March 20.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
| be attended to in due season; and as soon as the early 
[ varieties commence showing bloom, pinch out their tops 
if a dish of extra Early peas be required. Salsafy, scor- 
zonera, and red beet, may be sown in small quantities. 
Tomatoes should be sown in heat, pricked off early, and 
placed close to the glass, sloped when about three inches 
high, and duly hardened off for planting out against 
walls or other close fences. 
Framing. —Cucumbers sow in succession; keep the 
plants in health by placing them close to the glass, and 
by liberal airing; keep the vine of those ridged out stopped 
and pegged down, and do not allow those in bearing to 
be overcrowded; take out the superfluous and weakest 
vine carefully and at intervals, so as not to give any 
sudden check by over thinning at once. 
Melons should be encouraged by maintaining a 
uniform kindly heat; stop and train the vine methodically. 
They should be so managed as to have several in blos¬ 
som at the same time on each plant, to set and start 
together into growth; at which time they require more 
heat, to be shut up earlier, and the interior atmosphere 
for a few days to be kept drier. Take care that a suffi¬ 
cient number of plants are in readiness for all lights that 
are likely to become vacant, or that can be spared from 
the early carrots, radishes, potatoes, asparagus, cOc., do., 
as those things may now be only temporarily protected. 
Charring Wood. —Wood of any kind may readily be 
charred; the process is simple and easy, and may 
readily be understood by any one; any kind of refuse 
wood may be charred and turned to account in the 
cultivation of the soil, or plant culture of any kind ; but 
for smelting and kitchen purposes, &c., of course the 
387 
kind of wood must be selected according to the purposes 
required. The spot we choose for charring is always 
rather sheltered, and if not, we make it so by driving 
into the soil round at a distance a few stakes, to which ! 
we tie some poles, and then stand on their butt ends 
some furze or other faggots, in order to modify the ! 
driving wind. The base of the kiln on which the wood j 
is to be charred we elevate a few inches above the sur¬ 
rounding earth, and make it level and firm, and, as pre¬ 
viously directed for other materials, if to be charred in a 
conical shape, three stakes are driven triangularly into 
the centre, with a billet placed inside them to withdraw 
when the kiln is set and ready to be lighted. When 
setting the kiln, a small quantity of small and easily 
ignitable wood should be first placed close round the 
base of the chimney, then a larger quantity, and thus 
continuing with a larger and longer quantity until the 
kiln is formed of the desired size, finishing the outside 
with some small short pieces of wood, chips, &c., so 
as to fill up all holes and unevenness. All should be 
fitted and packed close, after which a little straw or 
mulch should be shaken over thinly to prevent the out¬ 
side casing from running amongst the wood. The 
casing should be a few inches of fine earth and ashes; 
the kiln should be ignited at the top by withdrawing the 
centre billet, and smoke holes made as previously 
directed as the kiln progresses. The fire should be 
smothered when all is charred by closing all air holes, 
damping the outside a little to prevent the dust from 
rising, and admitting a little water to the interior from 
the top, the evaporation of which, thus closely confined, 
will readily extinguish the fire. James Barnes. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
OUR VILLAGERS. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers," etc. 
I daresay everyone of my village readers know what an \ 
“Idle Corner” is. I fear there are few villages in which 
one of these mischievous meeting-points is not to be found; 
and, next to that disgrace to a Christian land, the beer¬ 
house, the Idle Comer is the greatest evil. 
In the large village near which I live, there are two Idle 
Comers, where all the lawless, idle characters get together; 
and when young men are out of work, I have seen some 
loitering there, who have not yet done evil, but whose love 
of company have led them to stand and talk where nothing 
good could be learned or heard. I have never heard or seen 
anything but respectful conduct when I have been passing 
by; but those who live close to the scenes of action say, 
that the shocking language, the oaths, the noise, and the 
disturbance that at times are heard, are sad and disgraceful. 
I scarcely ever enter the village without seeing at least two 
or three lads grouped together; and I grieve to say, the 
Sabbath does not prevent clusterings together of the same 
kind, at various times of the day. 
These are things that should not he in a Christian land; 
they are shameful in a civilized country only, how much 
worse in one that is professedly religious ? Even supposing 
that nothing worse than idleness is encouraged by them, 
supposing that the conduct of the loungers was always quiet 
and orderly, still the idling is in itself a sin, a waste of time, 
a standing “ in the way of sinners,” an opportunity for 
Satan, a giving way to the slothfulness and evil disposition 
of the heart, a preparation for any temptation that may 
offer itself to the soul. But this mild view of the case is 
one that we cannot take; the mischiefs are more terrible, 
the effects more lamentable; and it is the duty of every 
parent in the humbler classes to guard against the tempta¬ 
tions of idleness and idle company that are placed in his 
children’s way. How many schemes of sin are planned at 
the Idle Comer we cannot tell; how many thoughts of evil 
are aroused, how many seeds of future crimes are implanted 
there, we do not know; but we are quite sure that no man, 
whether young or old, who fears his God, is ever to be 
seen there; and that the Ethiopian and the leopard may 
almost as soon change their skin and spots, as those may say 
and do good, who have been accustomed to say and do evil. 
At the head of these idlers, is almost always to be seen a 
young man, whom I shall call John Watts. He is an object 
of great interest on one account, because he has lost an 
arm; but it was lost through an act of disobedience, which 
will, I hope, be a lesson to some of my youthful readers. 
When John was a little fellow of twelve or fourteen, he was 
warned not to go near a huge iron roller, which was at work in 
a neighbouring park, in fact he was forbidden to approach it. 
Like many wilful, daring children, he persisted in doing 
what he was desired not to do, little dreaming of the danger; 
and mark the consequences ! He was caught by the roller, 
thrown down, and his left arm so dreadfully shattered, that 
it was obliged to be cut off, and the bone taken out of the 
sochd. His agonies were unspeakable; three surgeons were 
obliged to assist at this distressing operation, and the poor 
boy, no doubt, then bitterly repented of his disobedience. 
But repentance in his case was not that which is “ not to be 
repented of.” We are often very, very sorry for the effects of 
our sins, when we do not mourn for them before God; and 
I fear John Watts’s sorrow was of this kind, because he has 
not borne the “ fruits meet for repentance.” Of course he 
was greatly hindered by his want of an arm, in getting his 
breatl. He could not do as other boys did, in a great many 
ways; but he was not a steady lad, and by this want of 
steadiness! he suffered much more than by the want of bis 
hand. He was taken into the parish school as teacher, 
hoping that he might be kept in such profitable employment 
as might benefit his character, which was not then suspected, 
at the same time that it gave him weekly support; and for a 
time he went on very well. But he loved idle company, and 
he was led to drink, and disgrace himself in the eyes of 
man. How must he have appeared in the sight of a just 
and holy God ? 
