THE NAME, JANUARY.

fices to that God, and regarded it as a holy day; in the same manner as people in our times call Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, holy days. January, then, is called so, either in honor of the god Janus, whose picture you have seen, with his two faces, because one face is looking towards the old year, and one towards the new; or else it is called so from the Latin janua, a gate or opening, because it is the gate or opening of the year. You remember, I dare say, that on this day it is usual to make presents to our friends, called new-year's gifts. The Romans did the same thing at the same time of the year; and it is a very pleasant and innocent custom. Accordingly, Mr. Bourne, a kind-hearted writer, says, 'If I send a newyear's gift to my friend, it shall be a token of my friendship; if to my benefactor, a token of my gratitude; if to the POOR, which at this time must never be forgotten, it shall be to make their hearts sing for joy, and give praise and adoration to the GIVER OF ALL

GOOD GIFTS.'

"Now you may go and cut some of the evergreens for mamma to dress the rooms, in honor of newyear's day-those which were put up on Christmas day have faded. Get some holly, and laurustinus, and evergreen oak, which, you know, is also called the ilex; some of the arbutus or strawberry-tree;* and

* Very few of the trees, shrubs, and flowers, mentioned in this and in subsequent chapters, are natives of this country. Many of them, however, are found in all our gardens, while other and rarer ones are cultivated in botanical gardens, and in other public and private collections. Most of them may be purchased of the nursery-man, or at the seed-stores, in our larger cities; but in general the directions given for cultivating them in England will be inapplicable to the climate of this country. Our youthful cultivators will therefore find it necessary to get directions from American works on gardening, before they venture upon the cultivation of the more tender exotics.-EDS.

8

A WALK AT NEW-YEAR'S.

whatever else you think will look beautifully. But be sure to cut the branches from those parts of the trees which will not be seen from the parlor window; and beg mamma not to forget to put her artificial flowers among them, in the vases, as she did on Christmas day. We may as well take a walk before dinner, and gather some more of that common broom which is now in flower. Its blossoms are very lovely, looking at a distance like drops of shining gold upon green velvet. Before we go, ask your sister Bella, or Mary, if the poultry have been fed this morning. I shall be very much displeased if they are ever forgotten; because I love to see every thing happy; and to animals, eating is perhaps the greatest enjoyment they have. Then desire Ward to give the cow some water; and get your hat, and let us go. Perhaps Arthur and Tom would like to walk with you-it is very dirty, but never mind! gardeners and countrymen must not care for dirt." Away they all went; and the boys brought home such a quantity of broom, and holly, periwinkle, and ivy, with its beautiful grave-looking berries, that they were like little Jacks in the green at May-tide. So the parlor was dressed up, till it seemed as if you were going into an arbor. The fire burned brightly, and shone upon the green leaves. In the evening the whole family amused themselves with playing at blindman's-buff and forfeits; they had snap-dragon and wassail, roasted apples and chesnuts; and all went shouting to bed.*

With the other new-year's amusements and entertainments here mentioned, our youthful readers on this side of the Atlantic are well acquainted; but some of them will perhaps be glad to see Dr. Johnson's account of snap-dragon and wassail.

"Snap-dragon" is "a kind of play in which brandy is set on fire, and raisins thrown into it, which those who are unused to the sport are

ADAM COMMENCES WORK.

On the following morning, while they were at breakfast, the servant man, Ward, brought into the parlor a spade, a rake, and a hoe; Adam stared at them, and his countenance beamed with delight. They were not foolish little baby toys; but excellent strong tools, fit for such a gardener as Adam was to become. "Now," said his father, "you are set up, and if you have finished your breakfast we will go into the garden.

A

"The first thing we will do shall be to dig up this bed under the south wall, to sow in it our first peas, beans, radishes, onions, and mustard and cress." So Adam for a few minutes watched attentively his father's manner of turning the earth over, and levelling it with the spade. Then he tried to dig up one row, and with the help of his father afterwards contrived to keep the bed tolerably even. This was a work of some time, for it was a large bed; then his father, with his hoe, showed him how to make the small trench for sowing the peas, and what distance he was to keep. them apart. When they had finished as many of these trenches as Mr. Stock thought sufficient, he showed Adam how thick it was proper to sow the seed; which he managed very carefully and well. They did the same with the beans; and afterwards raked the earth over them, first scattering some soot in the trenches, to prevent the slugs and mice from destroying the seed. After this they sowed some onions, radishes, and mustard and cress; which was done by scattering the seeds thinly upon the surface of the ground, and afterwards raking them in. "Now, Adam,”

afraid to take out; but which may be safely snatched by a quick mo tion, and pat blazing into the mouth, which being closed, the fire is at once extinguished."

"Wassail, a liquor made of apples, sugar, and ale."-EDS.

said his father, "go and fetch some armfuls of that straw and pea-haulm out of the wood-house: we will lay it upon the beds of onions, and radishes, and mustard and cress, to keep the birds from picking up the seeds, and to shelter them from the cold winds which we may soon expect to have. We may as well sow that bed near the bullis-tree with carrots; which is to be done in the same way as we did with the onions; and we will put some straw round the glasses of young cauliflower plants, and upon the endive, in case a frost should come on suddenly, for that would kill them." The next thing they did was to prepare another bed by digging it up and raking it; upon which they sowed turnips. "We need not care if these should come up too thickly," said his father, "because we can thin them afterwards, and give them to the cow and the rabbits."

All this is very soon told, but it occupied them several days. Adam was allowed to get all the vegetables which were wanted for dinner. His mother told him how many she would require, and of what sort; and his father taught him how to select those fit for eating. Every day he used to dig up a few heads of celery, some endive, and some savoys; the potatoes, beet-root, carrots, and parsnips, were in the cellar. They were dug up in the latter part of the autumn, because the wet and frosty weather would render them unfit for eating if they were to remain in the earth. Therefore when they are grown to their full size, it is proper to dig them up and put them where neither water nor frost can come to them. Their next task was to turn up the remainder of the earth that had not been digged since the autumnal crops were gathered from it: but

PLANTING BULBOUS ROOTS.

11

they first covered it all over with manure, which they wheeled from the heap in the yard.

"Now, Adam," said his father, "I believe we have done nearly all that is required of us for the kitchen garden; we will go and see what flowers want our attention. You know which are the anemone plants. fetch some pea-straw from the wood-house, and cover them up in the same way you did the endive; then come to me, and I will show you how to mat and earth up the auriculas; we must preserve them against heavy rains and frost. We may as well also put matting round those beautiful carnations, which, you know, were so much admired last summer. You would be sorry to have them die, I think. When this is done, as the weather is still mild, we will plant what are called bulbous roots; such as crocuses, jonquils, narcissuses, snow-drops, and tulips. You will observe how deep I set them in the ground-about the depth of your hand. By the time we have finished all this work it will be nearly dusk, when we will go in doors, and you shall do some sums in arithmetic; and if you are diligent and attentive, I dare say your mamma will reward you by continuing her story of the Traveller, and snow you the places on the map which he visited. Do you not feel a great deal more happy now you know that you have been industrious and useful, than when you used to crawl about and endeavor to escape doing any thing?" "Yes, papa," said Adam, “and I like to talk to you now, because you look more kind than you did." "To be sure," said his father, "because I love you better."

On the following morning the nursery-man sent in a number of trees that Mr. Stock had ordered, and Adam was shown where they were to be planted, and