So we have in the English Ivy the beautiful 
and the useful. The German Ivy with its 
smooth, glossy, light green leaves is a very 
rapid grower and is nice for the parlor or sit¬ 
ting room. Now, cousins, (I am now speak¬ 
ing to the girls) don’t let us allow the boys to 
beat us in the Discussions which I think 
may be of real benefit to us if we take hold 
of them in earnest. Jessie Gurnee. 
Cottage Grove, Wis. 
Dear Uncle Mark.—Y ou wish us to tell 
what we kuow about house plants in Winter. 
It isn’t much. We have not been well situ- | 
ated for keeping plants in cold weather. Our 
rooms with south and east windows best 
suited for them are large and heated with 
fire-places, We find it difficult to keep them 
from freezing with fire all night. We have 
some petunias, slips cut and rooted in the 
Summer. We find they do best in sandy soil 
and require considerable moisture. We have 
some choice pansies cut from last Summer’s 
plants; they root quite easily in the house. 
Then we have some of the Tradescantia or 
Wandering Jew in a hanging basket. The 
two latter seem to have ceased to grow since 
the cold nights have commenced. We will try 
house plauts more extensively when we are 
able to withstand Jack Frost better. 
Charley and Alice Taylor. 
Deer Valley, Col. 
Dear Uncle. —I see by the Rural (which 
I carefully peruse every week), that any one 
can. if a subscriber, or a child of a subscriber, 
become a member by sending you their ad¬ 
dress, and writing you a letter twice a year. 
As I want to be a member, put my name on 
your list. My father has been a subscriber to 
your paper from its first issue. He has the 
bottom of a large hook-case full of R urals 
for reference, und the information he derives 
from them on all horticultural and agricul¬ 
tural matters is worth to him, he says, ten 
times the annual subscription. My father 
went to Texas last Winter to see my two 
brothers who are on a ranch in Bosque coun¬ 
ty. He planted the Ruka l seeds there. The 
pinks were splendid. The asparagus good. 
The sorghum he thinks too coarse for the 
sheep, and would prefer cane or corn sown 
thickly. The White Elephant Potato did very 
well considering the drought. The oats rusted 
and were short and stunted, owing, I suppose, 
to the unusually dry weather. 
Goderich, Out. Daisy Johnston. 
Uncle Mark. —I would like to tell you 
how we keep our apples. Liviug on the flat 
prairies our cellars are too damp for them, so 
we bury them in the ground (freezing does not 
hurt them if covered with six inches of dirt.) 
Last Fall we buried our apples the 14th of 
November. The loth of April we took up 
some which were in good condition. They 
looked as fresh as if just picked from the 
trees. They were Yellow Bellflower, Rome 
Beauty, Rhode Island Greening, and Rawles’ 
Janet. The 17th of May we took out the last 
of the Rawles’ Janet and they were perfect 
yet. Edgar B. Shafenkk. 
Wellman, Iowa. 
lected than pigs or poultry, or eveu farmers 
wives. Farmers’ boys are '’lore frequently 
cared for with a view to the profit they shall 
bring, than to iheir present welfare or future 
manhood. Judging from appearances, they 
are not considered the ornamental part of the 
family, and though their services are fre¬ 
quently culled into requisition the fact is sel¬ 
dom acknowledged. When household help is 
required, the boy is called in to do the weekly 
wash on rainy days. Some one suggests that 
he even peel the potatoes or sweep etc, when 
not employed out of doors ! This being done, 
where is the boy’s leisure ? What gii'l has no 
time for books or embroidery, or an afternoon 
for gossip each week. When the hoy is old 
enough he follows the plow all day, and to 
meet him with the empty water-pail or kind¬ 
ling basket is simply barbarous. If help in 
the house is insufficient, do not make the hoy 
pay the penalty of that: every boy, after he 
goes to the field, earns more than it will cost 
to hire a woman to do the work of the house. 
The excuse that such help cannot be bad, is 
fallacious. •* The poor ye have always with 
you,” and in every neighborhood may be 
found, at a light expense, those who will do 
the washiug-und ironing at their own homes. 
Farmers' boys do not have any great advan¬ 
tages of education, and this is a good reason 
why their evenings and rainy days shouId be 
given them for the improvement of their 
minds. Let hooks and papers he put w ithin 
their reach, and let them be encouraged to 
read them, and there w ill be less noise around 
the barn, less pitching of horse-shoes, less 
lounging in village stores on rainy days. 
Again, the boys’clothing docs not favorably 
compare with their sisters’. Not imfrequently 
they arc left to spend their Sundays with the 
colts and calves, while the girls are dressed up 
and taken to church. I know families where 
the girls spend one day out of the week pulling 
to pieces some dress and changing its appear¬ 
ance for some special occasion, wl.io cannot 
find time to make and starch collars for their 
brothers’ every-day shirts or make mittens 
for com husking days. It is in these boyhood 
days that seeds of bitterness are sown that 
wives reap in after years. No wonder some 
of the boys grow to be “ barbarians,” and oc¬ 
casionally one has no better sense than to 
scrub the kitchen after he has done his day’s 
work. 
gfliiSceUattcous 
Mr. E. G. Gartman. the business manager 
of the Evening Dispatch, of York, Pa., was 
cured of neuralgia by three applications of 
St Jacobs Oil.—Boston (Mass.) Saturday 
Evening Express. 
FARMING FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 
No. 41. 
HENRY STEWART. 
Pasturing. 
We are told in Faciei history, which is the 
oldest record of events which we posses*, that 
Abel became a keeper of sheep w hile his older 
brother. Os in, became a. tiller of the ground. 
Thus farming and pasturing were the first oc¬ 
cupations of mankind. It is true that Adam 
was a gardener, or rather kept a garden, 
which produced in the period of bis innocence 
and happiness all the fruits abundantly, and 
so supported him without the necessity of bis 
laboring, but after his fall it is reason aide to 
suppose that he continued to gather such 
fruits as be could and never really tilled the 
ground. Pastoral life is the second step to¬ 
wards civilization. The savage hunts and 
gathers fruits and roots for his living, and 
wanders from place to place without any 
settled home. When he begins to accumulate 
property, which is the first indication of civil, 
ize 1 life, lie keeps sheep and cattle and lives 
in a tent, moving from place to place as his 
stock demands fresh pasture. This of course 
requires much space and a good deal of 
ground, and as men become more numerous 
they are crowded, and some necessarily have 
to become farmers and live in houses. 
This very course of things is happening 
the great West to-day. Flocks and herds 
roam over the vast plains: but by-and by the 
sheep and cattle get too numerous and the 
pasture too scanty, and one man and then an¬ 
other takes to farming, and by-and by the 
prairie is dotted over with houses and wheat 
and corn fields and the flocks and herds go 
farther off, for pasturing requires a large 
space of ground, but yet it. is a very cheap 
and easy way of keeping sheep, cattle and 
horses where land is cheap and abundant, or 
where it cannot be turned to other and better 
uses. Where lan ! costs only a dollar or two 
per acre one can afford to pasture. Where it 
costs a hundred dollars per acre one cannot 
afford to use it for Ibis purpose unless the 
pasture is made very rich and productive and 
able to support more animals than the wild 
pastures. Thus pasturing and the cure of 
pastures become n branch of farming which 
calls for great skill and knowledge of the kinds 
and value of the best pasture grasses and the 
best soils for this use, as well as the best 
methods of managing such soils. 
Most, of us, when we think of the pasture, 
recall to mind a rough piece of ground at the 
back of the farm covered with stones and 
rocks and brush, with a brook running 
through it, in w hich, w hen boys, we used to 
try and catch small fish with a bent pin; and 
a swamp w here we used to love to wade in the 
mud with bare feet; and so wasted our time 
while our parents were waiting for us to 
bring the cows home. And then how vve used 
to run those poor cow s home with their full 
udders swinging from side to side, to make up 
for lost time, and make believe that wc had 
been very busy in fetching them up. Or 
sometimes we would coax the pu ls to go and 
gather chestnuts with us or pick up hickory 
nuts in the woods. Those were the days 
when our first little experiences in fanning 
came to us w ithout labor or care and w hich 
w r e now look back upon with pleasure and re¬ 
gret. 
But that kind of pasturing is only a make¬ 
shift, and no good farmer now' is content to 
keep his cows in that way. lie must have a 
pasture iu which his cows can eat and he filled 
in a short time, and lie dow*n to rest and chew 
theii cuds, and fill their udders with rich milk 
from the rich, sweet grass. Such a pasture 
requires that the soil be of the best kind, and 
not a piece of waste land that is good for noth¬ 
ing but to produce weeds and worthless plants. 
It does not require that the- land be smooth or 
level, or free from stones or trees or swamp. 
A rough, uneven surface, with j ocks here and 
there jutting from the sward; a few trees; a 
brook and a swamp even, if it be drained; 
will all be valuable adjuncts to a pasture. 
For an uneven, sloping field is generally dry 
and healthful in its influences on the cows or 
sheep; roeks and stones merely take up so 
much of the ground and generally the herb¬ 
age around them is the sweetest; the shade of 
a few spreading trees is worth a good deal of 
money in their agreeable effects upon the 
cows, a rippling brook supplies the best and 
purest of water, and u drained swamp will 
produce a hea ry gr owth of the j-ichest grasses. 
trade _ nark. 
THEGREAT 
Neuralgia, Sciatica, Lumbago, 
Backache, Soreness of the Chest, Gout, 
Quinsy, Sore Throat, Swellings and 
Sprains, Burns and Scalds, 
General Bodily Pains, 
Tooth, Ear and Headache, Frosted Feet 
and Ears, and all other Pains 
and Aches. 
No Preparation on earth equals St. Jacobs Oil as 
a safe, sure, sim/tic and cheap External Remedy. 
A trial entails but the comparatively trifling outlay 
of 50 fiants, and every one suffering with pain 
cun have cheap and positive proof of its claims. 
Directions in Eleven Languages. 
BOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS AND DEALERS IN 
MEDICINE, 
NOTES. 
Above we give an interesting article en¬ 
titled “ Those Boys,” in which there are 
many solid facts, arid it has suggested to my 
mind a good subject for our next Discussion. 
It is this: “ Is it advisable to oblige. children 
under 12 or 14 years of aye to do farm 
work& I will explain a little. Some child¬ 
ren are more mature troth in body and mind 
at 12 than others are at 11 years of age. 
Some are far better able to do physical work 
at the former, than others are at the latter, 
ago. What w e wish to consider is, should 
boys and girls generally, when about the 
ages above mentioned, be compelled to do 
hard work, either on the faun or in the 
house. Is it best for their intellectual and 
physical development i Will it tend to cause 
in them a love or a dislike for fanning ? Do 
they, or do they not, need all these early 
years for education and for play l This will 
serve to give an idea of the way to treat the 
subject. Now, members of the club, make 
ready for a good discussion of this question, 
uml let’s see if wu cannot do better than ever 
before. The lust Discussion was a very good 
one, we know, but the members of the Horti¬ 
cultural Club should never be content with 
present attainments, and, therefore, let‘‘Im¬ 
provement” be our motto. What we w ant is 
a few words to the point from all, and then 
the meetings cannot fail to be interesting. 
The next Discussion will take place about 
the middle of January, 1882. 
I receive sometimes quite a number of let¬ 
ters intended for the Discussions after it is too 
late to put them in type for that issue. Such 
I shall endeavor to publish, if they are inter¬ 
esting, the succeeding week, but it would be 
much better to have all letters for our Discus¬ 
sions in on time, say about a week before pub¬ 
lication. u. M. 
Haltivnore, Md., TT. 8. A.. 
PROFESSOR 
^OSPHATte 
Dear Uncle Mark. —1 have not seen any 
letter from this place so I thought I would write 
one. Council Grove has about 1000 inhabi¬ 
tants, is the County seat of Morris County 
and is situated in the Neaslio. The M. K. 
and T. railroad passes through here, aud w r e 
are expecting another from the east soon. We 
live on a farm about a mile from town. We 
came here from Illinois about three years ago, 
and although the crops have been as large as 
we could have wished, still papa has faith in 
Kansas and hopes for better times. I would 
like to join the Club. Minnie Aiken. 
Council Grove, Kas. 
Dear Uncle Mark. — 1 am ten years old, 
and they all say I am quite a farmer. I raise 
corn, potatoes, beans and a little of every¬ 
thing that is raised on the place. 1 have a 
little Add of Winter rye now. l J a takes the 
Rural and 1 think I shall enjoy reading it 
the long Winter evenings. My sister sowed 
the flower seeds but the drought killed all of 
them except some lovely pinks, i w ould like 
to join your club if I am not too late. Yours 
truly, George Grover. 
Clover, Wis. 
Made from Professor Ilorsford’a Acid 
Phosphate. 
Recommended by loading physicians. 
Makes lighter biscuit, cakes, etc., and 
is healthier than ordinary UaHno >w* 
dor. 
I n cans. Sold at a reasonable price. 
The Horsford Almanac and Cook Rook 
gent free. 
Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. 
COLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1878. 
h BAKER’S 
Like nil our chocolates, is pre¬ 
pared with the greatest care, and 
consists of a superior quality of 
cocoa and sugar, flavored with 
pure vanilla beau. Served as a 
drink or eaten dry as confec¬ 
tionery, it is a delicious article, 
and is highly recommended by 
tourists. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
W. BARER cfc CO^ 
Dorchester, Muse 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Uncle Mark. —My first choice of plants 
for the parlor in Winter w ould be the ivies. 
The English Ivy w ith its rich dark green leaves 
for decorating is a beautiful plant, it is strong 
and will live through almost any treatment. 
The ivlesdonot seem to mind whether the sun 
shines or not, or iu what direction you train 
them. They should not be excessively watered 
though. I read in the Floral Cabinet that 
English Ivies growing over the walls of a 
building, instead of promoting dampness are 
said to be a remedy for it. I have also read 
that in a certain room where dampness had 
prevailed for a length of time the affected 
parts inside had become dry when they had 
grow up to cover the opposite exterior side 
New Members of the Club for Week 
Ending Dec. 10th. 
Edgar Dyson, Ezra J. Morse, Ernest Wol- 
ger, Chntiu Wulgor. Della C. Fisher, Geo. H, 
Driskili, Eddie Driskill. Vernie Tyler, Carl 
Foersterliug, Ida A. Clapp, Ollie Van Fleet, 
Adda Stephens, Emma Gurnee, Jessie Gur¬ 
nee, Jessie Hubbard, Wilda Hosack, Della 
Davis, Charlie Davis, George A. Brown, Allie 
Benton, Allie Fay, James Fay, William Ward, 
Cora M. Ward, Ollie Pike, Ira Deurmond, 
Jennie Liose, Annie Crouse, Mary E. Cole, 
LiUlie Burtram, Delia Burtram, Eddie Becker, 
Porter Preston, Clarence Johnson, William 
Market, Minnie Market, Lenora Wise, George 
Redington, Mary Redingtou. 
A cent* wanted. $5 n Pay made 
selling our NEW HOUSEHOLD 
AKTUXESand FAMILY SCALE. 
W c i K h 3 n |i to So lb3. Sr I Is lit It 1.50. 
DoiitsjieSCAl,tCo.,Ciiu;iuuiiu O. 
MARY E. COLE, 
AflCAITC UfA lITCnEVERYWHEREtoeell 
A U t N I 5 W A fl I fc V the best Family Knit¬ 
ting Machine ever invented- Will knit a pair of stock¬ 
ings, with Heel aud Toe complete, in 30 minutes. It 
will alao knit a great variety of fancy work for which 
there is always a ready market. Send for circular 
aud terms to the Twomblv Kntirliijr Machine 
Co.. 1<6 Tremout Street, Boston, Maes. 
I head in the Rural of the rearing of pigs 
and of poultry, but my theme is, the rear¬ 
ing of boys! I think they are much more neg¬ 
