HOW TO MANAGE FRUIT SEEDS. The seeds of most kinds of fruit trees should be planted in the autumn. from destruction, remember the fall work must be done, and shall our women falter because the men are away, because their loved ones are nobly doing their duty? No! never! but with true heart, let The seeds of stone fruit-peach, plum and every woman do her usual share of work, and cherry-should be cleansed from the pulp as soon more, also, if need be, and leave the result with as ripe, and either planted, or put into sand imthe Allwise Father, who ruleth over all things. mediately. If seeds are left in the pulp until The pleasant month of September glided quietly after fermentation has commenced, their vitality away, and soon October will be gone. With pre- will be injured, if not destroyed. So, too, if perserving and pickling, sewing and cleaning, remak-mitted to remain out of the ground all winter and ing, removing and remodelling, the farmer's wife become dry, they do not start so readily as if has no spare time upon her hands. She is never planted in the autumn. at a loss about disposing of the hours, but sometimes wonders how so much work can be done in so little time. The sere leaf is rattling to the ground, and each day she has new proof that winter will soon, with cold fingers, clutch all within his icy grasp. Much is to be done, ere he succeeds. Sometimes she gets almost discouraged, but as one job after another is disposed of, she becomes cheerful and happy, and with eager step performs her round of duty. O, for one more sight of a farmer's kitchen fifty years ago. The open fireplace, with its rousing back log, sending bright flashes of ruddy light over the white sanded floor. Its long strings of golden pumpkins hung to dry, its rack of apples, cut and cored and drying also by the rosy fire, its bunches of "herbs" hung high above the reach of mischievous boys and girls, its hooks drove strongly into the plastering overhead and supporting slim strips of wood, upon which things can be spread to air or dry, while on the ends swing "the hats of all, both great and small," when the owners do not need them on their heads. It was a picture bright with love and comfort, but 'tis gone, and I see only a small, warm kitchen, with its polished cooking-stove and well arranged appurtenances. I've sometimes thought I would discard all modern improvements, and go back half a century, but ah, me! we modern women could not stand one-half the wear and tear our grandmothers did, and it is well, perhaps, for us that we live in such an enlightened age, when everything goes by steam! West Amesbury, Oct., 1862. SARAH. Cherry pits are sometimes put into a box and mixed with sand, and placed where the frost of winter will act upon them, and then planted in the spring. I do not like this plan, because the seeds start very early, sometimes before it is convenient to plant them. The little plants are very tender, and so easily injured that many are destroyed by the removal from the sand to the seed bed. The safest way is to prepare the seed bed early in the autumn, scatter the seeds in rows upon the surface, covering lightly with earth, and leaving spaces between the rows for the purpose of passing along to weed the bed. The rows may be six inches, or a foot wide. Some people sow broadcast, leaving no spaces, but in that case, if the bed is a large one, the process of weeding will be somewhat tedious, and many plants will be trampled upon and destroyed. At one year old, many of the seedlings will be of a suitable size to transplant to the nursery rows for budding. Plum pits may be treated the same as the cherry. Peach pits are sometimes left in barrels over winter, cracked in the spring and planted in the nursery rows. This is not a good plan. Prepare a piece of ground in the autumn, scatter the pits upon the surface, cover slightly with earth and the frost of winter will crack them. By the middle of May the plants will be coming up; they must then be taken up carefully, with a transplanting trowel and set in the nursery rows. The rows four feet apart, and the plants about nine inches apart in the row. By this method, the trouble and exposure of cracking by hand is saved; the rows are full, and there are no gaps, where the seeds refuse to vegetate, as is often the case where the stones are cracked by hand in the spring and the seeds planted in the nursery rows. Peach stocks should be budded the first year. -Prof. J. C. Holmes, in the Ohio Farmer. We would suggest an improvement in the mode of planting the peach, founded on the natural planting, which occurs when the fruit dries up and decays on the tree, and the pit afterwards falls, planting itself in the soil. The pits, uncracked, should be put out in the autumn, in rows two feet apart, and one foot or more apart in the rows-each pit forced into the ground, point downward, so that the wide or spongy end shall be upward. During the winter, this spongy end will receive moisture, and when frozen will split the shell, permitting the kernel to germinate in the spring in precisely the right position. For if the pit should lie on its side, it will be likely to produce a diseased tree with the cotyledons below the surface of the soil. It is well known that the germ is in the upper end of the pit, and the tree, when formed, can only be straight when the pit stands erect to germinate; otherwise the parts below the surface of the ground will be crooked, and if split when one year old, the pith will be found to have changed color just below the earth-color. If any of the pits should fail to germinate the rows may be filled up by transplanting. By this mode the nursery rows will be formed at the outset, and the plants will be ready for budding in due season. -Working Farmer. HEADING LATE CABBAGES. upon a seedling from the woods. We bespeak for the seedling of Mr. Brackett the share of attention which it merits, and shall have more to say of it in future. LADIES' DEPARTMENT. For the New England Farmer. RECEIPTS. Perhaps a few well tried receipts will be of some help to the numerous readers of the Farmer. TOMATO PICKLE. Take hard, green tomatoes; wipe, slice and sprinkle them over with fine salt. Let them stand that has collected. Boil in good, sharp vinegar, twelve or fourteen hours, then pour off the water with a bag of spices, some whole mustard and a few pieces of nutmeg; strain the vinegar or not, just as you choose, and put in the tomatoes; boil them till soft, skim them out very carefully into a and the pour jar, so as not to mash the pieces up, boiling vinegar over them. Keep in a cool place, but do not freeze, as it will spoil it. SWEET PICKLE. It sometimes happens, either through the lateness of the season, or neglect in early planting, that cabbages do not head completely before cold weather sets in. These are often fed out to cattle, or thrown away, while by a little care they might be made to head during the fall and early winter. To accomplish this, proceed as follows: First, make a wide trench and transplant the cabbages into it, setting them together in a triple row. At each end of the row, drive in a crotched stake, and lay a rail from one to the other, to form a ridge-pole a foot or more above the cabbages. Make a roof of old boards or slabs, one end resting on the pole, and the other on the ground, so Take peaches, pears, tomatoes, grapes or plums as to shed water. Over this, lay a little straw, ripe, but not soft, and peel them. Prepare vinesix or more inches thick, and when winter sets in, gar by putting in brown sugar enough to make it put on as many inches of earth, making the sur-to suit the taste, and boiling in all kinds of spice, face smooth and hard, so as to be nearly rain clove in particular. Put in the fruit and boil till proof. At each end of the row, leave a ventilat- tender, being very careful not to break it. Take ing hole, which must be loosely filled with straw it out when tender and boil the syrup down very in cold weather. Cabbages so managed, will con- thick and pour over the fruit. Eat with meat or tinue to grow, and will fill up their heads consid-bread and butter. It will be found delicious. erably before midwinter. When taken out in spring, they will be tender, crisp and beautifully blanched.-American Agriculturist. TOMATO FOR WINTER USE. Take nice ripe tomatoes, scald and remove the skins, put in a pan and boil till all soft, then having placed bottles in cold water and heated it to a boil, pour your tomato into the hot bottles, and seal with wax, made of resin and a little beeswax. Seal hot. When wanted, open the bottle, pour of butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, two great the tomato into a saucepan, put in a small piece spoonfuls of sugar and a little pepper; heat to a boil, and eat with dinner or tea. If the bottles are well sealed, the tomato will be found as nice lose nothing but your labor and the tomato, the in January as it is now, and if you lose it, you fixins not being in. West Amesbury, 1862. SARAH. The BRACKETT'S SEEDLING GRAPE. No. 1.- We have had the pleasure of tasting this fine fruit and desire to call the attention of our readers to the description of it, given by the Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in their report, which will be found in Mr. Brackett's advertisement in this paper. In addition to what the committee say of it, we will add that it is a very large size grape, growing in large bunches, frequently weighing a pound, and often shouldered, though not always. This grape was the result of careful hybridization, and while the vine has every CRINOLINE AMONG THE ORIENTALS. characteristic of the native variety, securing it French papers publish accounts of the expedition hardiness and vigor, the fruit possesses the rich of M. Lambert to Madagascar. Its object being and vinous qualities of the foreign grape. Among primarily the spread of civilization and toleration, the many new varieties of this fruit which are be- the envoy took out for the princesses of that island an abundant stock of crimson robes, having skirts ing introduced, we have yet seen none which sur- resplendent with embroidery, sent by her imperial pass this one, and it is so incomparably above the Majesty. But the object of universal interest specimens of native grapes which are so frequent-among the fair was the expanding crinoline, which ly sent us, that no comparison can be made between them. It is far cheaper to bestow the care and labor of transplanting and training a vine, upon one such plant as this, than to attempt to raise a good fruit by wasting the same attention took everything else down, the only question being dress. A French officer says that one of Rawhether it should be worn above or beneath the dama's daughters decided on wearing the "cage" on the outside, and probably that will be the fashion in Madagascar. THE BABY PAYS. CATTLE MARKETS FOR OCTOBER. The following is a summary of the reports for the five weeks I have never known a house without a baby that got along as well as other houses. I never ending October 23, 1862 : knew a baby that didn't pay its way in smiles and kisses to deguile the toil-worn and weary. NUMBER AT MARKET. Cattle. October 2.......2809 "I was going out to-day to get some steers to fat this winter, if that fellow had paid up his note September 25...3358 yesterday," says Wm. Nickson, as with a corrugated brow and sad look, he sat down by the kitchen stove. "My dear, I thought you had twenty steers now," gently replied the wife. "Twenty and what are they to eat up a hun 66 9.......2706 16.......2392 15,231 The following table shows the number of cattle and sheep dred acres of corn that wont pay for hauling to from the several States, for the last five weeks : market at a shilling a bushel. This miserable war!" "Wab, wab, wab," says the baby, and the father's eyes mechanically wander to her, where she is locomoting along the floor froglike, as fast as hands and feet can carry her. "Patty cake," says the older brother, and as baby crowingly responds, the care-wrinkled brow of papa relaxes, and the corners of his mouth begin to twitch. "You mind how she singed for a preacher on Sunday ?" says little Charley. Maine.. New Hampshire...... Massachusetts. Northern New York.. Cattle. Sheep. .......3078 5849 ..1946 ..5655 365 2551 14832 72 Western States................. PRICES. Sept. 25. Oct. 2. Oct. 9. Oct. 16. Oct. 23. Beef, b......3164 3}@6] 33@61 31061 8197 Sheep and lambs..$2131 $21031 $21@31 $2}@4 $2}@4} Swine, stores, wh'le.3@4 3 @4 @4 41951 "There never was such a baby!" says papa, as "6 retail.4@5 3/@51 4 @51 5 66 he snatches up the little chit, and kisses the hands Dressed hogs........4@4} _4 @4} 41048 that would fain twine themselves in his whiskers. at market, whose live weight would not have exceeded 900 fbe. each. October 9th, Mr. A. N. Monroe sold 42 such cattle, aversome lots of choice, corn fed Western bullocks at market every aging 814 lbs., 40 cent. shrink. There have been, however, week, which have sold about 25c 100 lbs. higher than the best Northern oxen. Occasionally a really extra pair of stall-fed Northern oxen have found their way to market this month. In the report of Thursday, Oct. 23, a pair was noticed as follows: BOUNCERS.-Mr. Berry Long had 1 pair of oxen on sale at Cambridge, which, although not offered as workers, did nevertheless draw, pretty much all day, a large crowd of men and "steers" at 6000 lbs., or three tons, which the owner said was a boys. Several experienced dealers laid the live weight of these little too high, as they weighed at home only 5980 tbs. Mr. S. S. Learnard drove off these cattle, with the promise of further BENEFITS OF RELAXATION IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.-Sir Benjamin Brodie thus expresses his opinion on this subject:-"It is only to a limited extent that the education of children can be advantageously combined with bodily labor. Even in the case of grown-up persons, some intervals of leisure are necessary to keep the mind in a healthful and vigorous state. It is when thus relieved from the state of tension belonging to actual study that boys and girls, as well as men and women, acquire the habit of thought and reflection, and of forming their own conclusions, independently of what they are taught and the authority of others. In younger persons, it is not the mind only that suffers from too large a demand being made on it for the purposes of study. Relaxation and cheerful occupation are essential to the proper development of the corporal struc-tra somewhat higher. ture and faculties; and the want of them operates like an unwholesome atmosphere, or defective nourishment, in producing the lasting evils of defective health and a stunted growth, with all the secendary evils to which they lead." Notwithstanding the large number of cattle and sheep which have been offered for sale during the month, it is evident that Working oxen were quoted in report for October 23, as follows: 6 ft. oxen $50 @ 75; 6 ft. 6 in. $60 @ 85 ; 7 ft. $90 110. Ex Milch cows which are really good sell readily at good prices, while poor ones, being by far the largest class, sell low and hard at any price. Sales from $20 to $50-many cows with young calves are sold at about $30. The trade at the swine market is also improving, although the number of stores reported is small. VOL. XIV. BOSTON, DECEMBER, 1862. NOURSE, EATON & TOLMAN, PROPRIETORS. SUGGESTED BY DECEMBER. "Now, all amid the rigors of the year, To cheer the gloom. There, studious, let me sit, Thomson's Seasons. the new one, NO. 12. SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. The earth is frozen; the implements of husbandry have gone into winter quarters; the herds and flocks-the trees, the shrubs, the grasses-are all hybernating. We have reached another stage, attained another segment in the round of life, and enriched by the fruits of our previous toils, we can contentedly and quietly rest from our labors. We can now "Gather round the evening fire And crack the jokes that never tire." The best period of rest in the circle of the wide HE last breath year is now at hand. The business of cultivating of the Old the earth and securing the crops,-the appropriYear has de- ate employment of the husbandman-is completparted, and ed. He has passed through the busy and laborious cares of seed-time and tillage, the "joys of the with its icy early and later harvests," and has, in the spirit of brow and chil-true thankfulness and the cheering songs of ling "Harvest Home," welcomed the last of his crops storms, commenced.to his cellars and his barns. The last of the flowers have faded-the frosts have turned field and forest to a russet brown, and the leaves that during the kaleidoscopic changes of maturer autumn, put on such gorgeous coloring, are now changed to a sad and sombre hue, and scattered over the icy ground. The roseate hues of summer do We can advantage at season, but we accomplish much within. While, in a great measure, the winter, with icy hands, excludes us from communion with our fellow men, it, at the same time, opens to us the treasury of literature and science, and the advantages of retrospection and self-communion. Well may the farmer, imbued with a thankful and hopeful spirit, exclaim, with the poet : The work is done, the end is near, * There is a hush of joy and love, There is a heaven around us." can no longer brighten the skies, which look chill and wintry, and even the few clear days that are occasionally interspersed through the solar chain of diurnal changes, are succeeded by cloud and storm. Nature bids us pause and look back over the vanished year. The paling stars, the purpling dawn and the rising sun usher in his morning, and the splendid coloring of the evening heavens, with their ever new and changing features of illuminated clouds, are his for a perpetual possession. He is daily in the school of Nature-of the Great Architect whose silent teaching, more effectually than those of the Garden, the Porch or the Academy-of sage or sophist, open up to his vision the pathways of knowledge, and of the mysterious love whose essence is divinest lore. The rate of mortality in 1781 was one in 29, but in 1850 one in 40. The rich men live, on an average 42 years, but the poor only 30 years.-Free The farmer, of all men, has the best opportuni- | every minute, or 1 every second. These losses ty to cultivate his taste. He may not, indeed, are more than counterbalanced by the number of have access to the studios of the painter and births. The married are longer lived than the single. The average duration of life in all civilized sculptor, or the privilege of gazing upon the au- countries is greater now than any anterior period. gust creations-the breathing wonders of genius Macaulay, the distinguished historian, states that on canvas or in marble; but he has the privilege in the year 1685-not an unhealthy year-the of studying the forms fresh from the hand of a deaths in England were as one to 20, but in 1850 Master infinitely greater than any that have one in 40. Dupui, a well-known French writer, states that the average duration of life in France graced the earth, and whose inimitable and unap-from 1776 to 1843 increased 52 days annually. proachable productions meet him at every turn. In comparison with these, what are the treasures of the richest collections and galleries of art? There may be no Apollos, no Psyches, no Venuses, no nude embodiments of ideal beauty and loveliness, to excite unholy passions—no exaggerated representations of heroism, to arouse sympathies of their inhabitants, who move seaward on the ice As the days lengthen, the villages are emptied which should never find place in the human to the seal-hunt. Then comes into use a marvelbreast; but he may gaze on forms and develop-ous system of architecture, unknown among the ments which have a refining and elevating influence upon his mind and affections, and from which he may derive instruction that, if taken in the proper spirit, cannot fail to make him both "a wiser and a better man." If he is a cultivated man, this is of infinitely more importance than the mere mechanical drudgery of the farm, the cultivation of acres, which, at best, produce but a perishable product. The food of the spirit-the material which is, "like the banquetting of the gods," capable of sustaining a divine nature, has not simply an earthly origin; it assimilates to itself principles of a purer and diviner nature than can be developed by simple processes of germination and physical accretion. How true it is, in the language of the poet, that "Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, The works of nature, like the works of "All over does this outer world Nation. ESQUIMAUX ARCHITECTURE. rest of the American nations. The fine, pure snow has by that time acquired, under the action of strong winds and hard frosts, sufficient coherence to form an admirable light building material, with which the Esquimaux master-mason erects most comfortable dome-shaped houses. A circle is first slabs for raising the walls are cut from within, so traced on the smooth surface of the snow, and the as to clear a space down to the ice, which is to form the floor of the dwelling, and whose evenness was previously ascertained by probing. The terior of the circle is exhausted, are cut from some slabs requisite to complete the dome, after the inneighboring spot. Each slab is neatly fitted to its place by running a flenching knife along the joint, when it instantly freezes to the wall, the cold atmosphere forming a most excellent cement. Crevices are plugged up, and seams accurately closed by throwing a few shovelfuls of loose snow over the fabric. Two men generally work together in raising a house, and the one who is stationed within, cuts a low door, and creeps out when his task is over. The walls being only three or four inches thick, are sufficiently translucent to admit a very agreeimmor-able light, which serves for ordinary domestic purbut if more be required, a window is cut, poses; and the aperture fitted with a piece of transparent ice. The proper thickness of the walls is of some importance. A few inches excludes the wind, yet keeps down the temperature so as to prevent dripping from the interior. The furniture -such as seats, tables, and sleeping-places-is also formed of snow; and a covering of folded reindeer skin or seal-skin renders them comfortable to the inmates. By means of ante-chambers and porches, in form of long, low galleries, with their openings turned to leeward, warmth is insured in the interior; and social intercourse is promoted by building the houses contiguously, and cutting doors of communication between The average length of human life is about 28 them, or by erecting covered passages. Storeyears. One-quarter die previous to the age of 7; houses, kitchens, and other accessory buildings, one-half before reaching 17. Only one of every may be constructed in the same manner, and a de1000 persons reaches 100 years. Only six of every gree of convenience gained which would be at100 reaches the age of 65, and not more than one tempted in vain with a less plastic material. These in 500 lives to 80 years of age. Of the whole pop- houses are durable; the wind has little effect on ulation on the globe, it is estimated that 90,000 them, and they resist the thaw till the sun acquires die every day; about 3,700 every hour, and 60 | very considerable power.—Sir John Richardson SINGULAR FACTS IN HUMAN LIFE. |