360 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



turnips and beet into slices, and give them in 

 troughs, mixed with oats and bruised oilcake. 

 Spare no trouble nor expense with young animals. 

 Fat and aged cattle must now be all sold froni 

 the winter stalls ; bacon hogs must be cleared off, 

 and the young farrows must go on as summer 



stores, and for early fattening next winter. The 

 earliest lambs will now be for sale as fat. 



Begin to plough turnip fallows, and also ciays, 

 at convenient times. Carry to the heaps all dung 

 remaining about the homestead, and litter the yards 

 afresh. 



CALENDAR OF GARDENING. 



Sow peas— the scimitar as a profuse bearer, and 

 broad beans, both as a succession at any period 

 of the month. In the third week if the ground be 

 rather warm and dry, plant the first crop of kidney 

 beans. To prevent the early destruction by slugs 

 and shell snails, sow three in a pot, late in March, 

 or early in April, and when the plants are three or 

 four inches high, place the stems in shallow 

 trenches of good soil, a few inches apart, and the 

 plants will thrive well; the same may be said of 

 runners, which require watering in dry weather. 

 An ounce of " pure " guano in two gallons of 

 water, sprinkled on the plants, acts very well on 

 the succulent leaves of beans, and also confers on 

 the land small and extremely diluted portions of 

 the contents of the guano. True guano, carefully 

 applied, is a capital enricher of old and poor stable 

 dung, horse droppings, and leafy composts. 



Sow seakale seed early in threes, two feet apart, 

 over-well wrought deep soil ; sea weed is a good 

 manure. Cover the seeds with an inch and a 

 half of soil. 



Asparagus beds are now prepared either by seed 

 sowing in rows a foot apart, or by two years old 

 plants. The ground cannot be too turfy, or too 

 clear of stones, and if it be manured to the extent 



of full half the bulk of the whole earth, so much 

 the better. 



Sow also for main crops of cabbage, savoy, 

 Scotch kale, winter and spring broccoli, spinach, 

 beet, parsnip, carrot, and onion. 



Potatoes : the main crop and the second early 

 should be soon planted. All seed tubers should 

 be rather immature : if planted whole, success is 

 certain, though two-eyed tubers bear well. 



Transplant cabbage, cauliflower, celery, and 

 celeriac from the seed beds, to become stocky in 

 intermediate beds. 



Flow^er Garden. 



Sow the annuals for summer as the main stock, 

 or as a succession to tbose of March; propagate 

 by slippings or rooted offsets the herbaceous 

 tribes. 



Weed, hoe, and rake, removing flower stalks by 

 scissors. 



Change frequently the situation of flowers, and 

 the ground also, which must be renewed and timely 

 enriched. The soil of parterre beds should be 

 changed yearly, substituting new loam, decayed 

 turf-leaf mould, old cow manure, and turfy heath 

 soil, according to the known habits of each tribe of 

 plants. 



AGRICULTURAL REPORTS. 



HEREFORDSHIRE. 



The same ever-changing weather which proved throughout 

 the past autumn and winter so injurious to the mangold, 

 swede, and turnip crops, and alike trying to all other kinds of 

 vegetation, continues up to the present period, and renders 

 our former convictions of scarcity of keep but too fully real- 

 ized. In every direction we hear serious complaints of this, 

 consequently a considerable reduction in the price of both 

 sheep and cattle has taken place, and as great numbers of half 

 meated animals have passed into the bauds of i he butchers, 

 those who can hold their stock a little longer will, we think, 

 derive a great advantage. Our fairs have beeu largely sup- 

 plied with store stock to be again sent home, or sold at prices 

 which, we think, will eventually prove more beneficial to the 

 purchaser than the seller. In our former report from this 

 county, written on the lOfch ult., we purposely refrained from 

 saying anything respecting the young wheats, from the know- 

 ledge of the rapid change they make during favourable wea- 

 ther, and although six weeks have passed away, we can hardly 

 say this change has yet taken place : they continue very back- 

 ward, and we have heard some complaints of their perishing 

 in the ground. The unfavourable nature of the weather pre- 

 vented a large breadth of land from being planted in proper 

 season : this has in many cases been put to other corn. The 

 land after mangolds, swedes, and early turnips, usually planted 

 mtk wheat, and by this season presenting ^ verdant appear- 



ance, is only now recently planted, or held over for barley : the 

 relative price of that corn being higher than that of wheat 

 causes the greatest demand for seed we have heard for some 

 years ; in fact, as we have before observed, at one period it 

 was quite the exception to see a field of it growing upon a 

 farm, and but few in a parish, the turnip land being all 

 or nearly all put to wheat. From these causes combined, 

 there will necessarily be a greatly reduced quantity of wheat 

 grown in the county this compared with former years. Our ■ 

 winter beans are very backward, and in many places a partial 

 replanting has takeu place. We are of opinion there is much 

 less corn in the hands of farmers than usual at this period of 

 the year, although from the fact of two unusually early har- 

 vests and dry winters not requiring the straw, there was, 

 when our last crops were secured, miicli old corn in the stacks: 

 this, combined with a wet winter forcing the straw into con- 

 sumption, and the new wheats, from the humid nature of the 

 atmosphere, being out of condition, prevented speculation 

 either with the farmer, miller, or factor, and thus the cause 

 of the low price continuing so long with a deficient yield. 

 The price of potatoes being now almost equal to that of wheat, 

 and the thorough destruction of all kinds of green vegetables 

 causing a greatly increased consumption of bread, together 

 with the hitherto unfavourable appearance of the growing 

 crops generally, must, we think, cause a continuance of the 

 present upward tendency. If the past season !> s lieea inju- 



