A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

health and amusement. It is with the hope, that many young ladies, whose habits are now so formed, that they can never be induced to a course of active domestic exercise, so long as their parents are able to hire domestics, may yet be led to an employment, which will tend to secure health and vigor of constitution, that so much space is given, in this work, to directions for the cultivation of fruits and flowers. It would be a most desirable improvement, if all female schools could be furnished with suitable grounds, and instruments, for the cultivation of fruits and flowers, and every inducement offered, to engage the young ladies in this pursuit. No father, who wishes to have his daughters grow up to be healthful women, can take a surer method to secure this end. Let him set apart a portion of his yard and garden, for fruits and flowers, and see that the soil is well prepared and dug over, and all the rest may be committed to the care of the children. These would need to be provided with a light hoe and rake, a dibble, or garden trowel, a watering-pot, and means and opportunities for securing seeds, roots, buds, and grafts, all which might be done at a trifling expense. Then, with proper encouragement, and by the aid of such directions as are contained in this work, every man, who has even half an acre, could secure a small Eden around his premises. In pursuing this amusement, children can also be led to acquire many useful habits. Early rising would, in many cases, be thus secured; and if they were required to keep their walks and borders free from weeds and rubbish, habits of order and neatness would be induced. Benevolent and social feelings could also be cultivated, by influencing children to share their fruits and flowers with friends and neighbors, as well as to distribute roots and seeds to those, who have not the means of procuring them. A woman or a child, by giving seeds, or slips, or roots, to a washerwoman, or