ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 19 



ing your cattle and horses ; be sure that your sheep are not 

 obliged to lie out in drenching rains. 



IN THE GARDEN see that your asparagus bed is dressed 

 if neglected last month. House all your brush, poles, 

 stakes, frames, etc., which will be fit for use another season. 

 If your tulips, hyacinths, etc. have not been planted, you 

 had better reserve them for spring, as they will be liable to 

 rot in the ground if planted so late in the year. Cover with 

 brush, or leaves, or straw, your lettuce, spinage, and other 

 salad plants designed for spring use. If tender plants, 

 roses, vines, etc., have been left unprotected, cover as 

 directed last month. If you have no cold frame for half- 

 hardy plants, they may be laid in by the heels, i. e., taken 

 up, and the roots laid into a trench, the tops sloping at an 

 angle of about twenty degrees, and then covered with earth. 

 The soil should cover about half the stem. 



It is now a good season for cutting grafts. Take them 

 from the outside of the middle of the tree ; let them be done 

 up in small packages, and set up endwise in the cellar, and 

 covered with about half-dry sand. Roots may be taken 

 from pear and apple-trees, and packed in the same way for 

 root-grafting. 



12. DECEMBER. The year is about to close. Look back 

 upon your toil. In what respect will your year s labor bear an 

 approval when calmly examined ? Can you honestly acquit 

 yourself of indolence and carelessness? and as honestly take 

 credit for enterprise, activity, and a desire for improve 

 ment ? Your barns are full your granary is heavy with 

 grain the year s bounty has followed a year s labor, and if 

 you have the heart of a man you will not forget the source 

 whence your blessings have come. You have perhaps done 

 well by your stock, and in so far as the body is concerned, 

 for your children ; but what have you done for their educa 

 tion ? What have you done to promote popular education ? 

 Are you doing anything to make your neighborhood bet 

 ter ? What good newspapers do you provide for your fam- 



