THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



557 



CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURE. 



Plough stubbles and leys for fallows and Lent 

 crops during fresh weather. Repair old fences and 

 make new ones. Continue the cutting of drains 

 so long as the weather permits. Mend roads and 

 cast up earths for making composts. Collect for 

 manure, in some shape or form, all earthy and 

 vegetable substances that can be got. 



Flood meadows, and lay dry occasionally. 

 Cui underwoods, and fill up vacancies by planting 

 and laying : plant all kinds of forest trees, espe- 

 cially ash and oak. Keep plantation fences in good 

 repair, to prevent any trespassing — a very sure 

 marK of slovenly management. Raise turnips, and 

 store rhe bulbs m dry fresh weather j give the 

 tops to the young cattle in the yards, and to the 

 store sheep in the fields. 



Early lamb will be dropped during this month 

 in some places. \''"eed the ewes amply, and pro- 

 vide good shelter, 



Durmg frosty weather, thrash very frequently, 

 and litter the yard very often. Collect earths to 

 the compost heaps, and carry lime for mixing with 

 the earths. Cart stones to the places of use for 

 drianing. Carry ruel, timber, and faggots. 



This being the first month of the winter, the 

 proper arrangements must be made for a systematic 

 management in every department of the winter 



operations. The live stock require the most vigi- 

 lant and unremitting attention in being amply and 

 regularly fed, and in having a dry and comfortable 

 bed in the yards and sheds. Keep the steamer in 

 constant work, and give cooked food daily to the 

 horses, cows, pigs, and poultry ; give it fresh, and 

 allow no sourness to happen. Give to the cattle 

 the turnips from the store pits, but in fresh weather 

 bring the roots daily from the fields. The drains 

 and culverts must be all in current-going order to 

 conduct the urinary liquid to the tank. The cattle 

 in the yards should eat under cover, especially in 

 high cold latitudes. This purpose may be easily 

 effected by having the whole area of a farmery 

 roofed over, like the terminus of a railway : glass 

 will soon be called into use for this purpose in 

 farm buildings. 



The crops of grain, the animals, and all movable 

 articles, being the property of the farmer, should 

 be insured at his expense, and the buildings at the 

 expense of the proprietor. These purposes are 

 now most economically done in the office for 

 farmers, Norfolk-street, Strand. The farmers 

 and proprietors who neglect the yearly insur- 

 ance are most culpable, and commit a great 

 injustice, not only to themselves, but against the 

 public at large. 



CALENDAR OF GARDENING. 



Kitchen Garden. 



Protect artichoke beds with three inches of semi- 

 decayed leaves strewed over the surface, or, if the 

 land be stiflF and clayey, with as much coal and 

 wood ashes. 



Earth-up celery finally very high in ridge. Con- 

 tinue to excite asparagus and seakale. Trench 

 and deeply manure ground intended for new 

 plantations, and for onions. Ridge ground of 

 vacant places ; but for all these operations choose 

 the driest weather, otherwise the temperament of 

 the land will sustain injury. 



Fruit Department. 



Look over the fruit stores, and remove decaying 

 apples and pears. A dry cool air and a covering 

 of dry straw are the best preservers. Pears may 

 be kept warmer than apples. The brown pears 

 are still among the best. 



Flower Garden. 



If snows falls rake it off the evergreens before 

 the sun shines. Remove litter of all kinds, and 

 also from lawns and gravel ; protect the glasses of 

 pits and greenhouses by mats, or screens, or rol- 

 lers ; give air, but little water. Straw mats, skil- 

 fully made, and with bands and strong pack- 

 thread or large cord, afford the best of all protec- 

 tions to frames and low pits. 



The operations at this season of the year are 

 wholly contingent, and the labour will be futile on 

 lands bound by frosts or swamped by drenching 

 rains. The privileges enjnyed by farmers are very 

 easily applied — labour is at command. The proper 

 seasons must be watched. Vegetables of the first 

 order are easily procured, and fruits of the com- 

 mon kinds require not very much attention. Fer- 

 tility and neatness may at all times be done ; im- 

 provements must progress. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR POTATOES.— Peas-meal : A tea- 

 cup full, with a little cream or milk, tied up in a cloth and 

 thoroughly boiled, or else boiled in a little stock, and then 

 opened out and served instead of mashed potatoes ; or peas- 

 meal and water done plain, with a little salt and a piece of cold 

 butter put in, when opened out. For the poor : Peaa-meal, or 

 split-peas, boiled with a little skim-milk and salt, and any 

 bones of meat boiled with them, makes a very nutritious dish; 

 also, dripping, mixed with the meal, tied up in a cloth and 

 well boiled, is good, nourishing, and wholesome. The above 

 were much used in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, some yean 

 since, on a failure of the potato crop. 



The Annual Show at Tredegar, one yearly increasing 

 in inflluence, is fixed for Tuesday and Wednesday, the 

 18th and 19th of December. Lord Tredegar himself 

 gives no less than twelve silver cups, and a number of 

 other gentlemen oflfer cups and pieces of plate. 



