346 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
been omitted, which is worthy of notice. It was the 
neat and somewhat spacious yard separating it from the 
L* public thoroughfare, and bounded on the north and 
west by a lovely grove of nature's own planting. This 
yard was well laid out in walks and adorned by trees, 
and shrubs, and plants, from every clime which would 
stand the out-door exposure of our northern winters, 
with beautiful flower-beds, gaily interspersed among 
them. These rich contributions of Sylvia and Flora, as 
they informed us, had been furnished in part from 
neighboring woods and yards, and some were the rich 
gift of friendly offerings, bestowed by those who, though 
absent, were still dear. But “ they were all planted by 
juvenile hands and nurtured by juvenile care” And 
there they will remain for years, perhaps for ages, the 
proud memorials of juvenile hours gone by, and labors 
well employed, to cheer and gladden each of the happy 
throng who, as life wears its day away, shall look upon 
them with emotions which will continually waft him 
back to the hours unknown to care, that were spent in 
training the gentle shoot, fit emblem of what he then 
was. 
To say nothing of the general effect of fitting up a 
district school with such an establishment as we have 
noticed, there are two or three particular considerations 
connected with it of sufficient importance to claim a 
notice. In the first place, they have a tendency to fa¬ 
cilitate the scholars in the sciences they study. Would 
you impress upon the mind the climate or location of 
any country, exhibit its mineral or botanical produc¬ 
tions, and let them be associated in the mind with its 
geographic locality. So too of seas. What shells are 
found there, or what fish; and so of every th ing and place. 
Again, such exercises furnish the mind with an agree¬ 
able and healthful employment, and are striclly conge¬ 
nial to the taste of childhood. Did you ever pass by a 
district school-house in summer and autumn, but what 
you saw the corners of fences laid out in miniature 
fields, and fenced with miniature walls, or protected 
in such other way as youthful fancy dictated?” Have 
you never seen Ihe turf uprooted by what childish fancy 
called a plow, and the tender blade of wheat or some 
other grain springing up in place of the green grass? 
Have you never seen the rude tools of the young hay¬ 
maker, and the tiny stacks, which a few snatched mo¬ 
ments, taken from study or toil, have enabled him to 
gather? Oh! who ever saw the operations of childhood 
without being convinced that the love of rural occupa¬ 
tions was an instinctive principle of its nature, and how¬ 
ever we may tempt ourselves or be tempted to renounce 
them in after years, who dares suppose but that we are 
led from the paths to which they invite us by artificial 
rather than natural causes. 
To the cultivators of the soil, this love of nature, so 
kindly planted in every bosom, is certainly a desirable 
quality, and should be cultivated with care in propor¬ 
tion as they would succeed in threading the mazy laba- 
rynthine walks of their every day employments. Let it 
be cherished then in the young botanist who commences 
dissecting flowers and admiring their colors before he 
can utter his parents’ name, or has power to sustain him¬ 
self by his own exertion. Teach him, too, when his 
ear first opens to sweet sounds, and before his tongue 
can utter perverse sayings, that the birds whose music 
prompts his mirth and causes him to clap his little 
hands in joyful glee in chorus to their melody, that 
these sweet musicians of the grove were sent not only 
to gladden the heart of man by their pretty warbling 
songs, but that they are the ministers of his comfort in 
destroying myriads of insects which would scatter deso¬ 
lation in his path, and destroy his fairest hopes of plen¬ 
teous harvests. 
And when he makes his debut in the world of his fel- 
ows, and begins to act on his own responsibility on a 
theatre where he must act for himself —when he is pass¬ 
ing through the various grades of progress which the dis¬ 
trict school presents, let the lessons already begun, be re¬ 
peated with new emphasis, so that under their influence 
his mind with all its pliancy, may expand and take in 
new objects of kindred and higher import, until at 
Noy. 
length it shall drink in all of the sublime and beautiftl 
that the natural world affords, or which finite mindundff 
ordinary circumstances can grasp. 
Can there be any doubt, but that in a school-roon 
got up in the style we have quoted, where the minds tf 
childhood and youth can relax and unbend themselvrs 
in amusements so innocent, healthful, and instructive, a 
generation of farmers can be educated that will love 
and adorn their profession? Can it be otherwise thm 
that they should grow up practical and scientific fa?>» 
mers? We think not, unless conflicting circumstance 
are very strong against them, and we hope the day is 
not far distant when school-houses everywhere will m 
got up in the same neat and tasteful style, and school¬ 
children shall have their grounds to cultivate, aid 
teachers to instruct them in taking care of them. 
There is one powerful objection to such a state of 
things which may well be anticipated;—that is (ho 
expense. Yes, many a fond father who would aot 
value an extra five dollars in a perishable dress fo: a 
son, or a dozen extra yards of pink ribbon for his daugh¬ 
ter, to aid them in the display of perhaps only a sirgle 
occasion, would think it a gross demand upon his purse 
to give half the amount to furnish an acre of pleasure 
ground, where not only his own children, buttheirsand 
others, to all generations, might gather lessons of in* 
struction in their hours of childish pastime; and where 
the honor and glory of the philanthropy which prompt¬ 
ed the warm hearts of parental solicitude in setting 
apart such grounds for the benefits of the juvenile race, 
would speak in every leaf that fluttered in the breeze, 
and every flower that opened its petals to the morning 
dew. 
There is another consideration in favor of thus get¬ 
ting up such establishments, which should not be omit¬ 
ted. The moral influence it would exert would be of a 
most salutary kind, and would doubtless lay a foundation 
for rectitude in all future years. The mind of childhood 
is ever active, and if it is not directed in good and honora¬ 
ble channels its course will be opposite; and if school¬ 
boys can have no better employment, they W'ill spend 
their time in knocking off hats, robbing bird’s nests, or 
roaming for mischievous plunder over grounds where 
the restraints of integrity, and the cause of right should 
preclude their entrance. We need not imagine what 
sorrowful endings have often closed the unhallowed 
trains of such slight beginnings. Better remove the 
temptations by furnishing grounds expressly for their 
benefit, and employments far more congenial to their 
tastes, and which will not only furnish them enjoyment 
now, but fit them for the duties of life awaiting them. 
Richmond, Mass., 1846. Wm. Bacon. 
PRESERVATION OF THE MORGAN STOCK OF HORSES. 
Mr. Tucker —I have seen some articles in your pa¬ 
per in relation to the “ Morgan” horses, so called. I 
have known this stock for several years, and readily 
concur in most of the statements you have given in regard 
to their value—especially as to their powers of endu¬ 
rance and excellence as roadsters. 
In a late journey through New Hampshire and part of 
Vermont, I was pleased to learn that considerable spirit 
is manifested in regard to the preservation of this fami¬ 
ly of horses. In the vicinity of Walpole, N. H., I 
found that great pains had been taken by Mr. F. A. 
Wier, and others, to procure mares having in the great¬ 
est degree the blood of the original Morgan horse, and 
some eight or ten have been collected into one neigh¬ 
borhood^ which I was fully assured were from seven- 
sixteenths to half blood. Two of these mares were sta¬ 
ted to be 29 years old, and were got by the first Morgan 
horse owned by Justin Morgan, of Randolph, Vt., and 
several others were the produce of parents got by that 
horse. 
Mr. Wier is the owner of the excellent horse called 
Gifford Morgan, which had just returned from a visit to 
your State Fair, at Auburn, and the Fair at Troy. This 
horse is within a trifle of half blood of the original 
