THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
201 
January 10.] 
frames. Stakes, of all the requisite lengths and 
sizes, should he provided, trimmed, and pointed, as 
well as pea and kidney-bean sticks, crooks for pegging 
down, &c. ; otherwise, in the multiplicity of matters, 
which will require daily and immediate attention, as 
the season advances, this work will be postponed, 
until difficult to accomplish. 
Routine Work. —Attend to previous directions as 
regards sheltering and dusting about tender things; 
also trenching, forking, and draining. Provide and 
well work fermenting materials, for making liot-beds. 
Attend well to the linings and sheltering of those al¬ 
ready made. Sow cucumbers in succession, and com¬ 
mence with sowing a good early variety of melon. 
Place some middling-sized early varieties of potatoes 
in heat, to sprout in readiness for turning out under 
protections on slight bottom-lieat. Sow small salacl- 
ing and radishes in succession. 
Beans. —Still continue to make good plantations 
of broad beans, particularly if you have not already 
done so. 
Peas. —This is a good season to make an extensive 
sowing of peas, of any of the earlier kinds. Sow¬ 
ings made at this time, will, in general, be found 
certain to stand the test of all weathers, and come 
into production nearly, or quite, as early as those 
that were sown in November. Always ascertain the 
height of your peas’ stems, so as to know how far 
apart to sow them from row to row. The space 
should be, at the least, as much as the pea grows 
in height. 
Early Carrots. —Continue to make slight liot-beds 
for early Horn carrots, radishes, &c. If cucumber 
frames are used for such purposes, let them be well 
filled up with earth, so as to bring the crop up near 
to the glass. This is very important in the case of 
such crops. 
Sea-kale. —Cover up sea-kale, in order to keep up 
a good succession. Take advantage of a dry day 
for such work. 
Potatoes. —riant in all favourable weather. We 
name this, in particular, for those who did not plant 
in November. James Barnes & W. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
OUR VILLAGE WALKS. 
(No. 14.) 
There is as much beauty in a bright winter's even¬ 
ing as there is in a bright winter’s day. An evening 
walk, even at Christmas, is worth bearing some amount 
of cold to enjoy, and to the lover of nature possesses a 
multiplicity of charms. There is such briskness and 
clearness in the air, the sky is so darkly blue, the 
moon so intensely bright, the stars look out one by 
one so brilliantly, and cluster together at length so 
thickly, and so gloriously, that we can scarcely turn 
away our eyes to mark the beauty of all things here 
below. How delicate is the tracery of the leafless 
trees against the clear sky! No lace-work can be more 
beautiful; and the dark, rude outline of the Scotch 
firs, form a striking contrast to the softer and paler 
touches of the forest trees. Sometimes a bright star 
flickers through the houghs of the tall, thoughtful- 
looking, spruce firs; or the moon, as she quietly sails 
upwards, throws them into deep shadow, giving a 
tone and richness, even to a night scene, which is 
very beautiful, and ought to bo sometimes enjoyed, 
though it does require some resolution to leave the 
warm room and defy the winter cold. There is so i 
much language, too, in the evening sky, that it is a j 
never-failing, never-wearying book. The sun cannot 
be gazed on, though his cheering beams are felt in 
every place; but the moon and stars can be enjoyed 
as objects of exquisite beauty, as well as of unspeak¬ 
able wonder and delight. We feel, too, that they are 
a sort of meeting-point, to which other eyes and 
hearts are turned, that we may be viewing the same 
orb on which the eyes of those wc love are fixed, in 
very distant lands; and this seems to bring us in 
contact—in immediate contact—with those whom we 
have not seen, or may not see for years. The heart 
of the mother turns, with deep inexpressible emotion, 
to that calm soft light that beams on the lonely night- 
watch of her son among the tossing waves, and almost 
fancies she can see his image reflected on its lustrous 
surface. This passing thought beguiles a few mo¬ 
ments of the long, long absence, and gives to the 
imagery of the heart a vividness that seems like 
truth. 
We occasionally see, in bright clear nights, those 
beautiful appearances, known, to my cottage readers, 
by the name of northern lights. Their soft rays 
dart across the clear sky, almost like sheets of 
pure lightning; and they have been known to pro¬ 
duce a sort of clashing noise—faint, yet clearly dis¬ 
tinguished. These northern lights bring us at once 
into close contact with the Polar regions. They are 
the sunshine of the Esquimaux for many dreary 
months. There they gleam and light up the wintry 
skies with bright and various colours; so that, during 
the long absence of the sun, the work of life is still 
carried on, amid snows, and ice, and air that pierces 
the lungs like lancets. When these pale lights are 
visible to us, let us reflect with interest, that they 
come to us from those distant ice-bound regions, to 
which, at this particular time, so many bleeding 
hearts are turned in agonized suspense ; and where, 
we humbly trust, a band of British heroes still rest 
on the sure mercies of a God, who is “ near to every 
one of us,” and who can feed and sustain His people 
by the “ brook Cherith,” in a land of drought and 
desolation, as easily as when they dwell in the rich 
laud of Gilead. Even the least considerable of the 
tribes of the earth—the untaught, the dark-minded 
Esquimaux, whose worldly blessings are so few that 
they may be almost compared to the beasts of the 
field, as regards outward tilings, yet “ Our Lather 
which is in heaven,” provides for them as tenderly 
as he provides for those who live under summer 
skies. He has said, “ Am I a God at hand? Am I 
not a God afar off?” The most wonderful of His 
works is created for those unprivileged people, and 
set apart for their especial use. The sun warms and 
lightens the universe—all people feel and benefit by 
its influence; but the aurora borealis was given to 
the Polar lands alone. No man has yet been per¬ 
mitted to understand the mechanism of that striking, 
yet mysterious phenomenon. No hand lias yet been 
suffered to raise the veil which screens that work of 
God from our finite minds. The aurora borealis 
flashes and glitters and enlightens the dark homes, 
the frozen plains, the stern snow-clad rocks of those 
inhospitable shores, with bright, incomprehensible, 
amazing splendour, defying the enquiring gaze of 
man, and laughing to scorn all his imaginings, but 
cheering and blessing those for whose special good 
they were called into being. 
How much, then, does an evening walk instruct 
us! Are not the heavenly bodies, in themselves, 
enough to teach us lessons of heavenly wisdom, 
I and cause us to “lay our hand upon our mouth?” 
The glittering constellations speak to us of God, 
