THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



367 



CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURE 



The sowing of all grain crops is now to be quickly 

 finished — as oats, barley, lucerne, and flax. Sow 

 grass-seeds on wheat and barley tilths, with light 

 harrows, and a heavy roll. Sow vetches for a second 

 succeeding crop. Top-dress young grains and grasses ; 

 and shut-up grass and hay grounds . 



Plant potatoes in drills thirty inches apart, on 

 lands well wrought, dunged, and limed. Sow mangel- 

 wurzel, on lands similarly prepared, in the end of 

 the month. Steep the seeds in suds or leys for 

 forty-eight hours, and dry with quick-lime. Use 

 half-rotten farmyard dung, and apply it very liberally. 

 The two crops now mentioned require a very ample 

 allowance. Begin the burning of pared lauds, 

 which should be pared during winter, or must be 

 done quickly now : lay the turfs in heaps, and burn 

 moderately, in order to avoid calcination. 



Horse and hand-hoe all drilled crops — as wheat, 

 barley, beans, peas, lucerne, and carrots, if ready. 

 Burn, for manure, peats and all refuse substances 

 into ashes, to be applied by the drop-drill. 



Fold the sheep ewes, and lambs, on early vetches, 

 winter barley, rye, and watered meadows; or cut 

 the food, and give it to the animals in racks. Con- 

 fine them over night in a fold, and allow two square 



yards of space to each animal, and two nights in one 

 place. Cutting the food may be the most econo- 

 mical method of feeding. 



The long days will now require more food for all 

 animals on a farm. Feed cows with steamed food, 

 roots, and chaff ; bullocks, with swedes and beet ; 

 and young stock, with a certain quantity of the 

 same. Give the oldest calves some of the earliest 

 green food, to teach them to live without milk : use 

 also bruised cake, bruised liubccd, and bean and bar- 

 ley meals. 



Lambing will be finished this mouth. Put the 

 oldest on clovers as they get strong. Cut turnips 

 and beet into slices, and give them in troughs, mixed 

 with oats and bruised oilcake. Spare no- trouble or 

 expense with young animals. 



Pat and aged cattle must now be all sold from the 

 winter stalls. Bacon hogs must be cleaned off ; and 

 the young farrows must go on for summer stores^ 

 and for early fattening next winter. The earliest 

 lambs will now be for sale as fat. 



Begin to plough turnip fallows and clay lauds for 

 wheat, at convenient times. Carry to the heaps in 

 the fields all dung remaining about the homestead, 

 and litter the yards afresh. 



CALENDAR OF GARDENING. 



Asparagus will now be rising, and must be cut 

 so as to avoid injuring the crowns either by too 

 close an incision, or by uselessly wounding the ad- 

 joining shoots. As the plants rise, they are thinned 

 to stand three, and then six, inches apart, and even 

 one foot, which will produce a very strong and dura- 

 ble plant, high in colour, full in flavour, and tender 

 in its whole length. 



Sow seakale on beds of well-prepared ground — 

 three seeds, in a small circle of six inches diameter; 

 the circles two feet apart ; the rows may be single, 

 at four feet distances ; or, if double, two feet asun- 

 der, to form a bed. Sow lettuce, radish, corn, and 

 small salading, twice or thrice. Sow peas — the 

 Prussian and Scimitar — beans, any most approved 

 sorts, twice; borecole, Scotch kale, and Brussels 

 sprouts ; broccoli for winter and spring. Sow, early 

 and late in the month, cabbages and savoys, to sup- 

 ply successions ; spinach, repeatedly; silver onions, 

 very thickly, for drawing youvxg; onions for bulbing, 

 and leek, if not already sown; carrots, parsnips, and 

 red-beet~all in the first days of 1ho month. 



Sow white and hardy red celery in warm leaf 

 beds ; nasturtiums and aromatic herbs. 



Sow kidney beans on dry beds after the middle of 

 the month. 



Plant potatoes in showery weather on prepared 

 beds. 



Transplant lettuces, cabbages, cauliflowers, and 

 seakale : place celery plants, to become stocky, upon 

 beds of very rich soil, chiefly of reduced manure. 



Dress all the beds with hoe and rake ; earth-uji 

 and stick peas ; and attend to neat order. 



Strawberry beds, or rows newly planted, must be 

 liberally watered in dry weather. 



Flowers in seedlings from the pots are thinned 

 out : plant herbaceous varieties. Dutch-hoe and 

 neatly rake the quarters. Sweep and roll walks in 

 showery weather. Plant or renew box-edgings. 



Guano in fine powder, one ounce to a gallon of 

 soft water, is a most useful stimulant to succulent 

 plants of many kinds. 



