but that they would grow up in their natural ignorance, wretchedness, and depravity. The moral benefit which these schools impart never can be wholly seen.-Look at these children in future life; see one leaving his school, his home, his friends, and entering into the wide world. Mark his conduct;-how steady, how obedient, how industrious, how consistent! His fellow servants, perhaps, laugh at and deride him; still he maintains the tenor of his way, and by his good conduct obtains the confidence of his master, and is at length in business for himself.-See his conduct as a master! His integrity, and his good manners, obtain the esteem and encouragement of the public. If he have a family, he sets them a good example; instructs them in the truths which he has learnt; leads them into the path which he himself pursues; and, it is to be hoped, many of them do, in their turn, follow his advice, and become useful characters in their different stations, and promote the same good to those around them. Thus, the moral good, done by teaching a charity boy, goes on, till, like leaven, it leavens the whole mass. Look at the females, snatched from those vices which threaten their ruin. Christian principles inculcated in their minds, with the blessing of heaven attending them, are calculated to. lead them to happiness. Many of them produce the fruit of righteousness; their minds, impressed with the evil of sin and the importance of virtue, resist surrounding temptations; they become obedient children, industrious and steady servants, affectionate wives, and good mothers; they promote and follow whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are honest, charitable, and religious, in the several circles in which Providence designs them to move. In this way, religious principles instilled into the minds of children in charity or Sunday schools, may be traced as a blessing to society, a blessing to the Church, and a blessing to the world.-From Observations and Reflections on various Subjects, Moral and Religious, by a Youth. THE COTTAGER'S GARDEN DIRECTORY.--- In the first fortnight sow hardy-green and tennisball lettuce. When the young plants have grown to the height of two or three inches, remove them to a south border; and, in very severe weather, protect them with dried fern, or with straw. Transplant celery and leeks, and the cabbages which were sown in July. Gather fruit as it ripens. Store potatoes, after the haulm is dead, and before the frosts commence. Make strawberry-beds. (See page 126.) Train the summer shoots of wall-trees; but, after the middle of the month, use the knife sparingly. Plant and prune evergreens; and also deciduous trees, after the leaf has fallen. Sow the seeds of trees in general. Plant, on a dry sheltered border, cuttings of gooseberry, currant, ivy, honeysuckles, and of most hardy evergreens. The suckers of most trees and shrubs may now be transplanted. As the different crops are removed, prepare the ground for other crops, or for a winter fallow. Destroy weeds before the autumnal rains fall, as it will be difficult to eradicate them at that time. Observations. The gathering and preservation of fruit -Fruit, that is intended to be kept, should be gathered in dry weather, and after the dew is gone. In gar thering fruit, handle it as little as possible, and be careful not to bruise it by letting it fall, or to crush it by piling too much in one basket. Allow * Those that are not evergreen. it to grow ripe on the trees; as fruit that is not perfectly ripe, when gathered, shrivels and loses its flavour after it has been kept. Plums, when ripe, readily quit the branch. Apricots still continue to adhere firmly to the tree, but feel a little softened on that side which is towards the sun. Pears separate from the tree on being raised to a level with the branch to which they are attached. Apples are left till they begin to fall naturally; excepting the winter apples, which will not readily fall, and which should not be gathered till there is danger of frost. After the apples and pears are gathered, lay them in a heap, and cover them with a mat, or with straw. In the course of a fortnight; they will have discharged a considerable quantity of moisture, which is to be wiped off with a woollen cloth. The fruit is then to be packed in baskets with straw, with dry moss, or with chaff; or laid upon shelves, and covered with paper. Or, as sweating fruit injures its flavour, it may be removed immediately from the tree to the shelf, or the basket. There are other methods of preserving fruit, and some which are much better than these, but which are unfortunately expensive. Whatever plan is adopted,, each kind of fruit should be kept by itself; as some kinds decay much sooner than others: for instance, the summer pearmain apple, which ripens this month, will begin to grow mealy in October, whilst the royal pearmain, which ripens in November, will be good in the following June. Storing potatoes.--Several methods have been invented for keeping this important root, but the general custom is to cover them with sand in a cellar, where they may be occasionally turned, and freed from their sprouts; or, to keep them in pits lined with straw, and which, after being filled, are thatched, and then covered with earth to a sufficient -depth to prevent sudden changes of temperature; for these sudden changes greatly injure the potatoe. It has been asserted, that the contents of a pit may be gradually frozen and, if not opened, gradually thawed, without their sustaining the slightest damage. Those who are desirous of raising new kinds of potatoes, may now sow the seed; or, having selected some of the ripest apples, the seed may be picked out, and kept in papers till spring. It is amusing to read the accounts that old authors give of a root so valuable as the potatoe. Parkinson says, that, in his time, they were roasted, and eaten with sack and sugar; or were preserved and candied by the comfit makers. Evelyn, who wrote about 1698*, speaks of them with great contempt: "Plant potatoes in your worst ground. Take them up in November for winter spending; there will enough remain for a stock, though ever so exactly gathered."-We, however, know better in these E. W. B. days. * The potatoe was brought into England, from Virginia, in America, by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1584. EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c. To the Editor of the Farmers' Journal. Sir, Cornwall, April 10, 1824. Numerous complaints are made of depredations by these useful but wary miscreants, on corn-fields, potatoes, &c. to prevent which is easy and simple. Take a straw rope, such as is used in some countries for thatching; and stretch it across the field from about the middle towards the fences, supported by stakes fixed in the ground, to raise it a few feet. This is a sufficient notice to them to keep off. If fields are large, other ropes may be placed at proper distances, for if food grows scarce, they may, after cautiously reconnoitering for some time, approach to within two or three hundred yards of the supposed trap.. If any of your numerous readers be induced to try the experiment, they will be assured of the effect. I am, Sir, your's respectfully, NATIONAL VACCINE ESTABLISHMENT. THE following is an official copy of the last Report of the Vaccine Board, to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, dated March 18, 1824: To the Right Honourable Robert Peel, Secretary of State for the Home Department, &c. &c. &c. Sir, We have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of Parliament, that, although cases of Small Pox, after Vaccination, continue to be reported to the Board, yet the frequency of such accidents, when compared with the vastly increased number of persons who are now vaccinated, does not appear to be greater in proportion than it was daring the earlier years of the discovery. The disease, when it does occur under such circumstances, continues to prove as mild and safe in its character as heretofore; so that there is no reason whatever to suppose that the vaccine matter has lost any thing of its efficacy in the course of years which have elapsed since it was first taken from its original source. 'The Board has been occupied in endeavouring to discover, if possible, what habits are most prone to the secondary disorder, and to ascertain upon what peculiarity it depends, that so many persons should be rendered entirely secure, whilst a few remain liable to an attack of mitigated Small Pox. This is a subject which has presented numerous difficulties, and we cannot flatter ourselves that we have yet attained any certainty in the inquiry; we are sure, however, that more attention should be paid to the progress of the vesicle than has hitherto been bestowed upon that point, and that it is most proper to vaccinate with fresh matter, whenever it can be obtained. We are unavoidably led to the latter conclusion by remarking, that of the eight thousand persons annually vaccinated in the metropolis by our stationary vaccinators, a very considerably smaller proportion fall into the secondary disease here, than is observed to be the case out of an equal number vaccinated in the country. This differ ence we are disposed to attribute chiefly to the necessity which sometimes arises in the country of using matter which has been kept too long: for, notwithstanding repeated and urgent injunctions to all our correspondents to exert their utmost endeavours to keep up a supply of fresh lymph, it is constantly reported to us that there is considerable difficulty in doing this. Thus, although it may be consolatory to know that a never-failing source is to be found in the metropolis, the gratifying conviction is alloyed with the apprehension that, without the protection and support of Parliament, afforded by the establishment and maintenance of this Board, |
