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process was very inconsiderable. Though the experiment was only tried with wheat, it is believed that it would answer equally, with oats or any other grain.-Donovan's Domestic Economy.

SCHOOL FOR TRAINING FEMALE SERVANTS AT

UPTON-ON-SEVERN.

A CERTAIN number of girls, from the national schools, selected for their good conduct, will be admitted into this institution, and boarded, clothed, and educated, for two or three years, at two shillings a week.

Young girls who have lost their mothers, or are otherwise so circumstanced as to make it desirable that a home should be provided for them, will be admitted from an early age, upon security being given for the payment of four shillings a week for each child: ten shillings' entrance will also be required with each girl. They will be received from any part of England.

These young girls will be kept employed in rotation in the various branches of domestic service; one set will be relieved by another at proper periods, in order that each girl, in her turn, may be fully instructed in every department. When judged capable, they will be placed in good

situations.

They will be taught reading, writing, and the four first rules of arithmetic; also, plain cooking, and to make and bake bread, to wash and iron, and get up fine linen, to scour boards, and clean furniture, with all other branches of household work. The matron will superintend each department of service.

It is thought essential that the institution should be strictly a religious one. To train up the English girl in the path of humble duty, to teach her to love, honour, and succour her parents, and to follow the steps of her blessed Redeemer, in life and in death, will be the single aim of those who direct her, under the guidance of her spiritual pastors and masters.

Each subscriber will have a prior right of selecting servants; and the amount of their subscriptions will be deducted from the charge of any girl they may especially wish to patronize.

The assistance of the benevolent public is most earnestly requested to aid the undertaking. The very smallest donation and annual subscription will be most thankfully received by Lady Darell, the Hyde, Upon-on-Severn, Worcestershire; Mr. Lovesy, Imperial Library, Promenade, Cheltenham; and by Messrs. Stevenson, Salt, and Sons, Bankers, 20, Lombard Street, London; also by the Rev. H. Taylor, Upton.

A cottage has been taken, and the matron and several girls are already established there (July, 1840).

POT-HERBS.

Sent by Y.

EVERY housekeeper who possesses a patch of ground, though ever so small, should cultivate a few of the herbs which are in constant request for cookery or garnish; and this may be done mixed with flowers in borders, without in the least detracting from the beauty of a parterre. By this means, the herbs will always be at least fresh, and in the greatest perfection; and the expense is so small (after the first purchase of the seed or roots) as to be scarcely calculable. Let the housekeeper look over her greengrocer's bills, and she will be surprized at the aggregate charge for herbs, and such small gear as horse-radish, fennel, &c. in a month or a year. We speak within rule when we say, that in many families it amounts to two or three shillings weekly, when the court in front, or patch in rear of the house, affords ample convenience for growing nearly all that is required. We do not advocate the cultivation of vegetables (unless the garden is large) in the suburbs of great towns, particularly London; because the marketgardeners produce them much cheaper than any private person can grow them; and even if the greatest pains are taken, and no expense spared, it is seldom or never that they can be produced so early or so good as by those who make it their business, and who have facilities, and, above all, practical experience for the work. But this objection does not apply to pot-herbs, which are easy of growth, and require but little trouble in the management.-Magazine of Domestic Economy.

TO PREVENT THE TASTE OF TURNIPS IN MILK & BUTTER. THE COW should never be fed with the roots within six hours of milking, but immediately after, giving no more at a time than she will eat up.

TO PREVENT SMUT IN WHEAT.

THROW the seed-corn into water, stir it well up to separate the light grain, and skim it off as it comes to the surface; then pour off the water, and saturate the wheat with a strong brine of salt and water. After it has steeped four hours, raise it in baskets, and let it stand to drain; then spread it evenly on a barn-floor, and mix up slaked lime with it until quite dry. A sufficient quantity for the day's sowing should be prepared the preceding evening.Magazine of Domestic Economy. Sent by Y.

WEATHER WISDOM.

THE following are a few of the common or popular proverbial "saws," relative to the weather in our insular climate:-"A rainbow in the morning gives the shepherd. warning." That is, if the wind be easterly; because it shows that the rain cloud is approaching the observer. "A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight." This adage may also be a good sign, provided the wind be westerly, as it shows that the rain clouds are passing away. "Evening red and next morning grey, are certain signs of a beautiful day." "When the glow-worm lights her lamp, then the air is always damp." "If the cock goes crowing to bed, he'll certainly rise with a watery head." "When you see the gossamer flying, be ye sure the air is drying." "When black snails cross your path, black clouds much moisture hath." "When the peacock loudly bawls, soon we'll have both rain and squalls." "If the moon shows like a silver shield, be not afraid to reap your field. But if she rises haloed round, soon we'll tread on deluged ground." "When rooks fly sporting high in air, it shows that windy storms are near." If at sun rising or setting the clouds appear of a lurid red colour, extending nearly to the zenith, it is a sure sign of storms and gales of wind. The above are a few of the common sayings mostly used by country people, many of which are even more to be depended upon than are the bold predictions of would-be weather prophets.-Weekly Paper.

EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c.

ROYAL DISPENSARY FOR DISEASES OF THE EAR.-In a recent report of this institution, a simple mode of removing obstructions of the eustachian tubes is recommended by Mr. Curtis, as obviating the necessity for an operation. It consists in merely closing the nose and mouth, and forcing the breath into the tubes by the act of expiration. This plan is not new, but was some years ago communicated by the late Dr. James Sims to the Medical Society of London, of which he was president. It appears by the report, that since the establishment of the dispensary in 1816, upwards of 10,750 patients have been cured or relieved of deafness and other diseases of the ear through its instrumentality.

POTATOES RAISED FROM CUTTINGS.-Mr. Cortselt, of Stapleton, near Bristol, has succeeded in raising this valuable root from cuttings. Mr. Cortselt says, "Reasoning upon the analogy of the potatoe to the dahlia, I was induced to try an experiment on cuttings, and have succeeded admirably; having, from white apple and foxes seedlings (an early potatoe), produced a good crop of full-sized potatoes, many of which weighed half a pound. The method was this: when the potatoes were about nine inches high, I cut off the tops about six inches long, planted them in a line about eight inches apart, with a flat dibble, pressing the earth, carefully against them, gave them water, and afterwards hoed them as an ordinary crop. I produced this way at the rate of 140lbs. per rod.-Liverpool Standard.

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 is three feet and a half, and the distance between the rows five or six feet. Eight or ten seeds are deposited in each cavity. This is done 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 gherkins 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.— Country Paper.

EFFECTS OF HEAT ON VEGETATION.-There is in a garden at Genoch, a curious and instructive illustration of the effects of heat on vegetation. The root and lower part of a large cherry tree being on the north of a wall, the trunk is carried through a door, and the upper part of the tree trained up on the south side. On the north side the tree is in blossom at present, whilst on the south side the fruit is fully formed, and in great abundance.— Galloway Register.

IMPORTANT TO FARMERS.-A Farmer in Forfarshire has, it is said, completely saved his turnip crop from the beetle, for a long series of years, by keeping the seed, for some time previous to sowing, among a considerable quantity of flour of sulphur, and sowing the sulphur along with the seed.

THE SLAVE TRADE.-The humane opposers of the abominable slave trade are, perhaps, ignorant of the fact that in the year 1000, children were first forbidden to be sold by English parents.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received the communications of L. S. R.; A. B.; Rowena; A. W.; Y.; A Layman; E. R. M. S.; W.; M.D.—A. B.'s communication is too long for our pages.

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ON THE COLLECT FOR THE EPIPHANY.

IT frequently happened that our daily occupations prevented my friend Charles and myself from paying our visits to our blind neighbour till late in the evening; and when this was the case, she generally invited any who lived in the adjoining cottages to come in and listen to the reading, or join in the prayer with which we usually concluded.

It was the 6th of January, after our day's work was done, that we set out for one of these meetings. The shortness of the days had obliged us to leave off soon after four, and the stars were already beginning to show themselves in the clear frosty sky. Charles pointed out to me the bright stars in the Great Bear, which are always visible at this time of the year sooner than any others. "An old shepherd," said he, "once taught me the names

VOL. XX.

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