.August, 1859 . 
338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Iowa Correspondence. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I am sorry not to see more letters from this 
beautiful State. To have the lowest list of sub¬ 
scribers for the Agriculturist, would not speak 
well for any State. We take the Agriculturist, 
and notwithstanding “never lend your paper,” 
we lend to every one not taking it who will read 
it. Four of these already 
desire to become sub¬ 
scribers next year. Your 
seeds are of great value 
in our new country, 
where it is often hard to 
obtain a good lot. We 
have “ astonished the 
natives ” by having new 
and rare plants in our 
garden, growing from 
your seeds, when they 
had only seen the adver¬ 
tisement of them in some 
Weekly from the East, 
and had thought it would 
be some time before they 
could be obtained in this 
western country. We 
bought bees last year, 
and by following direc¬ 
tions given every month 
in the Agriculturist , have 
succeeded well, and have 
had honey to eat with 
our “ hog anil hominy .” 
I am glad to see such 
pictures as the happy 
family in their rural 
home, given in your May 
number; that class read 
your paper more than 
the rich and great, and 
some simple useful hints 
like those, suggest new 
ideas to them, and, if they 
are right minded, will 
make their homes cheer¬ 
ful and happy. I think 
the Agriculturist will help 
us to beautify our cottage 
—it has done it already. The advertisement in 
the Tribune, puffing the hop tree, and advising to 
banish the hop vine, is all wrong. What was 
said in the Agriculturist about “ Morning Glories 
for paint,” will apply to the hop vine as well, if 
not better, for it is earlier. It is a long tried 
friend, and I do not like to see it depreciated. 
This is my first epistle to you, and may or may 
not be worthy of “ making a note of,” but how¬ 
ever that may be, accept our warmest w’ishes for 
the success of the Agriculturist. Agnes May. 
Louisa Co., Iowa. 
Hints for tlie Season. 
Now that hot weather is in the ascendant, it is 
a good time for forming plans to promote the sum 
mer comforts of one’s home. Are there blinds 
and good curtains on your house, so that the fiery 
rays of the sun cannot dart into your bedrooms 
and parlor I If not, resolve to devote the first 
spare money to provide this comfort. Are there 
shade-trees around your dwelling, where your 
family can sit at leisure moments and enjoy them¬ 
selves ? If not, let the approaching autumn see 
a goodly number planted. And then, have you a 
verandah or porch over your door on the sunny 
side, where roses and vines may clamber, thus 
making your house comfortable, as well as adding 
to its beauty 1 And whatever else is lacking to 
promote the comfort of your home at this hot 
season, make note of it, and begin to provide it 
as far, and as fast, as your means will allow. The 
things which really give the most comfort are 
usually cheap. If you are provided with a fair 
assortment of carpenter's tools, there are scores 
of conveniences which may be made at odd spells. 
The above picture we found recently in 
the English “National Magazine,” and think¬ 
ing it possessed several features of beauty ,as 
well as interest, we had it re-engraved to present 
to the readers of the Agriculturist The girl here 
represented is the daughter of an Italian farmei, 
who, having gone out at early dawn, while the 
dew was fresh upon the ground, to cut grass for 
the cattle, now trudges patiently homeward with 
the spoils of the field upon her head. She is of 
rather darker complexion than most of the 
younger females of Italy, and appears to belong 
to the dark-haired Sabine race. Her features in¬ 
dicate an Israelitish descent. The reaping hook 
in her hand is of the form used in Italy from 
time immemorial. We find it pictured and de¬ 
scribed as far back as the days of Caesar. The 
poet Virgil used such a hook in his amateur hus¬ 
bandry, at the time he w'rote his Georgies, or 
Rural Latin Poems, some 40 years before the 
Christian Era. How 7 strongly does this primitive 
grass-hook, yet in general use in many countries, 
contrast with our modern cutting implements. 
What would be thought of the farmer who should 
eschew the scythe, and gather all his grass with 
the best modern sickle ; yet, how far is the scythe 
excelled by the recent horse-mower. 
There is another thought suggested by this 
picture. The grass cutter is evidently not one ot 
the poorest class ; her dress indicates that she 
belongs to a family well-to-do in the world. But 
note the healthful vigor indicated in her counte¬ 
nance, and the strong, well developed muscles of 
the arm and shoulder. This comes from active 
open air exercise—such exercise as would, if 
taken by our females, do away with nine-tenths 
of the paleness, languor, and consumption, now so 
prevalent. We are far 
from proposing that our 
wives and daughters 
should take their place 
with the laborers in the 
hay-field — though we 
have in mind sundry 
pleasing poetic pictures 
of lads and lasses, toss¬ 
ing the new-mown hay— 
hut we are becoming 
more and more impressed 
with the absurdity of the 
present system of female 
education. The aim now 
is, to secure, not a vigor¬ 
ous robust constitution, 
but soft hands and a deli¬ 
cate whiteness of the 
skin, accompanied, ot 
course, by languor,w r eak- 
ness of muscles, and a 
sickly sensitiveness of 
nerves. Never was 
there a time when it was 
more important to incul¬ 
cate the fact that a sound 
mind can exist only in a 
sound body. Our females 
need air, sunlight, and se¬ 
verer exercise. To use a 
homely comparison,there 
is about as much differ¬ 
ence between what many 
refined females are, •phy¬ 
sically, and what they 
ought to be, as there is 
between the colorless 
vine raised in the still at¬ 
mosphere of a dark cellar, 
and the green healthful 
one that has grown in the open field, and with¬ 
stood the bending force of a hundred strong winds. 
While an advanced civilization has appropri¬ 
ately turned over field labors exclusively to the 
sterner sex, provision should still be made to 
give active out-door employment and exercise 
to females. We know of nothing affording better 
and more appropriate exercise than the gardes. 
Nor would we have this labor confined to the su¬ 
pervision of a flower border alone. An hour or 
two of labor with the garden trowel, weeding 
fork, rake, and hoc, daily, among the plants of va¬ 
rious kinds, by every female in the household, 
would do more to abolish nervousness, sick 
headache, debility, coughs, and “declines,” and to 
promote real health, and beauty of complexion, 
than all the pills, lotions, cosmetics, and etcete¬ 
ras, which medical science, patent and impotent, 
ever dreamed of. 
-- — --- - - 
The Os-eye Daisy ( Leucantkcmum.) 
If the object to be attained in field culture was 
to adorn the landscape, to produce crops of beau 
ty, the Ox-eye Daisy would justly be highly 
prized. When the vivid green of Spring is fading 
into the ripening brown of Summer, this plant 
THE ITALIAN GRASS CUTTER.—From a Painting by Edmund Engles. 
