Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1850-12-25
A SKETCH OF GERMAN LIFE.

William Hewitt gives the following graphic ske'ch
Of life in Germany, which will, perhaps, oolh amuse
and inform our readers.
Each German has his house, his orchard his road
side trees so laden With fruit that II he dio not care
fully prop up and lie together, and IN many P'aces
hold the boughs together with wooden clamps, lney
would be torn asunder by their own welgh'. ne mas
his corn plot his plot for mangelwurzel, Tor hay,or
potatoes, for hemp, Sc He is his own master, ana
he, therefore, and every branch Of his family, nave
the strongest motives for constant exerllon ou see
the effects Of this in his industry and his econo-
my.
In Germany nothing is lost. The produce OF lhe
tree and the cows is carried 10 market Much iruit
Is dried for winter use.- ou see wooden trays OF
plums, cherries, and sliced appes lying in the sun to
drv You see strings of them hanging from their
chamber windows in the SUM- The cows are kept up
for the greater part of the year,and every green thing
is collected for them. Every little nook where the
grass grows, by roadside, and river, and brook Is
carefully cut with the sickle and carried home on the
heads of women and children, in baskets, or tied III
large cloths Nothing of any kind that can possibly
be made of any use is lost Weeds nettles, nay, the
very goose-grass which covers waste paces,s cut up
and aiken for the cows You the children standing
in the streets of the villages the streams which gen.
eraly run down them, busy washing the weeds before
they are given to the cattle. They carefully collect The
leaves OF The marsh grass, carefully cut their potato
tops for hem,and evenf other things fail gather green
leaves from the woodlands. One cannot help thinking
continually of the enormous waste OF such things IN
England-of the vast quantities OF grass on banks,by
the road side, in the openings OF pantaons in lanes,
in church-yards, where grass from year to yearprngs
and dies, but which if carefully cut, would maintain
many thousand cows for the poor.
GILL fnr thprth German e.
economy. The very cuttings of the vines are dried
and preserved for winter fodder. The tops and re-
fuse of the hemp serve as bedding for the cows; nay
even the rough stalks Of The poppes, alter The heads
have been gathered for oil. are saved and all these
are converted into manure for the land. When these
are not sufficient the children then are sent into the
woods to gather moss; and all readers familiar
with Germany will remember to have seen them COM
ing homeward with large bundles of this on their
heads. The autumn falling leaves are gathered and
stocked for the same purpose. The fir cones which
with us lie and rot in The woods, are carefully COL
lected and sold for lighting fires
In short, the economy and care Of the German
peasants are an example TO all Europe. lie has Tor
years. nay, ages, been doing that as it regards agr-
cultural management, TO which The British public is
but Just now beginning to open its eyes. Time, also,
as carefully economical as every thing else. They
are early rsers, as may be well conceived, when the
children, many whom come from considerable DIS
,ances are in school al six in the morning. As they
tend their cattle, or their swine, the knitting never
ceases, and hence lhequanties of stockings and 9TH
er household things which they accumulate, are as
lonishing