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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURE, 



The work of the farm now presses hard on the 

 farmer, and requires all the exertion and diligence 

 he can command. The planting of potatoes and 

 beet must be finished early in the month, and of 

 grass seeds, and the hoeing and cleaning of all 

 drilled crops must have constant attention. Sow 

 Swedish turnips, purple and yellow topped, and 

 continue with Aberdeen yellow bullocks as a later 

 sowing. Plant cabbages, savoys, and winter 

 broccoli. Sow rape to be consumed on the ground 

 preparatory for wheat, and sow early white turnips 

 for use in autumn. 



Pare and burn lands constantly during this 

 month, and prepare turnip and clay fallows. 



All dung heaps must be turned over for ten 

 days before being used, in order that a fermentation 

 may take place: all lumps and large pieces must be 

 carefully broken and shaken out. Watered meadows 

 may now be shut up for hay. Gates and fences 

 must be thoroughly repaired for summer use. 



Cattle of all ages may now go to grass ; the milch 

 cows in a well watered and sheltered field, and the 

 store cattle will go to the pasture fields, and be 

 arranged according to age. A proper arrangement 

 conduces much to their thriving and well-being. 

 The calves of the year must be similarly arranged, 

 the oldest in a grass paddock provided with water 

 and a shed for shelter, and have one suckling 



daily, and be supplied with clovers and vetches in 

 racks. The young calves in the pens have green 

 meat given them, in order to accustom them to 

 such food previous to being turned out. 



The lambing ewes must be supplied with oats 

 and oilcake in troughs until the early vetches and 

 rye be ready. The food may be cut and given in 

 racks, and part must be carried home for feeding 

 horses, cattle, pigs, and calves in the yards. 

 Litter amply. As the land is cleaned, plough it for 

 a turnip fallow. 



Hop grounds are dug in this month, and the 

 bines tied to the poles ; young hedges weeded, 

 oak trees cut, and the bark stripped and dried. 



Wash sheep by hand in a running stream a 

 week or two before shearing commences. To pre- 

 vent the maggot fly depositing the eggs on the 

 animals, sprinkle the bodies from head to tail from 

 a dredging box with a mixture of hellebore root 

 powder and black brimstone, ^\h. to Mb. 



No month in the year brings more business to 

 the farmer than the present, and if he loses ground 

 now, it will rarely be recovered during the following 

 season. The preparation of the turnip and clay 

 fallows are in the critical season : the first crops 

 must be planted, and the rest prepared with the 

 utmost attention and exertion. 



CALENDAR OF GARDENING. 



Kitchen Garden. 



Plant kidney beans, as scarlets and painted lady 

 runners, in warm grounds ; as the seeds perish in 

 cold wet soils, and yet the plants do not thrive in 

 dry arid grounds ; hence sowing in pots is preferred, 

 and also of dwarf French beans, all being directed 

 by the season and weather. A stock of beans in 

 pots is useful in the spring month, and open 

 sowings may be done in summer. 



Sow peas, as Knight's marrow, and Adamson's 

 matchless, a fine Dorset variety. Trench the ground 

 a foot in depth, and mix with compost or very 

 rotten animal dung in the lower spit. Water pro- 

 fusely, fill up the hole, and raise a high ridge in 

 the centre. Water again in a few days, and when 



the ground is dry, sow the peas in rows. This 

 mode secures against mildew, and will raise peas 

 in good crops up to Michaelmas. 



Plant potatoes for late crops, range the rows 

 north and south where practicable, to admit an 

 equable diffusion of sunlight. 



Flower Garden. 



Flowers are not much done with till the middle 

 or end of the month. Groups of mixed plants may 

 be planted in beds and parterres. Pelargoniums 

 and verbenas, and other delicate beauties, are well 

 displayed ; but as an hour's frost often destroys 

 whole collections, no final regulation can be done 

 till the end of the month. 



DEEP CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 



No marvel that my idea of ridiculing draining the land, 

 and advocating deep cultivation in its stead, should meet with 

 diaaent, aa the nece'asity of the former has been a settled ques- 

 tion loug since; but aa the subject is admitted a reasonable 

 argument by some of the most distinguished agriculturists, 

 and that a principle may not Le correct, though substantiated, 

 allow my freedom in furthering my views on the subject. 



Not only is deep cultivated soil, whether by steam power 

 or manual labour, conducive to greater productiveness from 

 its aiirefactory or evaporating powers, and its capability of re- 

 ceiving and retaining and also giving off all the rain and dews 

 which old dame Nature receives and refuses to retain, but 

 crops growing on such soils are to a certain degree favourably 

 influenced by it, and are also much less liable to the ill effects 



