NOVEMBER 401 



thirteen tons. A good crop should run to ten tons the acre, so, 

 if this estimate is correct, we are five or six tons short of what we 

 might have hoped to get, which shortage is due mainly to the 

 ravages of the accursed rabbit, that persistently ate out the 

 crowns of the young plants. Also the summer has been too dry 

 for the successful growth of carrots, which show the result of a 

 lack of rain in the fanginess of the root, caused by their starting 

 into fresh growth when moisture fell after a long period of drought. 

 For the same reason a good many of them have run to seed. A 

 carrot cannot grow top and bottom at the same time, therefore 

 when they go to seed there is little or no root, all the virtue of 

 the plant being absorbed in the reproductive process. Even if 

 left to stand, this seed would come to nothing. To secure it in a 

 fertile condition, the carrots should be lifted and haled in autumn, 

 for, if left in the ground, a severe frost will perish them. In the 

 spring they must be taken from the hale and replanted in good soil, 

 when they will produce a plentiful crop of seed. 



The tops of the carrots are being cut off and left upon the 

 ground, on which, as it was not manured last year, we propose to 

 fold the sheep, that devour them greedily, together with the swede 

 heads from the top portion of this field, which will be carted down 

 to provide them with a little extra sustenance. 



To-day we are delivering the barley which we sold to the 

 maltsters. 



The last stalks of our green maize have been eaten. It has 

 furnished us with a very valuable bite of succulent food, and that 

 it should have lasted so long in good condition is a striking testi- 

 mony to the openness of the season, for mealies fall easy victims 

 to the attack of frost. 



November 21. To-day is dull with a drizzling rain, not heavy 

 enough, however, to prevent us from drilling wheat on the little- 

 bit of land which has been ploughed after the maize was cleared. 

 We are carting grit also gathered from the highway to spread about 

 upon the surface of the seven-acre pasture, No. 10. This stuff 



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