68 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[October 31. 
culty for many years. As to bread and butter, cbeese, | 
beans, peas, or other dry seeds, they took but little j 
notice of them; but we found, at last, after trying many | 
different things, that they delighted in pig nuts, and \ 
tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke; and these we have | 
found to be very successful baits; and the kind of trap ; 
best adapted for the purpose is the little bird or mouse | 
gin. 
The Dor or Sleep-mouse is a pretty creature, with its 
beautiful clear soft red coat, and bushy squirrel-like tail. I 
I It is fond of many kinds of seeds, nuts, and small 
i stones of the hedge-fruits, shrubs, trees, &c.; and we 
have often found it take possession of an old chaffinch 
or greenfinch or other small bird’s nest, as a founda¬ 
tion for making its own upon. This nest is formed in a 
globe shape, securely roofed-in with dry leaves, &c., and 
lined with shreds of the outer loose bark of the old part | 
of honeysuckle-stems, clematis, and other kinds of 
plants that may afford a suitable material near their I 
establishment, which is generally chosen in the midst | 
of a locality likely to afford plenty of seeds for some 
time. At this season of the year they may often be 
found, and be easily secured, asleep in their nests. As 
the season advances, they are often discovered in dry 
banks*, coiled-up amongst a quantity of leaves ; the leaf- 
rakers often discover them coiled-up in sheltered, dry, 
warm situations. We have never observed this mouse 
numerous enough to commit any very extensive depre¬ 
dations farther than divesting the Clematis azurea, C. 
Sieboldii, and some kinds of shrubs, of every seed as 
fast as it became ripe. Discovering their nest, and 
taking them, is the general means of putting a stop to 
such depredations. 
The small red white-bellied mouse, so numerously 
seen in corn-stacks, is but rarely seen ubout a garden or 
its structures; nor the little squeaking unhappy-looking 
Shrew-mouse either; nor do I recollect either of these 
varieties of mice ever committing any particular depre¬ 
dation about a garden or its structures. 
James Barnes. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
In remarking upon the manners and customs of the 
cottager, it must be borne in mind that I live in an agri¬ 
cultural and a poor district, near a large and populous 
village, where the people are, generally speaking, very igno¬ 
rant,—where work is often scarce, and wages low. At the 
present time the general rate of wages for able-bodied men 
is seven shillings per week; many have only six. A man 
with a wife and seven or eight children paying rent and 
supporting life upon seven shillings a week, presents to our 
minds a picture of sad distress; yet in the present state of 
agricultural depression farmers will not, or cannot, give 
more; and I have heard hard things said of the poor under 
these circumstances, even by those who would think it a 
bitter trial to be reduced, individually, to subsist upon that 
sum. Out of this scanty pittance a poor-rate lias for some 
time been levied upon the cottager, and the collector has 
suffered greatly in the painful duty he has been obliged to 
perfoim: in some cases he has himself paid the rate to 
spare the poor. Surely the landlords of such lowly tene¬ 
ments would gain in comfort more than they lose in money, 
if they would themselves discharge the rates upon their 
property, instead of taking it away from the hungry children 
of the poor labourer. 
Under these disadvantages it seems almost a hopeless 
task to point out what should be done by the cottager to 
increase the comfort of the little dwelling; it seems impos¬ 
sible that anything can be done, except to eat the crust of 
bread with a thankful heart, which, I rejoice to say, is the 
case with almost all who have passed under my notice; and 
! yet, whoever knows much of the interior of cottages—I 
mean among the poorer class—will be aware that there does 
exist in them great carelessness, improvidence and waste. 
It seems a harsh and severe thing to lay the blame of 
this upon the wife,—to make her accountable for all the 
want and disorder that afflicts the little household; but she 
has much to do with it, and many things might be far better 
than they are, if she did her duty cleverly. In many cases 
ignorance is the cause of much of this evil; there is a 
defect in the way in which the daughters are brought up 
and sent into the world to be labourers wives, which many 
of them never overcome. They are taught, indeed, to read 
and work at their needle—and blessed and useful is such 
teaching! for the way of life is opened to the eyes of the 
child who can read her Bible—but nothing else is taught 
them; and a girl when she marries, is often utterly ignorant 
of the way to make the commonest pudding, the simplest 
broth, a cup of gruel, or a loaf of bread. All she can do is 
to cut her husband some “ victuals ” to take with him to his 
work—which consists of a piece of dry bread,—and to wash 
his clothes for Sunday, which latter operation is often per¬ 
formed in a slatternly and uncomfortable way. The mothers 
are themselves so unskilful, that they cannot instruct their 
daughters; and there is no other means of acquiring the 
knowledge of making the few homely preparations that 
would be such a comfort to families, both in health and 
sickness. 
I shall never forget the wretched condition of a poor 
labouring man, suffering from a distressing swelling on the 
side of his head, which eventually caused his death, but in 
which state of increasing agony he lingered long. He was a 
quiet, patient creature—but he had such a wife! she could 
do nothing: her house was dirt and confusion—her children 
ungovernable and idle—her hands incapable of doing any¬ 
thing to comfort and relieve her husband—and her voice! it 
was enough to put any one’s temper to the proof to hear her 
hopeless, unvarying tone. With such a wife, nothing could 
be done at home to alleviate the sufferings of the unhappy 
man—it was all misery together; and his removal to the 
hospital was a happy event not only to himself, but to all 
who felt interested in bis welfare, and who could do little 
for his benefit, while under the care of such an ignorant and 
helpless woman. 
If it were possible to combine the art of domestic manage¬ 
ment in its simplest forms with the other instructions of 
the weekly school, if any arrangement could be made by 
the rich and benevolent to tit the daughters of the soil for 
their important position in the state, it would, indeed, be a 
boon to the country; and if every parish could prepare its 
female population—at least, in this generation—to be clean, 
active, useful wives and mothers, it would do more to secure 
its own comfort, peace, and respectability, than if hundreds 
were spent in gifts at Christmas ; and the blessing would be 
transferred from mother to daughter, perhaps, for years and 
! years to come. 
If a room could be connected with the school in any way, 
where broth, and gruel, and simple puddings might be made 
for the sick and poor, and if all who were in the habit of 
supplying these comforts to those around them would con- 
I sent to send the row material to be manufactured under safe 
and skilful superintendence, and if the girls were obliged to 
1 take it by turns to cook, to clean the vessels employed, and 
keep the room or kitchen in proper order, they would be 
learning lessons of great consequence to the well-being of 
many ; and also be in some measure prepared for their first 
j attempts in service. I venture to throw out this suggestion 
with extreme diffidence, because it may already be earned 
OUR VILLAGERS. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers," <£• c. 
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