Barley is used to make beer, oats to feed horses, and Indian corn for both man and beast.
Much attention to the poor dumb animals is necessary, who look up to man for protection. The horsed cows, and sheep are to be foddered early and late, and provided with proper shelter.
The hogs are to be fed and furnished with a bed of straw. The turkeys, geese, and ducks, with the other poultry, will flock round the little boy or girl, who comes with a basket of corn to feed them.
The flax in the winter is broken with a crackle, and then dressed on a swingling-board by a long wooden knife: afterwards passed through a hatchel, and then, by the industrious country woman and her daughters, spun into yarn, for the purpose of making linen for our shirts, &c.
In the long winter evenings, how pleasant for a family to sit by a good fire, and hear the cold wind whistling without; when; neighbour enjoys the company of neighbour, and treats him with a drink of palatable cider, and some good apples; while the little children are agreeably employed in cracking and eating the nuts which they gathered in the fall.
Some amuse themselves with riding in the sleigh, while the little boys glide swiftly, in many a curious curve, upon the ice; and, when the weather is foul, the little folks can suitably exercise themselves within doors at shuttlecock.