190 
THE COTTAGE GARDE NEIL 
[December 26. 
sation are such as we know it must be, by the fruits that 
appear? When the father loves to frequent the beer-house, 
and the mother only just escapes detection at best, in 
breaking fences and stealing wood, bringing up her daugh¬ 
ters to the same wicked practices, can we suppose those 
parents assemble their family for morning and evening 
Worship ? or speak to them of those holy and life-giving 
doctrines which the Word of God sets forth? Alas! what 
stumbling blocks do such parents place in their children’s 
path! The Word of God and the works of their earthly 
parents contradicting each other! The laws of God and 
the teaching of then - own homes confusing their young 
minds, instead of enlightening them! 
Oh! if qjarents would but consider these things; if they 
would but value the salvation as well as the perishing bodies 
of their offspring, they would stop, before they led them on 
the road to ruin; and the very anxiety to preserve their 
children from destruction might arouse them to a sense of 
their own danger and duties. The cottage gardeners of 
England are a large and influential class; sometimes they 
constitute nearly the whole population of a rural parish. 
Could they not set an example of household piety, and 
household order, and household happiness? How many 
of their poorer neighbours might be led to “ go and do 
likewise! ” 
Parochial schools and family religion when walking in 
blessed harmony, would have an effect upon the rising 
generation such as the mind can scarcely imagine. If the 
father of a family of young children would resolutely resolve 
to begin a steady system of family worship, even if it were 
at first distasteful, the amount of blessing it would bring 
down upon the lowly roof would be great and increasing. 
At this time of national peril, and in these days of strange 
doctrines and corrupt practices, how specially needful is 
social prayer, and intercession for “the powers that be,” as 
well as for individual protection and instruction! How 
important, that every British household, even the hut by the 
road-side, should send up incense before God! not that of 
perfumed herbs and spices, but of prayer and praise! Plow 
important that the young should be taught by the example 
of their own parents, to give “ fear to whom fear, honour to 
whom honour;” and to “ obey their parents in all things, for 
this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” 
I have sometimes heard, late iu an evening, the hymn of 
praise ascending from the poor man’s hearth; and how 
striking—how affecting—how beautiful it is ! There is 
poverty, privation and suffering very frequently, within those 
humble walls; the flickering light that issues through the 
rude shutters is pale and dim, but heavenly riches and 
heavenly light cheer the rejoicing inmates, for the Lord is 
there. 
Does not the example of thankfulness and praise in those 
who possess few of the world’s good things, not only speak 
loudly to others in the same humble sphere, but with a 
trumpet-tongue to “ the rich in this world ? ” I have very, 
very frequently felt shame and confusion of face, at wit¬ 
nessing the cottage “giving of thanks,” before a meal began. 
The few potatoes that formed that meal would to us have 
seemed starvation, yet the gratitude with which they were 
partaken of, was indeed a lesson to those who are not 
always pleased with the plenty that is set before them. The 
quiet unpretending example of the cottage gardener may do 
good to many who mark his walk and conversation, by whom 
he little suspects that he is watched so closely; and one well- 
ordered household in a village may, by the blessing of God, 
be the leaven that shall “ leaven the whole lump.” 
Let none of us despise or underrate the power of good 
example; and let us remember, too, that England, our own 
dear country, has a claim upon us in these very tilings. 
The children of this day are the men of the next generation : 
and if they are not taught to “ obey their parents in the 
Lord ” now , they are little prepared to “ be subject to prin¬ 
cipalities and powers ’’ and “ to obey magistrates ” hereafter, 
all which are commanded of God to be religiously observed. 
Let England’s humble classes remember this. 
ALLOTMENT FARMING FOR JANUARY. 
Progress.— Let this be our text to begin with, — to cha¬ 
racterise the beginning of a new year, fraught, like its 
numerous predecessors, with kaleidoscopic changes, and j 
“ dissolving views.” Shall it be said, theD, that the British . 
cottier or allotment holder is stationary, whilst all around i 
him is on the move ?—a move which would seem to be a part : 
of a great Providential scheme, which has for its object the ! 
civilization of all nations, both in material things and 
those of still greater import than even mental progress,— 
those which relate to the soul itself. 
We would now fain excite a feeling of self-examination 
in the mind of every one who holds a bit of land. The I 
industrious tradesman “ takes stock," as it is termed, at I 
regular intervals ; and is not the poor man’s acre, and all j 
connected therewith, a part of his stock ? indeed, this and , 
his daily labour constitute the whole. It is as much the 
duty (nay, the interest) of every labouring man, to ascer- i 
tain his real position at the commencement of every new ! 
year as it is that of the tradesman : from the merest peasant | 
to Her Majesty the Queen, these things must be done; and 
the moral cowardice of those who will not do so is but too 
often severely punished by bitter adversity. Let, then, the 
holders of small plots of ground, in the first place, consider, * 
in reviewing their past proceedings, whether their general 
policy be the best that can be adopted under their circum¬ 
stances ; whether it is that which will produce the greatest 
value of produce at the least cost of manure, and with the 
least amount of deterioration of soil. In doing this, he j 
should take into full consideration the probable effects of a 
rotation running through three or four years, in order that 
his calculations may stand on a sufficiently broad basis. 
In order to plan a good rotation, Ire should remember, that 
some crops are what are termed “ cleaning crops ; ” others, 
the reverse; some, scourgers; others, improvers. Of course, 
two scourging crops should not follow in succession; neither 
any tw r o which have a tendency to encourage weeds. All 
grain crops are of necessity amongst the latter class; whilst 
all root crops are invariably to be found amongst the 
“ cleaners ” and the “ improvers.” 
Another view, is carefully to distinguish those crops w'hich 
must or ought to have manure, from those which can do with¬ 
out it; for not every cottager or allottee can manure all his 
ground every year; neither is it absolutely necessary that he 
should do so. And here, as with the kitchen-gardeners of 
the gentry, or with the market-gardeners, one grand point— 
which, indeed, may be almost termed the fundamental 
principle, as to soils in constant tillage for a long series of 
years—is to take care that none of the cabbage or green tribes j 
follow each other : such as savoys following cabbage, or the j 
latter succeeding kale, &c. 
Schemes of cropping, even on small holdings, may differ j 
much: one man may crop to proride for the immediate ne- ! 
cessities of a family; another may cultivate for sale, the 
proceeds of which will purchase him those necessaries, and \ 
leave a surplus to boot. The latter class are generally formed | 
by the circumstances around them ; such as the living not 1 
far from a thriving town, or very near to a railway station, j 
It requires, however, an amount of ingenuity rather above [ 
the average, for a mere cottager to cultivate things not in J 
ordinary demand, and to profit by them. Such men, never- 1 
theless, are to be found; men who make double the profits of ! 
some of their more blunt neighbom’s, through a clever 1 
anticipation of the wants or demands of those in towns, ; 
whose incomes will command luxuries in the vegetable or 
fruit way. 
Having pointed to a few r of the principles to which every I 
holder of land should give attention, we have done all that 1 
we can in this way; it remains for the holder of such plots, I 
whether attached to a cottage or not, to work out such plans 
for himself. It is, indeed, useless to attempt to dictate a : 
line of poliey: situations are as various as the crops the 
garden is capable of producing; all that is w r anted is a keen 
forecast, coupled with much perseverance. One thing 
we have, however, proposed to ourselves to do, in order to 
expand the views of the allotment man or cottager, and that 
is to advert very frequently during the early portion of the 
year to what has been termed “mixed cropping,” for in so 
doing we hope to render some service. 
There is nothing more certain than that some men will 
