July 4.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
213 
suspects their honesty, when she is only guarding against 
thoughtless waste. Knowing, as wo all do, the plague ot oui 
own hearts, we cannot and ought not to he surprised and 
indignant at the evil we find in others, particularly where 
education is always deficient, and where precept as well as 
example is too often sadly, injurious to the infant mind, lint, 
by strict attention on the part of the master or mistress, mucli 
mischief may be prevented, and a great deal of good effected, 
particularly where servants are young enough to he trained 
and taught. Really good, trustworthy servants are so rare, 
that we must not write so much for those who possess them, 
as for those who possess them not. 
The eye of the mistress should he in every place, and 
never really withdrawn from her household at any hour ot 
the day. Where method is observed, which is of the first 
consequence, she should know every duty of every sen ant, 
and when, as well as how, it ought to be done. By this 
means she will he able, very nearly, to know what is doing in 
the offices, while she is seated at work, or instructing her 
children, or taking necessary exercise. It all is scramble 
and irregularity, the bell may be rung when the maid-servant 
is just mixing the pudding, or the dinner things may be 
washing up at the hour when visitors are most likely to call. 
With one servant, these embarrassments may be avoided by 
sensible arrangements and a little steady perseverance; and 
the importance of this is in reality much greater than at first 
sight we may be inclined to suspect. 
Ladies who have been accustomed to the comforts and 
elegancies of life, may think it enough to enter their kitchens 
once a day, to order dinner, and glance superficially around; 
but when the difficulties of life rise up before us, we must, 
renounce its elegancies, and consider only how we maj make 
the most of “ such things as we have.” When the lesson— 
the mighty lesson— be content, is learned by heart, ‘ the 
pomps and vanities ” of the world shrink into their real 
nothingness, and how comparatively easy is the onward path. 
We must not be ashamed to make the kitchen and its con 
cerns special objects of our attention, not simply as regards 
the actual eating and drinking, but as involving so much of 
the economy, respectability, and peacefulness of our dwell¬ 
ings. We all know and feel that our educated minds and 
tastes do not prefer this branch ot duty ; and that it obliges 
us to do and say much that is foreign to our dispositions 
and painful to our feelings ; but, besides that, in oil stations 
it is woman’s peculiar work to “ look well to the ways ot hei 
household;" where means are small, it is a peremptory 
obligation, to be strictly and religiously fulfilled. As such, 
whether the mistress of a household is suffering from leverse 
of fortune, or is but pursuing her accustomed path of pru¬ 
dence and self denial, her close attention to apparent trifles, 
her watchfulness over the hourly proceedings of her servants, 
and her frequent visits to the domestic offices, are a holy and 
beautiful portion of her walk in life—a section of her duty to 
God and man. ... . . , 
I am not now drawing an imaginary portrait; the original 
is daily before me; and although I have none of my own 
practical experience to offer, yet I am even less likely to over¬ 
state facts, and unintentionally mislead, because I am not 
blinded by vanity, or led ignorantly to fancy my own \\ aj s 
the best. I am, happily, so situated as to see the working of 
systems guided by other hands and governed by other minds; 
and I beg, once for all, to disclaim any further merit in these 
papers than that of putting the experience of others into 
what, I trust, may be found a convenient form. That they 
have met the approval of some of our correspondents, is a 
source of the deepest gratitude to Him who is the Author 
and Giver of all good. 
poultry requires a good deal of patience and attention, at 
least, to be a successful rearer of it; and what can be more 
disheartening, “ in a small way,” than to find the young 
things dying off ! which is always the case unless trouble is 
taken with them. “ If a thing is worth doing at all, it is 
worth doing well,” is certainly true concerning poultry rear- 
in". The great secret is to feed them often, and a little at a 
time. The old nurse’s saying, of “ children and chickens are 
always a picking,” is a very true one as regards, at least, the 
latter; for if you carefully watch a brood of young chickens 
you will observe they are always scratching about and pick¬ 
ing up something — it may be a seed, or an insect, 01 a woim. 
Thus, nature points out the proper management; for, of 
course, if the hen is under a coop she cannot obtain food for 
them, and therefore it must be placed within their reach at j 
various times during the day. ... ,, 
Ducks I have always found more difficult to rear than 
chickens ; for they are very greedy, and often eat so much that 
they become suffocated. They stray a long way from their 
mother (if she is confined) in search of their favourite food, 
which is slugs; they are therefore very desirable assistants to 
the gardener, and as they do not scratch up the earth they 
are most useful, particularly in a flower-garden. In modera¬ 
tion nature’s food must be beneficial to them, but then they 
should not be fed to the same extent as when unable to cater 
for themselves. Boiled potatoes, damaged rice, and barley- 
meal are all equally good for young poultry of all sorts. ' 
Ducks are particularly calculated lor the poor man to keep, i 
if he lives near a pond or ditch ; for they require very little | 
feeding, and are contented with the refuse of any vegetables. , 
Cabbages boiled, chopped-up, and mixed with the skins of | 
potatoes, they will eat greedily ; young nettles also, it boiled 
and mashed up, they like much. 
How much more comfortable would the cottager s hie 
become, if he exerted himself to procure some, if not all, 
the little luxuries recommended in The Cottaoe^ Gardener. 
What a pleasant picture of English cottage life it is, when, 
on taking your evening walk, you pass a cottage “ neat and 
clean,” a little flower-garden in front, some rows of potatoes, 
carrots, onions, in the back ground, half-way up the gaiden 
two or three neat straw liirils tenanted by the “ busy bee,” 
from whom the owner takes many a lesson. Walk on a little 
further and you will come to the pig-stye and the house m 
which some ducks roost, and a goat rests after the fatigue 
of searching for herbage from the bare common. The rabbit 
hutch, too, is not forgotten: there it is in the other corner, with 
its useful and pretty occupants. Such cottage arrangements 
would make many a heart beat with pleasure, and not without 
good cause, for although outward appearances are apt to 
deceive, yet you may be pretty sure that the owner and 
arranger of such a little arrangement is a happy and an in¬ 
dustrious man. I think, also, from cultivating habits of self- 
denial, and “ learning wisdom ” from all around, he mil (it 
hitherto a “ stranger to the fold ") become not a “ hearer only, 
but a doer of the word.” That he will do all to the glory of 
God, and that he will remember that all the good things 
which he receives, though they appear to the natural eye to 
be the result of liis own carefulness, his own forethought, 
are in reality the free gift of the Almighty, and therefore He 
should have the “ first fruits”—even his whole heart. Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be 
added to you,” are the words of our blessed Lord liimselt, 
and therefore if we have faith “ as a grain of mustard seed, 
we shall believe —and not only believe but we shall practise. 
I am quite sure I am not wrong in stating, that when a 
cottager has truly the love of God in liis heart, his home will 
be one of comfort, neatness, and cleanliness. A 1'eiend. 
MY FARM-YARD. 
The subject of the farm-yard has lately been rather neg 
lected by my pen, not so, though, by my thoughts; for as 
the summer advances the poultry keeper’s cares multiply. 
Tour, try. — Brood after brood succeed each other with 
great rapidity until the yard appears alive, so numerous are 
its inhabitants. By far the safest plan when chickens are 
hatched is to keep the hen under a coop for the first three 
weeks; this prevents her dragging her young brood oyer the 
wet grass, which occasions cramp and many other diseases 
to which young poultry of all sorts are liable. Rearing 
THE LONDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S FETE. 
CHISWICK, June 8. 
(Concluded from page 195.) 
azaleas. _ 
This season being now advanced, the collections exhibited 
though past their best, yet were respectable. 
1st Brize to Mr. Green, gardener to Sir E. Antrobus, for 
Apollo; Decora; Varicgata; Coronata; LateriUa; Optima; ami 
Iiosca Punctata. 
2nd Prize to Mr. May, of Ealing Park, for 
Fulgem; Decora ; Minerva; Variegata; Coronata; and Gledstanescu. 
