editor's table. 



NOVEMBER. 



BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS. 



Vegetable Gakdex. — Manuring and digging ground will be a principal feature in the 

 garden at present. If possible, let it be trenched eighteen inches deep. Where the subsoil 

 is clay, a small portion only ought to be brought to the surface at a time ; by a repetition of 

 this process, a good depth of workable soil may be ultimately secured, and the growing crops 

 receive no check in dry seasons. 



There is a difference of opinion, among practical cultivators, 'with regard to the propriety 

 of ai^plying manure in the fall, many preferring to apply it in spring, immediately before 

 cropping. Much depends upon the nature of the soil ; tenacious soils are much beneiited 

 by a heavy application of fresh or undecomposed manure, turned in at this season, as it 

 tends to preserve that porosity so necessary for a free permeation of frost, which is found a 

 valuable auxiliary in cultivation. Manure, applied in spring, requires to be thoroughly 

 decomposed, that its action may be immediately effective. For the earliest crops of peas, 

 potatoes, onions, &c., fall manuring is, perhaps, preferable. 



Asparagus.— The tops should be cleared off as soon as they decay, all weeds and grass 

 removed, and the roots covered over with manure or leaves, as a protection from severe 

 frosts, which weaken the plants, especially in soils naturally moist. Manure is of course 

 preferable to leaves, as it will enrich the soil. The best asparagus I have seen, had an 

 annual dressing of sea-weed applied in this way. Those who can command this article, 

 should improve their advantages in this respect. 



Celery. — There are various methods adopted to preserve this crop for winter use ; it is 

 frequently lifted, and kept in cool cellars. If the soil be packed well up to the tops, finished 

 rounding, so as to throw off water, and covered with eight or ten inches of leaves, it will 

 keep better where it is grown ; this covering will prevent the ground from freezing, so that 

 it can be reached at any time. 



Spinach will also repay the expense of throwing a slight covering of straw or leaves over 

 the plants. 



Cabbacjes may be lifted and planted as close as they can be packed in trenches ; cover the 

 stems well up with soil, and cover the tops with straws or leaves. 



Frcit. — The preservation of winter fruit is a subject worthy of more care and attention 

 than is generally bestowed upon it. In the first place, it should have been carefully handled 

 in gathering ; the slightest bruise lays a foundation for early decay. The temperature of 

 the" fruit-room should be kept as uniform as possible ; 34° as a minimum, and 40° as a 

 maximum, will be a safe fluctuation. The greatest difliculty lies in keeping a proper 

 hygrometrical state in the atmosphere, so as not to cause shrivel by evaporation of the 

 juices, nor promote mouldiness by damp. Frequent examinations will be necessary, and 

 all that indicate symptoms of decay promptly removed, and the room kept sweet and clean.* 



Pruning. — There is, perhaps, no subject in horticulture so little understood as the princi- 

 ples upon which pruning is founded. The object in pruning fruit-trees is chiefly to hasten 

 or regulate the crop of fniit, and induce or retard the development of wood growth. With 

 reference to the former, more depends upon summer pruning and disbudding. Trees are 

 frequently barren from excessive wood growth, which is weakened by x'runing during sum- 

 mer. It is a well understood fact among scientific cultivators, that summer pruning weakens, 

 and winter pruning strengthens, the wood growth. Hence the practice of nurserymen in 

 pruning young trees after the season's growth is completed, to increase their luxuriance. 

 Trees that have arrived to a bearing state, if properly managed during growth, would pro- 

 bably require no winter pruning, unless the removal of large and misplaced branches. In 

 the abstract, it seems a negative practice to encourage a luxuriant growth, and then cut it 

 down in winter. It is quite possible to manage trees without having recourse to winter 

 pruning, unless for special objects, as already alluded to. It is C(!rtain tliat much injury is 

 inflicted by the indiscriminate use of the saw and pruning-knife at this time, especially on 



* [There is a growing conviction respecting fruit, to the effect that pears should be treated much as apples are, 

 and not separately laid out on shelves ; by the latter process, they are apt to shrivel, while their juices, when 

 together, are preserved. Mr. Hovey mentions a case where a clean barrel was taken, and a bushel of russet apples 

 put in ; Glout Morceau pears were added, and the barrel was filled with more pears, and then rolled into the 

 oollar. About the middle of February, the barrel was opened, and the pears were still green ; they w -' " " 

 placed in a warm room, and, in ten days, they were in a fit state to bo eaten. — Ed.] 



