J^ECKMBKU IG. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
209 
some four or five indies apart each way, on leafy 
mould, not too much decayed, and cover them up with 
the same. This covering is required only to prevent 
that loss the jiotato is subjected to if the surrounding 
almosjihere bo dry; if moist, it is of less moment. 
Other substances might do as well as leaf mould, but 
none lift so well, or ratlier, nothing adheres so firmly 
to the roots of plants when it becomes necessary to 
remove them to another place; and this is important 
for this preliminary part of the process. Occasional 
waterings may bo necessary, but this will depend on 
the state ol' the medium they are placed in, and other 
things. While this is going on, preparations must bo 
made for their linal transplanting into some con¬ 
genial hotbed or other structure; in a usual way, a 
bed of leaves, tan, or dung, is appropriated to this crop ; , 
and though the early part of the process might as well j 
he performed there as the after part, yet, as it would bo ! 
dillieult to ensure the bed retaining its heat so long as i 
would be wanted for both, I have advised the prepara¬ 
tion of the seed tubers to be carried on elsewhere, in 
order to husband the resources of the principal bed, or 
rather to delay the making of it until the jiotatoes are | 
advanced as far as they can, witli safety to their removal, j 
Wo will, therefore, suppose that the potatoes spoken 
of have sprouted and emitted roots in all directions, | 
through the body of leaf mould in which they arc I 
placed; it is then necessary to prepare the future bed, ; 
which, if of fermenting matters, must be tested before j 
the roots are trusted upon it. This is easily done by I 
the means advised so often in the formation of hotbeds; 
and if the heat seems all right, and the frame and lights 
put on, a certain amount of good, light, and rather dry 
mould should be put on. 'J’his may remain a day or two 
until it gets properly warmed, when the potatoes may be 
removed from their nursery-bed, with as much of the 
leafy mould adhering to them as will do. These may 
be planted in rows, about fifteen inches apart for Ash¬ 
leaved, and similar short-topped kinds, and proportion- 
ably more for the larger-growing kinds; about a foot, j 
or it may be less, between set and set in the rows. 
There is usually a tendency to crowd plants in a frame. 
The object of a litter for seed seems not of much con¬ 
sequence ; but it is questionable whether this over¬ 
crowding be attended with the required benefit or not. 
'I'he soil in the frame being warm, and the lumps of 
leafy matter adhering to each tuber, tlie check cannot 
be much if due care be taken in the planting, and other i 
things favourable to their growth be attended to. .It is 
almost needless to observe, that a full south e.Kposuro 
must be had for the frame, which must not in any way [ 
bo shaded hy trees or buildings on the sides on which I 
the sun shines; the reverse sides may be as much 
sheltered as can be, always bearing in mind that the 
shelter of over-banging trees is shelter with a vengeance, 
even should it be on the north side of the object pro¬ 
tected by it; but more of this anon. d. Robson. 
THE VILLAGE FEAST. 
By the Authoress of “■My Flowers,” d'c. 
The Word of the Lord declares that Ins is “ blessed” who 
“ standetli not in the way of sinners.” Every day we see 
the truth of tliis inspired assurance, either in the quiet and 
prosperous condition of those wlio keep out of the way of 
the wicked, or in tlio punishments and troubles that come 
down upon those who set at nought the righteous com¬ 
mandments of God. Many a man has kept company with 
tho.se wlmse ways were crooked and evil, while his own were 
docent and respectable; hut he has either been obliged to 
break with them at last, or he has suffered in his own body, 
nr his precious soul, for “ walking in the way of sinners,” 
and seen, when it was too late, that the only way of peace 
and safety is in obeying tlie commands of the Lord. 
The young .are especially incUned to be careless about 
tlie character of their companions. They are quite content 
to know and he seen with idle, worthless, young people, if 
they ai'e not themselves guilty of the follies and vices they 
walk heside ; hut, alas ! evil, hitter, eternal, are the conse¬ 
quences of such careless indilferencc to sin and sinners ; 
and it behoves all, high and low, old and young, to “ stand 
not in the way of sinners,” for a worrse end than “ sitting in 
the seat of the scornful” may be their portion—an end that 
admits of no repentance, and no hope of eternal life. Let 
my yoimger readers read, pondin’, and lay to heart, the true 
and terriide story of George Griffiths. 
He W'as a young man of very quiet, inoffensive habits, hy 
no means one of the idle, profligate youths that infest the 
village, and the persons who employed him spoke w'ell of 
him. His mother had not been what a mother ought to he | 
in some respects, hut she -was fomlly attached to him. She | 
W'as the wife of a second husband ; hut the son of her youth j 
was good to her, and a comfort in the declining years'of her 
life. She had been struck with paralysis also, and had been 
for some months confined to her cottage in consequence. 
'There is, in some parishes of England, an annual abomi¬ 
nation, called a “ Ee.ist.” V'hat it takes its rise from I do 
not know ; hut it w'ould he a pai’ochial and social blessing if 
such seasons of riot and drunkenness were discountenanced, 
and w'holly put down; for the only effect of them that is 
visible is the drinking, disorder, and confusion of the village, i 
and the intei-ruption of work, and squandering of money ! 
that invariably takes place at that time. 'There is generally 
dancing, penny shows, and sircli snares laid for the young 
and giddy; the beer-houses are all as busy as bee-hives; 
and drinking, finery, and idleness, is the order of the day. 
Fathers and husbands will spend in one day the week’s food 
of their wretched families, and give up work for that day, 
and often the next to it, to revel and drink away their senses. 
At the last Feast of the parish in which George Griffiths 
lived, the awful scene took place which 1 am going to relate. 
George had been amusing himself with the rest of the com 
munity, hut in a far more harmless way than many. The 
beer-houses were full of intoxication, hut he was not a 
drinking character; and although he was amongst the 
ungodly throng, his head was clear; he had had beer, hut 
was quite sober, and only excited hy his high spirits, and 
the scenes of vain and shocking mirth around him. 
One of his companions became so totally intoxicated, that 
George undertook to see him safely home, as their way was, 
for some distance, the same. It was late, hut the brother 
of the young drunkard rose and let them in. Instead of 
going immediately and steadily home, Griffiths was induced 
to take a glass of spirits at this house, and, in spite of Ids 
prerious caution, he swalloived a large draught of gin. Then 
he quitted the house on his way to his mother’s cottage. 
The next morning, when these two young men got up to 
go to their work, they found the body of a man lying not 
far from their door, with his head resting upon some brick¬ 
work. It was the almost lifeless body of George Gritfiths. 
Stupified with the gin, he had slipped or stumbled, and his 
head had come violently down upon a row of briclis or 
stones, which had caused concussion of the brain, in wliich 
helpless state he w’as found by the very youth whom ho had 
taken home, the evening before, in a state of frightful in¬ 
toxication. Tlie poor mother’s anguish may be imagined, 
but can scarcely he described, when her son was brought 
home to her. He lingered through the day and night, and 
then his soul “ returned to God wlio gave it.” 
'Thus ended the short life of a quiet young man, who 
stood “ in the way of sinners.” It is a solemn warning— 
more solemn than the death of an open sinner, because all 
see and confess the guilt of open and undisguised sin, and 
thank God in their hearts that they are not as open sinners 
are ; hut they do not see the guilt and peril of quiet lives, 
w'hen there is no work of grace in the heai't. This awful 
death has set before a whole parish, and all who hear 
and read it, the startling truth, that they who “ stand in the 
way of sinners ” are in peril of everlasting destruction. 
No man is quiet in the sight of God, but he tlnathas sought 
and found tho “kingdom of God and his righteousness;” 
for “ the work of righteousness ” only “ shall be peace; and 
the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for 
ever.” CJuiet lives before men are only hollowmess and 
