"Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.' (Titus, chap. ii. ver. 9, 10.) وو "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward; "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." (1st St. Peter, chap. ii. verses 18, 19.) God has mercifully given you these instructions, and all others necessary for your salvation. It is my prayer, that you may not receive them in vain; but may be enabled by His grace to choose "that good part which shall not be taken away from you." May you, when you shall have finished your course upon earth, receive, through the all powerful merits of your Saviour, that crown of righteousness which He will give to all who have loved and served Him, and may you hear those joyful words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (St. Matthew, chap. xxv. ver. 21.) — From a Tract called " Advice to Servants." THE CHRISTIAN'S SWEET HOME. 1. 'MID scenes of confusion and earthly complaints, Receive me dear Saviour in glory, my home. Bless'd bonds that unite all the children of peace, 3. I long from this body of sin to be free, Which hinders my joy and communion with Thee; 4. While here, in the valley of conflict I stay, Oh give me submission, and strength as my day; Rejoicing in hope of my glorious "home." 1838.] NATURAL HISTORY. 5. Whate'er thou deniest, Oh give me Thy grace, 6. I long, blessed Lord, in Thy beauties to shine; But in Thy fair image arise from the tomb, With glorified millions, to praise Thee, "at home." NATURAL HISTORY. 283 Sent by M. D. THE Swallow is formed in a manner most peculiarly suited to his habits and wants. He lives on flies and insects; and, to gain a livelihood, it is needful for him to be all day on the wing to catch his food, which is floating in the air, and on the surface of the waters. Some sorts of birds can only take a short flight; but this is all sufficient for their wants. The swallow would starve, if he could not remain a very long time on the wing. The muscles which enable him to move his wings, appear to be made for the very purpose of supporting long flight; and the breast bone, which supports these muscles, is, in the swallow tribe, particularly large and prominent. The mouth, too, opens to a vast width, to enable the bird to catch its food of flies and insects as it sweeps through the air-such care does a kind Providence take of all his creatures. As we have no flies in winter, this bird would starve, if he attempted to remain with us;-he therefore takes his departure, at the end of our summer, for a warmer climate. The migration of birds,-their departure (that is, from one country to another,) is a very curious subject. Some birds come to us in winter, and leave us in summer, whilst the swallow tribe does just the contrary. There are some writers who maintain that swallows do not leave this country at all, but that they lie in a torpid, or sleepy state, during the winter, under water, or in holes and crevices of rocks, &c. It is possible that a few of the late broods may do this;-but, as numbers of them are seen at times taking their long flights over the sea, and have lighted on the rigging of ships to rest themselves, many hundreds of miles from land,—there can be but little doubt that they do cross the sea,—or, to use the common expression, are " migratory" birds. To enter fully into this subject would far exceed the limits to which our little work must be confined.-From History of Quadrupeds, &c. BEET-ROOT. V. THIS vegetable is little known but as a garnish, and to colour pickled cabbage; but it is an excellent vegetable for eating. Let it be washed and brushed, (not scraped like a carrot,) leave the short stalks which have borne the leaves, also the small side and end rootlets, during the time of boiling, that the skin may not be wounded. Beetroot requires to be boiled from three quarters of an hour to an hour and half according to its size; when ready, peel and trim it. Whatever is left after dinner, should be cut in slices about a quarter of an inch thick, laid neatly in a dish, and vinegar poured over the whole. By the next day at dinner time, or even the same night, it will be ready, and should be eaten with pepper, salt, oil and vinegar: it is a good addition either to hot or cold meat. It becomes a very mild kind of pickle, and is very wholesome with salted meat: it will keep (if treated as above) for a fortnight-See Magazine of Domestic Economy, (Compressed.)-Sent by Y. WHOLESOME, PALATABLE, AND CHEAP TABLE BEER. PUT eleven gallons of water, a peck of malt, half a pound of hops, and three pounds of treacle, into the copper; boil 1838.] GARDENING, &c. 285 all together for two hours; then pour it through a hair sieve into a cooler; let it stand to cool till about seventy degrees, or what is commonly called new milk warm, then put in about half a pint of yeast, and stir it well; let it stand a few hours till it has acquired a head: skim this head off, and then tun your beer; before it has quite done working, bung it down, and in a week it will be fit for drinking. There being a larger proportion of hops than is generally used will take off any unpleasant flavour from the treacle, and will cause the beer to keep better. See a letter signed W. E. B. in the Magazine of Domestic Economy, No. 37. p. 31. The writer states the above as the result of the experience of five brewings. Sent by Y. GARDENING, &c. A CORRESPONDENT of the Sussex Agricultural Express, states that he has found by using a top-dressing of gasashes after sowing turnip seed, the plants are effectually preserved from the fly, which is attributed to the smell arising from the ashes.-Northampton Herald. Bedfordshire Cucumbers.-In the southern counties of England, pickling cucumbers are easily raised without any artificial heat, being sown in drills, in the open ground. The earth is made fine and level, and shallow circular hollows are formed with the hand, a foot wide, and half an inch deep in the middle. The distance between each hollow, three feet and a half, and the distance between the rows five or six feet; eight or ten seeds are deposited in each hollow, in the beginning of June. When the plants appear, they are thinned out to three or four. The weakest or least healthy being rejected. They are watered occasionally, according to the state of the weather. The cucumbers are gathered chiefly from the middle to the end of August. Vast quantities of these open-ground girkins are taken to the London market. The village of Sandy in Bedfordshire has been known to furnish 10,000 bushels of drilled cucumbers in one week.-Northampton Herald, June 9, 1838. CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. THE following interesting passage is taken from " Essays on Natural History," recently published, the author of which is Mr. Charles Waterton, the celebrated traveller: "Whilst temperance societies are rising up in all directions, to warn the thirsty sinner that gin and godliness cannot go together, I could wish that some benevolent person would instruct the ignorant on the true nature and habits of many poor dumb animals, which undergo a perpetual persecution, under the erroneous idea that they are inimicai to the interests of man. I would willingly go twenty miles on foot, over the flintiest road, to hear some patroness of infant schools tell her little pupils that, now-a-days, there are no old women who ride through the air on broomsticks, with a black cat in their laps; that ravens, owls, and magpies have no dealings with people in the other world, and that hedgehogs are clearly proved never to have sucked a cow. Notwithstanding the apprehensions of the dairy-maid, I now and then venture to purchase a captive hedge-hog, and turn it into my park-there to live and die in peace. IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE. EVEN in parts of Ireland, where little agricultural competition has hitherto been found to exist, improvement is now rapidly advancing. At a late show in Bandon there have been no less than ten candidates for the mangel wurzel prize, which was awarded to Lord Carberry; and there were numerous competitors amongst the working farmers for that as well as other prizes, amounting to twenty-five. At the late Lismore cattle show, the Duke of Devonshire carried away the prize for the best bull and cow; and a tenant of his Grace, a widow named Keeffe, obtained premiums for the best potatoes in drill, for clover with rye-grass, for vetches, and a prize of 5l. for the best cultivated farm generally. Of the prizes lately given on Lord Stanley's estate, four or five were also obtained by widows.-Northampton Herald. |