly.” “ That 
is none of my business,” replied the King. 
“ But lie speaks “ very ill of you,” said the 
lady. “ That ” he replied “ is none of your 
business.” 
He who lives to learn will learn to live. 
