neatness and dispatch of the candidate. Fourth, 
if prevents one assisting another, and no decep¬ 
tion can be practiced. Fifth, the schools can be 
open for good teachers first,—the poor ones will 
have to be last, whilo it is just the opposite now, 
and I believe that this was the intent of the law 
for graded certificates. There are many more 
advantages, which any oue can sec for himself, 
and need not to be written here. I present this 
plan, fellow teachers, for your consideration, and 
I offer it that yon may examine it, criticise, and 
improve. I have hoped that some Commissioner 
would adopt it, and see how it works, ami report; 
and 1 believe that any Commissioner would be 
sustained shonld he annul all the certificates 
granted before he came into office, aud call on 
all who teach to come forward for examination. 
At any rate, I know of many who would be glad 
to see it done. Solon. 
Lansing, Tomp. Co., N. Y., 1860. 
of arable land, which may be easily and cheaply 
watered by the various systems of irrigation, and 
the soil being alluvial and calcareous, returns a 
prodigious yield. They abound in fuel, and ma¬ 
terials for dwellings. The climate is favorable to 
health, longevity, intellectual and physical devel¬ 
opment. 
Swiftness of Birds. —A German ornithologist 
says the vulture can fly at the rate of 150 miles 
an hour. Observations made on the coast of 
Labrador convince Maj. Cartwright that the wild 
goose can travel at the rate of 00 miles an hour. 
The common crow can fly 25 miles; swallows, 
according to Spallagin, 02 miles an hour. It is 
said that a falcon was discovered at Malta 24 
hours after the departure of Henry IV from Fon- 
tainbleau. If true, this bird must have flown 15 
hours at the rate of 67 miles, not allowing him 
to re9t a moment during the whole time. 
[Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker.J 
EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —As the time for 
the Teachers’ Institutes of the several connties, 
and for the examination of teachers for our win¬ 
ter schools is approaching, a few words thereon, 
from one who has felt snd seen the difficulties 
attendant upon the present system, not only to 
teacherp, but to the Commissioners, would not 
be deemed inappropriate. The present system 
requires that the Commissioner shall examine 
each teacher before granting a license. This is 
done by asking a few questions on the several 
branches, to be answered vocally. The questions 
are often asked without previous thought, are 
liable to be misunderstood, and, if answered, are 
often called correct, when they are not, or vice 
versa. The time of these examinations is always 
short, consequent upon holding them in the 
afternoon, and as some teachers live far from the 
place of meeting. The questions are frequently 
asked the class collectively, and one more quick 
than the rest answers all, and the credit is given 
to the entire class; or he tells others, and lets 
them answer. Candidates are often much embar¬ 
rassed, and cannot answer even what they know 
perfectly well. I have thus mentioned some of 
the objections to the present system. There are 
many more, but T will speak of only one, which I 
consider greater than any other. 
Any one who has attempted to teach, or who 
knows anything about schools, knows that mental 
qualifications are not alone necessary, to consti¬ 
tute the good teacher. He must have that partic¬ 
ular “aptness to teach” which can present to the 
mind of the child the fact as plainly as it is In 
his own, and he mast have that order which is so 
necessary to develop the mind. Now, how much 
does the Commissioner know of this, simply by 
hearing the answers to a few questions put indis¬ 
criminately to twenty or thirty different persons 
Borne of whom answer all,—some a part,—some 
none at all? Positively nothing. But ho has 
answered the requirements of the law? Yes, In 
form, and that is all. He grants certificates to 
all, or a part, us he may happen to feel disposed 
and the patrons of our schools take them all in 
good faith. 
Some Commissioners grant first grade certifi¬ 
cates to all in theIr district, at all times during 
their administration, thus not only binding them¬ 
selves to perpetuate the wrong, hut also bindiug 
their successors. Licenses should expire at the 
time the Commissioner leaves his office, and the 
new Commissioner may thus have power to re 
form, if he is so disposed. Then, again, those 
teachers who are least qualified, as they have 
been at no expense, can teach cheaper than those 
who have fitted themselves; aud as Trustees can¬ 
not distinguish when all have the same docu¬ 
ments, they get the preference, to the detriment 
of the schools and the best teachers. 
Most teachers have seen t'ut this examining is 
only a dumb show, dMuu no good, but working 
a positive injury, so much so that many belt ve 
the schools would be better were no certificates 
given, as the trustees would then depend on 
themselves. I would rather trust any three 
farmers to decide, than one such examination 
I have heard Trustees say, when they had hired a 
teacher and he failed, “ Why, I knew he couldu’t 
teach school, but be had a first grade certificate, 
and I might he deceived.” 
As I do not wish to tear down without giving 
something to occupy the cleared place, 1 present 
my plan i- r the consideration of teachers and 
others who may feel an interest in the question. 
The plan may i ave many objections, bnt I think 
that it will do away with nearly, if not quite, all 
the objections 1 have mentioned, and it can be 
improved upon by those Commissioners who feet 
disposed to try it. 1 believe that it will be a much 
inure thorough test of qualification than the old 
mode, and sufficient in ull cases, where it is car¬ 
ried out with the good of the schools as its first 
object. 
The examination is conducted in the following 
manner: At the meeting of the teachers for ex¬ 
amination, all w io expect licenses Bhould be 
present, and be provided with a pencil, half quire 
of paper, but no book, nor slate. Each takes bis 
seat by himself, so that there can be no commu- 
i nication. The Commissioner should be provided 
with sots of questions on all the branches, and 
such questions as none should be ignorant or who 
wish to teach. They should not be puzzles, but 
plain, practical questions. These should be 
printed on small slips of paper, or on cards. 
The Commissioner passes round, for instance, the 
card with the questions in geography, and allows 
a suitable time for each to write bis answers on 
his paper, which is then signed, and the Commis¬ 
sioner takes them all up, whether finished or 
unfinished, and gives another card, which is 
written in the same way. After all are thus 
written he puts them, each person’s answers by 
themselves, and if he wishes, asks some other 
questions,—ascertains how they would govern a 
school, Ac., Ac., or dismisses them. He then has 
time to examine and compare his papers, aod can 
grade them so that all the schools s iall be snp- 
! plied with teachers, and those who are best, fitted 
0 can have the first hance,—for M ey shonld have 
^ their license- first,—and then, if there were not 
^ enough, 8 -cond grade ceitificates might be given, 
or even third. 
v-1 Let me t ow mentio 1 some of the advantages 
jjj of this system. In the first place, jt removes all 
J Jp embarrassment from teachers. Next, the Com- 
missioner need feel no embarrassment, because 
fcj he knows m thing of how each is doing. Third, 
gjff itexhib'ts, atone view, the penmanship, pancu- 
Lffi ntion, spelling, order, clearness of explanation, 
SCHOOL HOURS AND EXERCISES, 
Mr. Edwin Chadwick, whose name is identi¬ 
fied with so many important social reforms, has 
of late been prosecuting an educational inquiry 
of great interest. He was, as our readers may 
remember, appointed by the British government 
a commissioner to inquire into the excessive 
labor of young persons ia cotton factories. The 
results he obtained led him to propose measures, 
which wore in part executed, for reducing the 
working time of children under thirteen years 
of age to six hours a day, and for insuring their 
attendance at school the residue of the time, sfty 
thiee hours. The children under this provision 
are called "half-timers;” and it turns out, accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Chadwick’s investigations, that in 
well-conducted schools their sMainmenta are 
quite equal to those of the "full-timers,” who 
attend school six hours daily, whilo iu aptitude 
for the application of their knowledge they are 
said to be superior. As they gain in bodily con¬ 
dition by the reduction of their physical labor, 
so they do in mental condition by the redaction 
of the time devoted to mental labor. 
Mr. Chadwick made also a close examination 
of the best of tho long-time schools for young 
children, aud found, upon the testimony of the 
most intelligent teachers, that they could not 
keep up volantary attention to study beyond two 
hours in the morning and one hour in the after¬ 
noon. By force, even, they cannot get more 
than an additional half-hour of real attention, 
and that half hour proves in tho end a mental 
mischief as well as a bodily injury. From these 
foots it would seem to follow, as he contends, 
that our school systems are a violation, in this 
respect, of the laws of physiology. 
Boys are enabled to repair the injury of undue 
mental work, to a certain extent, by their athletic 
games. Not so with girls. In boarding schools 
they are fastened to their sedentary occupations 
often eight hours a day, with but slight inter¬ 
vening relaxation or exercise. Mr. Chadwick 
finds the daughters of mothers who have worked, 
but whose fathers have got on in tho world, and 
have sent these daughters to day or boarding- 
schools, and kept them from work, aro shoiter 
and generally of inferior strength to the working 
mothers; that the proportion of mothers of the 
well-to-do claves who can Buckle their own chil¬ 
dren ia diminishing; that among women who 
have oue servant there are ailments which are 
unknown among women who have no servants; 
and that these ailments are worse with women 
who have two servants, and get very bad indeed, 
and with new complications of hypochondria, 
among women wtio have three servants. 
The remedies recommended by this gentleman, 
are the redaction of the ordinary school hours 
by one half, and the devotion of them either to 
inaoual labor or gymuasiics. But no form of 
exercise, he thinks, is equal to the naval aud 
military drill. — A f ew York Evening I'ost. 
VIEW ON SENECA RIVER. 
During) the preset season we have given our 
readers some fine views in Central New York, and 
more particularly of those beautiful small lakes 
b ginning with ihe Canaudaigna at the West, and 
embracing the Oneida on the East- These fine 
lakes, situate as they are in the most fertile and 
beautiful portion of our State, are the admiration 
of all tonriBts, and the pride of ifs inhabitants. 
Yet, few who write of the beauties of foreign 
lands, and speak in glowing terms of Italian skies 
and scenery, know that in ibe central portion of 
onr State we have a cluster of lakes at least oh 
charming as anything that can be seen or enjoyed 
in a tour of Europe. Many pleasant hourB have 
we spent, on their green banks and pebbly shores, 
while we have looked down, down through tho 
crystal element, to watch the shining perch or 
bass, nibbling at the deceptive bait. The memory 
of past hours spent on these silvery waters, is ex¬ 
ceedingly pleasant. The trees will soon put on 
their gay autumn dress, and the banks of these 
lakes will soon be in one hluze of gorgeous beauty. 
No better time could be selected for a pleasant tour, 
where pleasure can be surely and cheaply obtained. 
Some of our correspondent# have made inqui¬ 
ries in regnr to the outlets of these lakes, and as 
we wish to make the matter well understood, we 
have had engraved a smalt map of the lake region 
of New York. From this it will be seen that 
Canandaigua Lake has for its outlet Canandaigua 
River, which runs into the Clyde River, and the 
Clyde into the Seneca River. Croo ed Lake 
empties into Seneca Lake, and the outlet "I Seneca 
Lake is Seneca River, which connects with the 
Oswego River. Cayuga Lake empties into Seneca 
River, near Seneca Falla. Owasco Lake empties in¬ 
to Seueea River, thro’a small stream called Owas¬ 
co outlet, a few miles from Anhurn. SkaneateleB 
Lake is Connected with the Seneca River by an 
outlet, near the same place. Onondaga Lake 
empties into the Seneca River near Syracuse. 
The Oueida Rake empties into the Oneida River, 
which unites with the Seneca, forming tho Oswego 
River, which ia the common outlet of the whole 
range of Lakes. The Oswego enters Lake Ontario 
at the city of Oswego. 
READING FOR YOUTH. 
A wise man once said, of the making of books 
there is no end. This is more literally true now 
than when spoken some three thousand years ago. 
Thousands of new books arc every year published 
in this country, and many more In England, and 
France, and other parts of Europe. A life time 
devoted entirely to reading, would not afford 
time for the perusal of one-tenth of the books 
already published, to suy nothing of the vast an¬ 
nual increase, aud the great amount of periodical 
literature. As, therefore, with tho time young 
men have for reading, only a very small portion— 
uut one in a hundred—of the exfSung books and 
uf the periodical matter can be read, it becomes 
necessary that the youth should be very select in 
choosing works to which they devote their time 
and attention. If this is not the case, valuable 
time is, at least, wasted. 
In selecting books, act as in choosing friends. 
There are those with whom we cannot associate, 
and books we cannot read, without receiving 
positive injury. Then there are light, trifling and 
foolish people and books, whose company tends to 
dissipate the mind, and give it a distaste for every- 
thing manly and noble. Select only a few books 
for pernsal, and those calculated to improve the 
mind and the hcait. The manner of reading, too, 
is important. Books should be read not merely 
for amusement, but for a purpose. Coleridox 
divides readers into four classes. “The first,” 
he says, “ may be compared to an hour-glass, tboir 
readiug being as the sand; it runs in, and it runs 
out, and leaveB not a vestige behind. A second 
class resembles a sponge, which imbibes every¬ 
thing, and returns it i eaily in the same state, only 
a little dirtier. A third class is like a jelly-bag, 
which allows ail that ia pure to pass away, and 
retains only the refuse aud tho dregs. Tho fourth 
clasB may be compared to the slave iu the diamond 
mines of Goloonda, who, casting aside all that is 
worthless, preserves only the pure gem.” 
Another author says it is necessary to have a 
fixed, noble purpose behind a disposition to read, 
as behind physical strength In secular pursuits, 
otherwise what is read will be of comparatively 
little service. These lew hints on reading are 
designed as merely suggestive of thought, aud 
perhaps discussion among our young readers. 
salmoB 
.nJLTOH 
' l OTTf- - :W?i« 
!fl0 CHCSte, / I 
WET0U4A 
#5-(oncida 
® WALES 
HOfirOY E.L 
'turn* 
hemlock 
yiuR0H A 
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SPEHCER 
MAP OF THE LAKE COUNTRY OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL NEW YORK. 
is called the Ziogoon, who resides at Yeddo. 
He commanda the army, has the revenues at his 
disposal, is emperor de facto, and visits the Mi¬ 
kado once in seven years, with great pomp and 
pageuritry. A Council of state consists of thir¬ 
teen, of which five are taken from tho hereditary 
vassal princes, and eight from the hereditary 
nobility below the rank of princes. The oonnoil 
of state governs in the name of the emperor— 
Ziogoou. Among these councillors there is oue 
called the ‘Governor of the Empire,’ to whom 
the others are subordinate. There are numerous 
other inferior officials, but the empire is ruled by 
those already named; and while the laws are 
sanguinary—death being the penalty in most 
cases of offence—the whole system is a govern 
ment of spies, and as absolute as any, if not the 
most absolute, in the world.” 
GENEALOGY OF THE PRINCE OF WALES, 
He is the oldest, son of Victoria, who ia the 
daughter of the Duke of Kent, who was the soil 
of George the Third, who was tho grandson of 
George the Second, who was the sou of Princess 
Sophia, who was the sister of William and Mary. 
Mary was the daughter, and William the son-in- 
law of James tho Second, who was the son of 
Charles the First, who was tho son of James the 
First, who was the son of Mary, who was tho 
granddaughter of Margaret, who was tho sister of 
Henry the Eighth, who was the son of Henry tho 
Seventh, who was the son of tho Earl of Rich¬ 
mond, who was the son of Catherine, tho widow 
of Henry the Fifth, who was the son of Henry tho 
Fourth, who was the cousin of Richard the Second, 
who was the grandson of Edward the Third, who 
was the son of Edward the Second, who was tho 
son of Henry the Third, who wuis the son of John, 
who was the son of Henry tho Second, who was 
the son of Matilda, tho daughter of Henry the 
First, who was the brother of William Rufus, who 
was the son of William the Conquerer, who was 
son of the Duke of Normandy, by a tanner’s 
daughter of Falaise. 
SPELLING FOR ADVANCED PUPILS, 
ORIGIN OF THE JAPANESE, 
As the exercise of spelling for advanced pupils 
is now conducted in many of our schools, it is 
deficient in two very important particulars. It 
is not frequent t uougb, and pupils do not spell a 
sufficient number of words. Pupils of all ages 
ought to Bpell every day , even in High Schools, 
Academies, and lirst-claas Grammar Schools, 
where In many cases it is much less frequent. 
A weekly, semi-weekly, or any other occasional 
spelling exercise, is not often enough. Such is 
the peculiarity of our language, that bnt few 
general rules tor spelling can be given. A good 
speller must become so mainly by dint of mem¬ 
ory and continual drilL 
For want of time, the exercise, if an oral one, 
is generally too short. But few words can be 
actaally spelled by each pupil. Listening to the 
spelling of ethers may be, and is, beneficial; bat 
to a far less extent than epellLu for ourselves. 
This want of time oan be in a great measure 
avoided, by having the words written instead of 
being spelled orally. But little ingenuity is 
necesBaay on the part of the t acher, to conduct 
the exercise so as to make it a time-saving one. 
Itet the words be written on slates, or slips of 
paper, and after the pupils have exchanged their 
slates or papers, let the words be read aloud and 
corrected; or, which seems preferable to us, let 
them be written on paper, with the pupil's name 
at the head of the slip; and then let a pupil, call¬ 
ed up at random, read the words, while others 
check on their respective lists those words they 
have missed, and Write them oot correctly on the 
back of the paper. The slips should then he col¬ 
lected and passed to the teacher, that it may be 
known if the work is dune neatly, honestly, etc. 
In this way fifty, or even seveuty-five, pupils in a 
Grammar or High School, may spell fr .m fifteen 
to foity words each, aaily, and never occupy 
more than ten minutes at a tune. This accustoms 
one to the kind of spelling that must he practiced 
in after life. Many children will spell well orally, 
from a habit of associating the orthography ot "a 
word with the sound of it In spelling aloud. 
Such, however, aie not always correct or ready 
spellers when called upon to write. It is only in 
wiiting, of course, that proficiency in i-pelling 
cun be conside'edof any real or practical benefit. 
Massachusetts Teacher. 
Everything relating to the Japanese, ia pecu¬ 
liarly interesting. Ti e following sketch, from 
the pen of Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie, is v luable, 
inasmuch as it contains some facts regarding the 
origin of this nation, which very few of our 
readers, doubtless, have ever seen before: 
“Many have supposed thut the Japanese are 
descended from the Chinese: but it is not so. 
The evidences are that they are an original na¬ 
tion. The language of the two people is entirely 
different, both iu construction and pronunciation. 
So the religion of the two nations differed. The 
original religion of Japan was the Sintoo, the 
gods and idols of which were 8in and Kame. 
Buddhism, wo ch now prevails, was not intro¬ 
duced iuto the empire until fifty-six years after 
the birth of Christ. Chinese settled in Japan in 
the seventh year of the eighth monarch of the 
empire, Kokcm, and there was considerable trade 
between the two empires prior to 1637, after 
which it was restricted. They introduced and 
communicated by these sparse settlements, from 
time to time, the arts aud science# to Japau, 
which had long before flourished in China. 
Koemfer, beside# these reasons for denying that 
the Chinese and Japanese are the same people, 
inhabiting different countries, inclines to the 
opinion that the Japauese are descendants of the 
first inhabitants of Babylon, and their language 
one of those which God, us a punishment, and 
for the confusion of 1 la vain and conceited 
builders, infused into the miud9 of those who 
commenced the tower of BabeL He thinks that 
the confusion of tongues brought the people, 
who then dwelt in the plains of Shinar, to sepa¬ 
rate and be dispersed over the world. This is an 
ingenious theory; bat the general opinion is that 
the Japanese belonged • riginally to the great 
Tartar race. Information iatoo limited,however, 
to solve the question satisfactorily. The empire 
of Japan has two emperoi#—one ecclesiastical, 
and the other secular. The first is cdled ibe 
Mikado, and resides in Mikao. He is the first in 
rank, and is regarded with excessive veneration, 
but has no political power whatever. The second 
THE GREAT PLAINS OF AMERICA. 
Mr. Wm. Gilpin, in a recent book on the Cen¬ 
tral Gold region, advances and maintains the idea 
that the great Western plains, where he h»s spent 
twenty years, instead of being a desert, as is the 
common impression, are the opposite, forrniugthe 
pastoral garden of the world, and the basis of the 
future empire of commerce and Industry of this 
Continent. They occupy a longitudinal parallel¬ 
ogram of less than 1,000 mile# wide, extending 
from the Texan to the Arctic coast, and from the 
Rocky Mountains to the western border of Louisi¬ 
ana, Ark miss, Missouri and Iowa, an area equal 
to the surface ol twenty-four States between the 
Mississippi aud the Atlantic, without a single 
abrupt mountain, timbered space, desert, or lake. 
There is no timber on this area, and single trees 
are scarce. 
The soil is not silicious or sandy, bat a fine cal¬ 
careous mold. The country is thickly clad with 
grasses, edible and nutritious, through tho year, 
aud swarms with animal life. The climate is 
comparatively rainless; the rivers, which abound, 
and which all run from west to east, serving, like 
the Nile, to irrigate rather than druin the neigh¬ 
boring surface. From their dimensions and posi¬ 
tion the author thinks they are to be the pasture- 
Jields of the uiorld, and that upon them pastoral 
agriculture will become a separate department of 
national industry. On this belt of perennial past¬ 
ure are found the Infinite herds of cattle peculiar 
to North America, whose aggregate munoei, it is 
estimated, exceeds one hundred million, ti e bn - 
falo ah ne being as numerous as the American 
people. The plains embrace an ample proportion 
Fish and Plants for Aquariums. —I saw in 
some of the back numbers of the Rural, direc¬ 
tions for making small aquariamB, and as I am 
going to try the experiment, 1 should be much 
obliged by your answering a few questions. How 
many gold or silver fish would yon put in an 
aquarium made of window glass 12 by 14? How 
many plants will be sufficient, aud what kind? Is 
it necessary to wash the Band clear from earth 
before patting it in?— Young Ruralist, Ledyard, 
AC Y. 
Three or four gold fish would be enough 
with a few minnows, or other small fish. The 
Call#, or African Lily, is a good plants for the 
center. Then try any small water plant which 
yon may be able to obtain iu the marahes, or any 
wet places. Wash tho sand as clean as possible. 
Paste for Scrap Books. —Will O. W,, of Nor¬ 
wich, Conn., (sue the Rural of Aug. 11th,) please 
inform me if his paste for scrap books has any 
advantage over gum Arabic, except perhaps in 
Cheapness?—W. W., Monterey, AC Y-, I860. 
Despise noihing because it seems weak. The 
flies and locusts have done more harm than ever 
the beaisand lions did. 
