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once, with all the interest on it, and could have bought myself a bit of land, and built myself a cottage:-but here I cannot touch a farthing of it." Now a man who reasons in either of these ways, reasons very badly,—the man who has never had occasion to be on the box of the Benefit Society ought to be very thankful for it ;-his advantage has been, that, if he had been ill, he would have received ten times as much as ever he put in, -the healthy members pay for the sick members, and, as nobody knows who may want this help first, it certainly is a great matter to be certain of this support: a man puts in a little, that he may receive a great deal if he should stand in need of it through sickness or accident. The money of the members who are in health goes to support him in his sickness; and when others are sick, and he is well, his money goes to support them. If then he continues well, he ought to be thankful, and to be glad that he can be the means of helping those who are sick. But as the money is put in for the express purpose of supporting those who are sick and infirm, it cannot be taken out for any other purpose,

so that if a man wants to lay by money, so as to have it again when he wants it, a Saving Bank is the place to answer his purpose.

Now, from this account, it is plain, that, if a man can afford it, he ought to belong to a Benefit Club, and to put money into a Saving Bank also. Those who can earn only just enough to maintain themselves, of course can do neither of these,but there are some men, single men especially, who earn a great deal more, every week, than they need spend; and those among them who are wise, are desirous of knowing what is best for them to do with their savings. The first thing, then, that they should do, is to get into a Benefit Club, to make sure of a provision in time of sickness,—and then the rest of what they can lay by should be put into

Saving Banks and Benefit Societies.

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a Savings Bank, that it may be getting interest, and may also be ready whenever it is wanted. If men were thus careful and considerate, it is wonderful how much distress they might escape-how many temptations to do wrong they might avoid, and how many advantages they might enjoy. We all know, among our acquaintances, people, who, by such good management, have every comfort that their situation in life requires. There are many others, who seem so completely stupified and besotted, and so blind to their own interest and happiness, that they throw away every opportunity which is put in their power of benefiting themselves. A strange notion seems to have got among some of our workmen, that all the pleasure of life is in drinking: threefourths of their money is actually thrown away either in beer or in gin. This sort of English folly seems to astonish the labourers in other parts of Europe.

A letter lately sent from a town in Flanders, says, that numbers of English workmen are there, and that the machine-makers get high wages: the writer says, "one of them gets a pound a day, but, like many other foolish English workmen, will only work three days in a week, and gets drunk the other four; when he can get no more work he will be miserably poor, all in rags and dirt, and either beg his way back, or return at the public expence." This is a pretty true description of many an English workman:-and what can be more wretched? There are, however, some of a different stamp, and these, by regular industry, are always earning something, and, by prudent management, turn it to good account: these sort of persons know the value of Saving Banks, and of Benefit Societies too; and to such persons it will be highly satisfactory to learn, that Benefit Societies are now, in many places, put upon so excellent a plan, that they will be a real benefit to the members. These societies,

upon Mr. Becher's plan, which we discussed in a former Number, are formed upon regular calculations, so that the fund will be always sufficient to supply the demands made upon it by the sick members, and will also afford a weekly allowance to every member, sick or well, after he has reached a certain time of life. The old societies could not do this, for few of them were made upon any proper calculation at all; so that, whilst the members were, for the most part, young and strong, there was more money in the box than was wanted; but, when they grew old and infirm, and began to want the money, there were so many sick at a time, that the box was empty just when the poor men stood most in need of it; and there was, besides all this, in many societies, a ruinous habit of dividing the money out of the box among the members when they were not sick; this, of course, brought the concern to bankruptcy much sooner still. In many clubs, too, there was a meeting every month at the alehouse, and here was another great loss of money. The yearly dinner and procession to Church few people would object to, and such other meetings as were necessary for settling the accounts; but the monthly meeting at the alehouse cannot be wanted for any good purpose, and it serves to lead a young man into habits which will undo all the good that he could get by belonging to the club.

A very interesting meeting was lately held in the Town Hall, at Wells, for the purpose of establishing a Friendly Society in Somersetshire, upon the new plan, at which the Bishop of Bath and Wells was in the chair. His Lordship opened the business of the day; and the Earl of Cork, the Hon. Captain Waldegrave, Mr. Alexander Hood, General Bathurst, the Rev. Mr. Blackall, the Rev. Mr. Beaden, Mr. Bailwood, &c. &c. took active parts, and shewed the importance of the proposed institution ;-similar-meetings have been held in other

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parts of the kingdom; and several Societies have been already formed upon the new plan, which seems likely effectually to remedy the grievances complained of on the old system, and to be a real benefit to those industrious and prudent men who are desirous of avoiding the miseries of poverty in the time of sickness, and of supplying themselves with an honest and independent support in the time of age. V.

GARDENING.

Do not grow careless about your flower-garden, because at this time of year things begin to decay, and the leaves to fall; cut away dead stalks and dry withered flowers, and sweep your walks and grass plots, and you may have a very neat garden even

now.

Those who wish for early beans and peas may put them in now, under a warm wall, with the chance of their standing the winter. Cabbages may also be planted out to make coleworts in spring. Spinach, to stand the winter must be thinned, and the weeds completely taken away. All sorts of herbs may now be divided and planted, and asparagus beds should be dressed and cleaned. At the end of the month potatoes should be taken up. Dig and trench ground for the winter. Gather apples and pears, and pull them off carefully, so as not to injure the tree. You may begin to prune and nail your wall-trees when the leaves are off; do not take away much wood now, as the winter may destroy some, and you may not have a sufficient supply in spring. Gooseberries and currants may be pruned when the leaves are off, and let the ground about them be freed from weeds, and neatly cleaned and raked; dress your raspberries by cutting away the dead shoots, and leaving three or four of the young shoots headed

down to a proper height, and tied together for neat, ness and security. Sow the berries of haws and hollies for future hedges,-let every one who wants to see a capital fence look at a holly-hedge well managed. You may now put into the ground the stones of cherries and all sorts of fruit.

QUESTION ON PRUNING.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR,

I AM glad to see that your Numbers generally contain something on the subject of gardening, for few employments can better fill up the leisure hours of a cottager. When I see a cottager working in an evening in his garden, I always begin to think well of him, just as when he goes to the ale-house I begin to think that there is little good to be expected from him, and if he goes to the gin-shop I feel sure that he is a ruined man. Well, Sir, then, as I know that many of your readers are gardeners, some of them may perhaps answer me a question as to pruning. Now nothing looks so unsightly as to see, at the beginning of summer, the long straggling shoots which have sprung from the wall-fruit trees; and accordingly the gardening books direct us to cut off the foreright shoots, both to make the tree look neat, and to prevent these shoots from sucking up the juices which should go to feed the productive branches, and also to give the advantage of free air and sun, for the sake of bringing forward the fruit and ripening the wood, and so on. We are directed, too, to cut away the strong luxuriant shoots, which seldom bear any fruit, and which only serve to draw away the nourishment from the rest of the tree. Now I have been informed, Sir, that the modern

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