430 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[November, 
nut, and when ripe thin and bladdery; it breaks 
open at the lower end, and lets out four seeds, 
similar to those of the watermelon. Children 
like to harvest these cucumbers, and gather the 
seeds ; but if chickens are at large, they will dis¬ 
pute possession with the children. However, 
enough will probably get trodden into the ground 
to ensure a crop for the following year. The vine 
is said to do best when the seeds are planted in the 
fall. They come up in spring with large seed- 
leaves, like a squash vine, and are easily trans¬ 
planted, or may be pulled out at any time. 
1 have written this with some fear of the botanist 
who presides over the American Agriculturist, lest 
he might consider me out of my sphere, but the 
6 imple vine I praise was new to me when I came 
west, and has given so much pleasure to me and 
my friends, as a shade for rustic porches and 
arbors, that I have often wished to say a word in 
its favor. [We quite agree with Mrs. Rochester, 
as to the utility of this vine. Some years ago when 
we lived in the west, there was near by a very 
large wood pile, which was placed so near the road 
as to be conspicuous, and unsightly in the extreme. 
This vine, which was very common there, came up 
arouud the pile, and soon completely covered it 
with its foliage, and instead of detracting from 
the neat appearance of the place, it was all sum¬ 
mer a bank of verdure, having at a little distance 
the appearance of a tall hedge planted for a screen. 
It is in very common cultivation in the western 
states, and our correspondent lias not at all over¬ 
estimated its utility and beauty. It is one of the 
things which we propose to illustrate. Ed.] 
Patterns for tine New Under Garments. 
I receive repeated inquiries concerning these 
patterns—as to where they may be obtained. To 
the best of my knowledge, the Dress Committee 
of Boston, still has its rooms at No. 4 Hamilton 
Place, Boston, Mass., and thither all inquiries 
should be sent. Be sure and put ■“ Mass ” on your 
letter, else it, like one of mine, may go hunting 
through various states in search of Boston, until 
some Post Master who has heard of the “hub of 
tho universe” suggested “try Massachusetts.” 
1BBYS & (BmUMm 
Tlie !t;ui tain and tlic fllralima. 
Is there anything more comical than the airs put on by 
a Bantam rooster ? Nothing that we know of, unless it 
be the way certain hoys behave before they have been to 
school, or mixed much with other boys. These Bantam 
boys rule the roost at home, all other youngsters stand 
aside, and it is very amusing to see how one of these 
boys, when he goes to school, and tries to put on the airs 
of superiority which were allowed at home, will get sud¬ 
denly taken down, and made to find his own place, not 
only in the class, but in the play-ground. School teaches 
valuable lessons that are not learned out of books. A 
boy can be taught all the studies by a private tutor, or by 
his parents or older sister, but such a boy is never edu¬ 
cated. ft is said that marbles are finished by putting the 
rough pieces in a stout bag, which is tied to the arm of 
a wind-mill, and while they go round and round the mar¬ 
bles rub against one another, and finally all become 
round and smooth. It is just so with boys, they are the 
marbles, the school is the bag, and the daily meeting at 
class and in the play-ground, and on Saturdays, is the 
revolving of the wind-mill that rubs them together. It 
is bad for the boy who has sharp corners of selfishness 
or conceit, they are very soon knocked off, and if the boy 
is given to bragging, or worse than all, if he is disposed 
to play the bully, how soon lie gets the nonsense taken 
out of him 1 The picture of the Bantam, little conceited 
thing, challenging a big Brahma, reminded us so much 
of some youngsters, that we find ourseves writing about 
boys instead of birds. Pictures of this kind generally 
explain themselves, and any bright boy or girl can see 
the whole story of this without its being told ; but we 
sometimes like, when you have enjoyed the picture as 
a picture, to tell you of something it shows us, which 
you may not see. Both Bantam and Brahma are fowls, 
yet how unlike; the one, small, neat, active, and full of 
life and courage, and the other large, clumsy, and so 
indifferent that it will not try to get over a fence four 
feet high. Naturalists are not agreed as to whether our 
domestic fowls all came from one or several wild kinds ; it 
is now impossible to be sure about this, ns they have 
been so long domesticated ; the Chinese have a record 
that fowls were introduced into that country 1400 years 
B. C., and it seems quite certain that they were known 
in Europe in the 6th century B. C. From these early 
times fowls, no matter what they may have started from, 
have been bred ; some were bred for small size, and 
others for large size, and our picture shows the two ex¬ 
tremes in the Bantam and the Brahma. The picture, which 
is on the page before this, really belongs to the Boys and 
Girls, but it is put there because it will be printed better 
than if it were here. It is a little awkward to have the 
picture in one place and the talk about it in another, 
but we can't help it sometimes. 
November. 
From what has already been said about the numbered 
months, you hardly need to be told that this gets its 
name from being the 9th month of the Roman year, 
Novem being the Latin for 9. This month is a sort of 
battle-ground between winter and autumn; sometimes 
autumn holds its own for a while, and we have pleasant 
days, but winter sends along his skirmishers of fog and 
chilly, damp rains, and usually succeeds in establishing 
himself before the month is over. Such fogs as this 
month often brings us who live near the coast! So dense 
are they that we cannot see across the street, and in the 
cities the gas is lighted in the offices and stores. But it 
is not worth while to look forward to the unpleasant 
things of the month ; they are sufficient when they come. 
If we were to ask.“What is there pleasant about Novem¬ 
ber? A chorus of young voices would shout—from end 
to end of the country," Thanksgiving.”—Yes it is thanks¬ 
giving time which makes this month memorable, and all 
its fogs and sleets cannot chill the happiness of this hol¬ 
iday. May each one of you enjoy this purely American 
family holiday, with thankful hearts. 
Keeping- a Canary, 
Amanda A. L. We never kept canaries or other birds, 
partly because we don’t like to see them confined, though 
canaries know no other life, and the cage is their world, 
but mainly because we never had time to give tllem the 
proper care. We recently saw in an English journal 
called “Little Folks,” a long talk about canaries, of 
which we quote the part which tells about the care of 
them : “ If you buy a canary, do not choose one that has 
long and strong claws, or blackish rough scales on them, 
because it will be an old bird, and not likely to sing for 
long. The German canaries are considered the best 
singers ; and the German bird-fanciers bestow great at¬ 
tention and do their best to teach them to sing sweetly. 
They take them from their nests, and let them hear night¬ 
ingales and larks, which they will imitate most sweetly. 
When your pet is moulting, which is usually in July or 
August, keep it warm and give it a little hemp-seed, 
bread and milk, and lettuce or endive; but at other 
times it is better not to give it sweets and cakes, or ex¬ 
tras of any kind, as some children do ; they will make it 
ill. Canaries will live from ten to twenty years if prop¬ 
erly looked after, kept clean, fed regularly, and hung in 
dry, warm places. They will for long repay with the 
sweetest song all the care that you can bestow on them. 
Canaries know nothing of liberty, and would only starve 
if we set them free ; but you should remember always to 
take proper care of the helpless little birds. I will give 
you a few hints how to keep the canary in health. To 
begin with its food, which should be simply canary-seed 
mixed with about one-fourth of rape-seed, give occasion¬ 
ally a slice of sweet apple or a little bit of boiled carrot 
by way of a treat, fresh chickweed, groundsel, or water¬ 
cress ; and above all give it plenty of clean water ; cana¬ 
ries are such bath-loving little birds. In their native 
wild state they are always flitting in and out of water, 
and it is cruel to deprive them of such a wholesome 
pleasure ; and when they are moulting do not forget to 
leave an iron nail in their bath. Be also very particular 
about keeping the cage clean, with plenty of fine sharp 
sand in it. Do not leave it in a cold room in winter-time, 
and above all do not hang your pet’s cage by a draughty 
window, for there is nothing more likely to make them 
sickly and ill. Canaries are such tender, warmth-loving 
little birds, that they soon cease singing, and die, if 
these simple directions be not well attended to. A 
japanned ora plain tinned cage is the best and easiest to 
clean ; the common colored cages are dangerous, as the 
birds are apt to pick off the paint, and kill themselves. 
ISrig'DitciiIng' all it Can. 
The day had been dark and gloomy, when, suddenly, 
towards night, the clouds broke, and the sun’s rays 
streamed through, shedding a flood of golden light 
upon the whole country. A sweet voice at the win¬ 
dow cried out in joyful tones: “Look! O, look! 
papa, thesnn’sfiivplitoinpall it can.”—“ Brightening all 
it can ? so it is,” answered papa, “ and you can be like 
the sun, if you choose.”—“ How, papa ? tell me how.”— 
“ By looking happy, and smiling on us all day, and never 
letting any tearful rain come into the blue of those eyes; 
only be happy and good; that is all.”— Brit. Juv. 
- ^^ ««*-> ---- 
The B>octoi*’s Talks—About Vari¬ 
ous Matters. 
I have usually talked to the boys and girls about some 
particular thing, but now there are several matters that 
I wish to say a word about, and I will put them all into 
one “ talk.” Two girls write that they were disappointed 
in seeing nothing in the October No. about autumn 
leaves. There are several reasons why I did not say 
anything about the leaves last month. The girls may 
have heard the story of the man who had 16 reasons for 
not riding to meeting. First, he had no horse, and no 
one was curious enough to know about the remaining 
15. I might give as a reason for having no leaf talk that 
I was several hundred miles towards sun-down, and was 
for the first time in many years away when the paper 
went to press. I say I might give this as a reason, but 
the real one was, that I did not intend to talk about 
Autumn Leaves in October. I supposed sufficient 
directions for drying were given in September, and that 
you would not care to make them up before the collect¬ 
ing season was over, and there was a good lot on hand 
nicely dried. The beauty of the /eaves depends upon 
their having dried quickly ; I gave in September the 
usual way of drying, but I wish I had added that a warm 
flat-iron may be used to advantage, especially if the 
weather is damp. To give the leaves a bright surface, 
and to bring out their colors, the old way was to give 
them a coating of raw linseed oil. I last winter hit 
upon what seems to me a much better way, which is to 
Dip the Leaves in Melted Pahaffine.— Perhaps 
you do not know what paraffine is, and to save you the 
trouble of asking, will say that in appearance it is some¬ 
thing between white wax and spermaceti; it is quite 
hard and solid when cold, but melts very readily at a 
much less heat than that at which water boils. This 
among other interesting substances, comes from that 
wonderful natural product, petroleum, which you know 
also gives us the useful lighting oil, kerosine. After the 
leaves are dry, you can then give them a most beautiful 
polish by dipping them in paraffine. In order to avoid 
getting the paraffine too hot and frying your leaves, yon 
must use what the chemists call a water-bath ; put your 
tin cup, or whatever dish holds the paraffine, into a 
sauce-pan or other dish containing water, and place the 
two, one within the other, upon the stove ; the paraffine 
will soon melt, and so long as there is water in the outer 
dish, it cannot get hotter than the boiling point of water, 
or 212°. If the bottom of the inner dish sits directly 
upon the bottom of the outer one, there may be some 
bumping from the escape of steam ; to prevent this, set 
your paraffine dish upon a chip or two, a few nails, or 
anything to prevent the two dishes from touching one 
another. Now, having your dried leaves, your melted 
paraffine, a lot of old newspapers, and some soft rags, 
you are ready to 
Go to Work.— Take the leaves one at a time by their 
stalks, put each carefully into the melted paraffine, let it 
remain there for a few seconds, lift it out, and allow 
what paraffine will drop off, to fall back into the dish; 
PART OF LAMP-SHADE. 
now lay the leaf upon one of the newspapers, folded to 
make a sort of cushion, and with a soft rag wipe off all 
the paraffine that you can from both sides. This will 
leave the leaf with a beautiful polish, and it may be 
again put back into the book from which you took it. 
Paraffine may be had at most of the drug stores, and in 
cities the better grocery stores have candles made of par- 
