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-health, though altogether detached from its parent tree. Here we perceive the origin of the first idea of grafting; for what is termed grafting by approach, is exactly the same in principle, and the ingenuity of man has since varied it in more than seventy different ways.

That the ancients were acquainted with this art, is evident from the 2d Georgic; but Virgil is mistaken, when he talks of grafting oaks on elms, pears on the ash, and apples upon sycamores. But the prevalent idea then was, that the scions of one tree would grow upon any other, provided there were a resemblance in their barks. So that their notions on the subject were very incorrect.

Every kind of apple will grow from cuttings, though some require the assistance of glass. The burknotts strike root with as much facility as a currant; and the finest dwarf codlings are thus raised. Many herbaceous plants will strike root from cuttings taken from the shoots, as the cucumber, which may be thus continued from year to year, and even where the stem is annual, as in the potatoe, and many flowers. Even the leaf, a single leaf of some plants, as certain species of aloes, arums, &c. will strike root, and form perfect plants, shooting from latent buds, as is well known to most hot-house gardeners. Many kinds, on the contrary, strike root with great difficulty, such is the orange, which to succeed, must be thrust through the mould of a half filled pot, till the lower end of the cutting touches the bottom, and in no other situation will they root. Other trees are so little disposed to send out roots, that they continue without, even from one year to another, and then rot, and this forms an insurmountable objection to propagating such from cuttings. It may be remarked, that all cuttings strike more readily when placed at the side, than when in the centre of the pot, and when taken from lower in preference to, higher branches. E. W. B.

ADVICE TO SERVANTS.

SERVANTS, and young persons entering into life, in looking out for a situation, are too apt to consider only what will promote their temporal interests, without considering how their spiritual state may be affected by it. But if you judge rightly, you will prefer a place with lower wages, where you may have religious instruction and advantages, to another with higher emoluments, where you would be without them. I know that young people deceive themselves, by thinking that they will be able · to resist any temptation they may meet with; they fancy that there is something in their prudence, or in the strength of their principles, that will uphold them in danger. But what says the word of God, "Be not high-minded, but fear." "Pass the time

of your sojourning here in fear." It is one part of the deceitfulness of the heart to suppose, that we shall be able to stand where others have fallen. "If we had been in the days of our fathers, (said the Jews), we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets," and yet they "crucified the Lord of glory." T. B. P.

Questions to myseif.

Did I arise this morning with a grateful sense of the goodness, and preserving mercy of God?

How were the devotions of the morning performed?

Have I been diligent in business, doing my work thoroughly in season, and with dispatch, as feeling that I am accountable to the Lord for the proper employment of my time?

Have I seen the hand of God in my mercies; health, cheerfulness, food, clothing, books, success in business, kindness of friends?

Have I seen and submitted to his hand in afflictions, in little disappointments, and vexations, and unkindnesses.

How have I governed my thoughts when alone, my temper in my family, and my conversation in company?

Have I said nothing passionate, deceitful, boastful, slanderous, mischievous, imprudent, or impertinent?

Have I been kind, and obliging, and forgiving? Have I properly used my opportunities of doing good to others, and of improving myself?

Have I recollected that God sees me all the day long; and have I looked up to him continually for strength and acceptance?

Have I exercised love to God, and to my fellowcreatures?

Do I strive against all known sin?

Do I avoid the company of those who fear not God? or do I make excuses to be in it?

T. B. P.

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Food IDLE JACK SIMKINS.da
(A TALE FOR SCHOOL-BOYS.)

THERE is not a more idle slovenly fellow in the parish than Jack Simkins: he is always in dirt and rags, and is constantly complaining: he grumbles

and says he can get no work; and I don't much wonder at it, for when he has a job, he does it so badly, that nobody likes to employ him again; and when he has earned a trifle, he goes and spends it at the alehouse, instead of carrying it home to his family to buy them what they stand in need of; so that his house is always shabby, and his windows broken, and his garden all over weeds; and every thing about him. shows that all is going wrong. I remember Jack when he was a boy at school; he was at the very same school with Richard Morgan *. But Jack Simkins never took any pleasure in his book, did not seem to care whether he learned any thing or nothing, never paid any attention to what his master said to him, and always came in a dirty slovenly manner to school, and was always at the bottom of his class. And so he is grown up to be just such a man as we should expect. He used to go to church with the other boys; but, when he was there, he never seemed to know what he went for; he never tried to think what the prayers meant, and he therefore never joined in them; neither did he ever listen to the instruction which the minister read in the lessons, or gave from the pulpit. And so he now knows nothing; and he does not seem to wish to know any thing: he never goes to a place of worship, and he is altogether the worst man in the parish. And this comes of being an idle boy at school, and not minding what is said. Jack's great saying was, "I don't care."-And "I don't care" never yet did any body good.

THE SLUGGARD.

V.

'Tis the voice of a sluggard; I hear him complain,
"You have wak'd me too soon, 1 must slumber again;"
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,

Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.

* A steady man, of whom we may hear more in our next Number.

"A little more sleep and a little more slumber,"

Thus he wastes half his days and his hours without number;
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about saunt'ring, or trifling he stands.

I pass'd by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn, and the thistle, grow broader and higher;
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags,
And his money still wastes, till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find

He had took better care for improving his mind;
He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking,
But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart, "here's a lesson for me,
That man's but a picture of what I might be:
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who taught me betimes to love working and reading."

WATTS.

ON EPITAPHS.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

SIR,

IN your last Number of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor, you express a wish to receive epitaphs of a Christian character, a character in which most of the epitaphs we meet with are remarkably deficient. They should speak of the dead, if they deserve to be spoken of, that the righteous may be had in remembrance. They should also appeal to the living, that they may take warning of their mortality, and ground their happiness upon the right foundation. The union of these I conceive to be necessary for an epitaph.

The following were written by a dignitary of the Church, now living, and partake of the description above-mentioned. They have not been made public, either on a monument or in print; but, he has permitted me to use them as I think proper, and they may not be unacceptable to your Visitor.

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