22 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 
October 11 . 
—~ 
and to place them in clear water. Another mode of 
preserving cauliflowers and brocoli, any frosty look¬ 
ing evening whilst they are growing and are not quite 
ready to cut, is to turn in a few of their leaves over 
the heads, which will save many a head from the 
slight frosts and sunny days. 
Celery. —The present is a good time to make choice 
of, and put out, your plants for seed. Earthing up and 
bleaching must be duly attended to, and where taking 
up has commenced, the soil should be turned back in 
ridges on a regular system, to pulverize and sweeten, 
a plan which is far preferable and quite as easy to 
adopt as that of covering over the earth and trampling 
on it, in an untidy manner. Method, order, and the 
economy of time are three most important points in 
the management of a garden, as well as of most other 
things, and must be strictly attended to. 
Those who have a warm border to spare, may now 
plant a few early Mazagan or Long-pocl beans, and also 
another small portion of Short-top radishes. 
Sea-kale. —The plants on the quarters or beds, 
some portion of which are intended for early forcing, 
should have all the leaves removed that are ripe and 
will separate from the crown easily. Do this with the 
hand without injuring the crowns, and if any arc not 
ripe enough, leave them a little longer. Clear all 
away, with weeds also, and then immediately give 
the whole of the beds a good dusting with slacked 
quick lime, to kill the slugs, &c. When this is done, 
fork up the soil over the beds and in the alleys 
very carefully, so as not to injure the roots, then give 
the beds a good top dressing; the soil from au old 
cucumber or melon bed is excellent for this purpose; 
take two-thirds of this and one-third of coal ashes, all 
well mixed together. -Just give the whole beds two 
inches in thickness of this compost. By attending to 
the above directions, the beds will be found in excel¬ 
lent order to be put into action in the next month, as 
there is no plan of forcing sea-kale so good as that of 
inverting over the plants large flower-pots, or the pro¬ 
per sea-kale-pots, and covering them with fermenting 
leaves, and if leaves are not to be had, long dung from 
the stable that has been turned over three or four 
times to sweeten. 
Endive. —Full-grown endive plants should be 
looked after in this variable season, to keep wet and 
frosts out of their hearts. 
Onions. —Those who want large onions to make 
up the loss of a full crop of this season’s growth 
should transplant a quantity from their seed beds 
which were sown in August. Choose a good open 
quarter well prepared, and line out beds three or 
four feet wide; make them two or three inches higher 
than the paths, then plant the onions six inches 
distant every way from eacli other, and the work is 
done. These onions are found very useful for early 
summer use. James Barnes & W. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
OUE VILLAGE WALKS. 
(No. 1.) 
Every thing that belongs to the country possesses 
a peculiar charm, and the simplest observations upon 
what passes before our eyes, however feebly and im¬ 
perfectly expressed, must be in some measure inter¬ 
esting, because whatever we see is beautiful, whatever 
we hear is musical, and wherever we go we witness 
the hand and seal of God. Walks in the country, 
among picturesque scenery, among cottages, and gar¬ 
dens, and orchards, and woods, afford abundant en¬ 
joyment and deep instruction. If we did but under¬ 
stand only half what we see, it would be a ponderous 
volume; for a leaf plucked as we pass would furnish 
a store of information, and surprise and delight us 
with the wonders of its perfect form. Every blade 
of grass that we press beneath our feet, every pebble 
that lies in our path, have a thousand interesting 
things to say, if we understood their language; and 
it is a subject of deep regret that we have not suffi¬ 
ciently studied every branch of knowledge, so as to 
be able to interpret the “ unknown tongues” of the 
many wonderful works of God. 
Man’s first home was a garden, his first employment 
was “ to dress it, and to keep it,” his first happy, sin¬ 
less days were passed among fruits and flowers ! The 
love of gardening still cleaves to us; the tastes, as 
well as the sin, of our first parents have descended to 
their posterity; and although the ground is cursed 
for Adam’s sake; although “ thorns and thistles” spring 
up on every side, and “ in the sweat of his face” man 
will evermore “ eat bread,” yet it has pleased a God 
of tender pity, who even in wrath remembers mercy, 
so to sweeten his toil and lighten his affliction by 
giving him a strong, deep interest in the labours of 
bis hands, and the useful and beautiful productions 
of the soil, that bis punishment is blessed to him, 
and a Father’s love shines forth, not only in the beams 
of a summer sun, and the soft fertility of summer 
showers, but in every storm, every blight, and every 
disappointment. If the cottage gardener will consider 
these things as he digs and prunes, he will be a wiser 
and a happier man; a spiritual light will fall upon 
many things that he does and suffers, and a “ good 
understanding” will be the consequence. If a disobe¬ 
dient child twitches off the forbidden pear or plum, 
what a sermon to the father ! He sees his boy hiding 
with guilty fear “ among the trees of the garden;” the 
very circumstances that passed in the Garden of 
Eden take place in his own little orchard, under his 
very eye. Happy will it be for him if conscience 
whispers “ thou art the man.” 
Our earliest ancestors were shepherds; flocks and 
herds were their funds, and the rich untilled, unin¬ 
closed plains and rallies were their boundless, unin¬ 
cumbered estates. I never hear the bleating of flocks 
from the spring pastures without thinking of the pa¬ 
triarchs, the plains of Mamrc, and the land of Goshen; 
and it heightens the beauty and deepens the interest 
of every pastoral scene when we thus connect it with 
the events or imagery of scripture. 
I am st angely captivated at all times with the 
beauty of a blackberry bush, a common vilified bram¬ 
ble ; and I am certain if it was an exotic, the growth 
of a rich and distant land, every one would admire 
it too, for its form is strikingly graceful and beautiful. 
Large jiatches of this plant grow richly in a larch 
plantation near my home, and bear large and beauti¬ 
ful fruit, a nd in the absence of all garden fruit, which 
has signally failed here this season, the abundance 
of this wi d juicy berry is indeed very providential, 
for though little esteemed, it is useful and pleasant. 
A very excellent jam may be made from it, which 
has been taken for some superior preserve, and much 
surprise expressed on discovering that it grew on the 
wild hedges of England. The fruit may be boiled 
with half its weight of sugar, and when intended for 
the poor, brown sugar is preferable, as being a more 
wholesome article, although the difference in the ex¬ 
pense is now inconsiderable. A large jar of black¬ 
berry jam would be a very useful gift to a poor family, 
