YANKEE FARMING.-NO. 7. 
255 
while driving, and as we are both extravagantly 
fond of flowers, and cultivate them to a considera¬ 
ble extent, we could not but wonder at the want of 
taste on the part of the farmers’ wives and daugh¬ 
ters, in not giving more attention to these beautiful 
things, which, if they did, even in a moderate de¬ 
gree. it would make this one of the most delightful 
rural districts that surround us. 
We found Sisters Sally and Lizzy in excellent 
health, and, primly dressed in the old seventy-six 
style, waiting to receive us ; and as we alighted 
from the carry-all, they welcomed us with unaf¬ 
fected cordiality. The compliments of the day 
being passed, the ladies soon got into a regular do¬ 
mestic chat; but, as I took no particular interest in 
the subjects of their discourse, I soon left them to 
enjoy it among themselves, and proceeded to hunt 
up the nephew, who had the superintendence of 
the farm. I found him at the head of a gang of 
men just finishing the mowing of a wet meadow. 
As 1 came up, he arranged with them to go on with 
the work, and we then proceeded to walk over the 
farm a while, and inspect the crops. After tiring of 
this we returned to the house, when Sister Lizzy 
undertook to show us the glories of her vegetable 
garden ; for my readers must know, that this is as 
much a hobby with her as the poultry is with Sister 
Sally. But the great difference between them, is, 
that the one excels as much in her department as 
the other fails in hers, except so far as the rearing 
of a numerous, incongruous progeny is concerned. 
The Garden . — The ground of "Sister Lizzy’s gar¬ 
den could not have been better situated. It lay east 
of the house, and commenced with a terrace of light 
gravelly soil. Descending this, it changed almost 
insiantaneously to a sandy loam, which improved 
in fertility till it ended at the level border of a wide 
meadow, with a soil exceedingly rich, and, at least, 
three feet deep. N) fruit trees were allowed to 
grow in this garden, Sister Lizzy contending that 
they properly belonged to an orchard by themselves; 
and, moreover, that the shade was injurious to the 
vegetables, and the roots in the way of the hoe, the 
spade, and the plow; for she made it a point to 
work the ground to the depth of two feet, at least, 
every spring, and keep the surface well stirred all 
summer; verifying the quaint old saying, 
“ The more we hoa, 
The more we grow.” 
The sides of this garden were trellised with grape 
vines, interspersed with the raspberry and black¬ 
berry, while the walks were bordered with the cur¬ 
rant, the whortleberry, and the gooseberry. Early 
strawberries w r ere grown on the warm, dry ground 
of the terrace, and late ones in the cool, rich soil 
at the foot of the garden. All the other fruits 
which would bear it were assorted over the ground 
in the same way; and thus, in this small space 
alone, they were supplied in sufficient abundance 
from the first of June till the last of October. In 
like manner were the early and late vegetables 
gro w it. Thinks I to myself, I wish the slender, 
bustling Madam Lizzy, with her quick eye and 
shrewd sense, had charge of the department of her 
fat w T addling Sister Sally, she would soon make 
a change in the breeding of their poultry. All her 
movements in the garden were directed by an en¬ 
lightened experience ; but prejudice, and old maids 1 
whims, ruled over the affairs of the poultry 
yard. 
We had scarce set our feet upon the terrace, in 
order to examine the productions of the garden, 
when, who should appear riding up the road, but 
one of our assistants in Uncle Sim’s late mowing 
bee, Mr. James Jones. He was mounted on a high- 
spirited young horse he had just commenced break¬ 
ing, and moved at a rapid rate. He w*as about 
passing the house without recognising our party, 
when I hailed him to know what was his great 
hurry. He pulled short up, doffed his hat, and sa¬ 
luted us all round. Sister Lizzy asked him to stop 
and spend the afternoon. As he was merely riding 
out for exercise, and had nothing particular on 
hand, he concluded he would do so. 
Influence of the Moon .—Sister Lizzy had just 
got through showing us her vegetables, and the 
manner she cultivated them; how she preserved the 
most perfect for seed, and the best of this seed when 
fully ripe ; the improvement in. their quality, and a 
greatly increased production in consequence of her 
care, &c. She then turned to the subject of the influ¬ 
ence of the moon, and began demonstrating the 
wonderful effects of its light, particularly in the 
growth of melons, pumpkins, squashes, gourds, 
and, above all, her favorite nonpareil, and short 
prickly cucumbers. After listening to Sister Lizzy 
at some length, Mr. Jones grew rather impatient 
under the moonshiny lecture, and ventured to sug¬ 
gest that the mineral and organic matter, which 
composed the fertilizing part of the manure that she 
had so bountifully applied to the garden the past 
spring, was now rapidly decomposing and assuming 
a soluble shape, so that the plants could easily as¬ 
similate them; this, with the superior vivifying light 
of the sun, and some late genial showers, rather 
than the moon, were the causes of the rapid growth 
of the vines and their fruit. 
“ Mineral, organic, soluble, assimilate, vivifying, 
genial, nonsense,” repeated Sister Lizzy, pouting 
out her lower lip, and setting her stiffly-starched 
cap a little one side. “Now, Mr. Jones, don’t un¬ 
dertake to out-argue me with your larned terms, 
picked up at that good-for-nothin’ school ye went 
to so long, when you’d much better been at home 
studyin’ farmin’ and gardenin’ with your uncle, the 
Squire ; but you wont beat me out o’ my notion that 
moonshiny nights aint good for growin’ cucumbers 
and other things, for I can see ’em ; and what I can 
see with my own eyes, old as fhey be, nobody 
needn’t undertake to dispute.” 
“ Yes,” added the impatient Aunt Nabby, joining 
Sister Lizzy with the whole force of her voluble 
tongue, “ and I know it, too; and its sartin’ true of 
all livin’ critters, as well as garden sarce. Havn’t 
we, Molly,” turning round, and appealing to her 
daughter for the truth of what she was about to 
assert, “ hav’n’t we, I say, Molly, my gal, seen the 
kittens of our old grey cat grow e’en a’most two 
times as fast these shiny nights back as they did 
afore the moon quartered; and don’t that’ere calf and 
lamb of ourn, that we are bringin’ up by hand, tho’ 
they be’nt quite six months old, don’t they stretch 
themselves to be a’most as big as somfe folks’ year- 
lins’ % I’d like to have ye to see them, Mr. Jemes 
Jones.” To this he declared, catching the bright 
