THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
359 
! March 6.] 
of sorts, should be sown in full crop. Spinach, sow a 
little and often. Sow also Thyme and Winter Savory, 
and replant and put in cuttings of all the different herbs 
[ required. 
Framing. — This department should now be well 
attended to; keep the vine of the bearing Cucumber 
| tolerably thin; stop regularly and in due season all 
I leading shoots; do not allow them to run away too 
j much previous to stopping ; the point of the shoot 
: should be taken out as soon as it can be got at; and 
j where more than one shoot at a joint shows, rub off 
all but one, and those left should be thinned; the thin¬ 
ning should be repeated when set, leaving at no time 
more fruit than the plants are likely to bring to per¬ 
fection in succession without exhaustion. Sow in suc¬ 
cession; attend well to the application of a kindly humid 
heat, and apply tepid manure-water occasionally to those 
in full bearing. 
Melons prepare for, and ridge out in succession; 
those showing fruit should be stopped one joint above 
where the fruit appears. A brisk kindly heat should be 
maintained. Air should be applied liberally, but at the 
same time systematically, so as to prevent the admittance 
of any cold cutting draught suddenly on the plants, and 
taking care, if bleak winds prevail, that the air cavity is 
protected by coarse canvas, bunting, straw, fern, or ever¬ 
green boughs, so that the draught may be softened by 
simple means, which is very essential. 
Mushroom-becls should be made in succession, taking 
care to select well-made stable-dung, and apply to it J 
a sufficiency of holding loam, to prevent the evaporation ; 
being lost, or the materials becoming too dry. Spawn i 
while the heat is moderate, and case with kindly holding | 
loam, making it firm. Beds that have been spawned a , 
sufficient time to be now showing mushrooms, and that ! 
yet do not show, should be examined; and, if found I 
dry and cold, bore a row of good-sized holes through 1 
the middle, but not to the bottom, and pour boiling 
water into each hole, immediately blocking in the heat 
and evaporation with a wad of hay or mulch. 
James Barnes. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
OUR VILLAGERS. 
By the Authoress 
The advantages of character are very great to those whose 
support depends upon their own exertions; and this I think 
most people, especially the young, are very apt to overlook. 
Young people are heedless and inattentive to what their 
parents tell them; they cannot see that good advice is 
meant for their benefit, and fancy they shall do very well 
their own way, without attending to the long lectures of 
those who have grown old and forgotten what it was to be 
young. 
This is a grievous mistake; but it is what every person may 
have said when young, and sighed over when old enough to 
see and suffer for their folly; but then, better feelings are 
often too late, the mischief is done; and where character is 
concerned, what is done cannot be undone. 
I am sorry to be obliged to say, that in the present times 
parents among the lower orders do not maintain that proper 
authority over their children which they ought to possess; 
because children must be made to do what is right when 
they cannot judge for themselves; and prevented doing 
what they like to do when it is wrong. How striking is the 
proof of God’s favour towards Abraham on this very point! 
“ For I know him, that he will command his children and 
his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the 
Lord to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring 
upon Abraham that which he hatli spoken of him.” And 
heavy and bitter was the judgment which the Lord sent 
upon the family of Eli, because he restrained not his sons 
from evil. Solomon assures us that “ The rod and reproof 
give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth liis 
mother to shame.” A duty, therefore, to God, as well as to 
man, is to be fulfilled in restraining children, and giving 
them habits of obedience from their earliest youth. 
I am going now to bring before my younger readers the 
example of George B-. 
His father was a man of the best character and the most j 
j respectable conduct. He had worked on our property for ! 
' a great many years; and when consumption had too clearly 
marked him, to allow of his doing a good day’s work, his i 
last lingering effort was to plant a strip of potato ground, | 
which my sister and I had undertaken to manage. John ' 
B-had always striven to make his children obedient and 
respectable. He had maintained over them the due autho¬ 
rity of a parent; and had worked early and late to support 
them comfortably. 
Poor Mary B-• was left a widow with five sons and a 
daughter; the eldest boy being scarcely seventeen. Her 
anxiety for these boys was great, knowing, as she said, “ the 
1 My Flowers<tc. 
way boys go on now, staying out all night sometimes, and 
never minding what their fathers and mothers say to them.” 
She particularly feared for her power over her eldest son, 
whose stubborn temper had given poor John much trouble 
and extreme solicitude, when he felt that his own arm would 
soon be powerless, and his voice silent in the grave. But 
during a long and tedious illness, he had wrestled for them 
and his widowed partner, “ with strong crying and tears ;” he 
had put them into the hands of the Father of the fatherless, 
and the God of the -widow, resting on those comfortable 
words : “ Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them 
alive; and let thy widows trust in me." The fruit of lfis 
dependence upon God was remarkably evidenced. The very 
son who was the subject of the parent’s alarm, became to 
his mother a very prop and stay. From the moment his 
father’s eyes were closed, George stood forth to be a father 
to his younger brothers, and to strengthen his mother’s 
hands. The orderly habits of the little household were 
carefully preserved. He would allow no staying out at 
night, no idle company within, nothing that could “upset” 
his mother, or lead his brothers into mischief or temptation. 
He himself was a pattern of sobriety, and steadiness, and 
saving. 
His temper was such that he had already lost two places; 
but he made a capital day labourer, active, powerful, hard¬ 
working, honest, and true; he came home quietly and 
steadily every evening, shut up the house, and was fast 
asleep at nine o’clock, with his brothers safely around him, 
and was up with the lark, and off to work again. His 
mother began to look young, and almost pretty, under the 
well-ordered administration of her stalwart son; and has 
declared with tears of joy, over and over again, that George 
was a husband to her, and a father to his young brothers 
and sister. “ He is my only comfort ” she used to say; “ he 
won’t let his brothers do anything wrong at home; when 
they come in they must behave themselves. He bought 
Charles a pair of shoes, with his own money; and pays me 
as regularly for his own keep, as the weeks come round. 
He never goes out after idle boys, but reads his book at 
home, and goes to bed, when other young men are idling 
about the streets.” l’oor John! how happy his latter days’ 
would have been, had he known the comfort his son would 
become to his widowed mother! 
George afterwards became an out-door servant to our¬ 
selves. We employed him, because his conduct was so steady 
and trusty; and we found him, indeed, as his mother said, 
“ a comfort.” He was so hand} - , that he could do everything, 
