CALENDARIAL INDEX. 



1235 



Fourth meek: the yellowhammer (Emberlza Citrinella) and 

 green wood-pecker (Picus vfridis) sing ; rooks, ravens (CiSrvi), 

 and house pigeons (('©lumbar) build ; the goldfinch (Fringilla 

 C'arduelis) sings. Field-crickets (Scarabae^i) open their holes; 

 and the common flea (Piilex frritans) appears. 



2L Calendar of Vegetable Suture round London. 



In the first tveck : various species of the pine, larch, and fir 

 tribe in full flower ; the rosemary ( ftosmarinus officinalis), the 

 willow (Salix) and bay (Laurus ndbilis) in blossom; various 

 trees and shrubs beginning to open their buds. 



Second tveek : the common honeysuckle (£onicera Periclyme- 

 nurn), and some roses in leaf; Crocus vernus, and other sub- 

 species, and some A'cfllae in flower. Pilewort (Ficaria), and 

 creeping crowfoot (itanunculus repens), Hepauca, and elder 

 (.Sambucus nigra), sometimes in leaf. 



Third week ; Sailfraga oppositifolia, Draba verna, Daphne 

 pdmica, and collina ; and Lonicera nigra, in flower. 



Fourth week : the peach, nectarine, apricot, Corchorus ja- 

 pohicus, Pyrus japdnica, crown imperial, Saxifraga crassifdlia, 

 fiiixus sempervirens, and other plants, in warm situations, in 

 flower, or just advancing to that state. 



o. Farm-yard, (12902.) 



Wintering cattle should be liberally supplied with food from 

 this time, till they can be wholly turned to grass : as straw and 

 haj gets drier at this season, more should be given, and the 

 supply of turnips, or other roots, rather increased than dimi- 

 nished. Where oil cake, brewers' grains, and similar articles 

 can be obtained, they are va'uable auxiliaries. Fatting cattle 



-■ '- i and milch cow-, [6863.] require continued attention to 

 food, cleanliness, and moderate exercise. Working horses 

 must be kept in good condition ; if they fall olt' now, tin y v. ill 

 not recover themselves for several months. Potatoes may now 

 be cut into sets preparatory for next month. 



4. Live Stock. (6216.) 



Sheep now drop their Iambs freely; and none pay Itetter 

 than such as are turnip fed at this time, and finished otF in 

 April, on forward pasture. As turnips begin to run to flower 

 about this time, they are apt to prove more than usually laxa- 

 tive, and therefore tiie stock supplied with them should have 

 an extra supply of hay. 



5. Gross Lands. (5643.) 



Meadows intended for mowing :'57fS.) should now be shut 

 up, their surface having been freed from stones or o^her extra- 

 neous matters, the furrows or water gutters made completely 

 effective, and, if the weather will permit, the surface bush-har- 

 rowed, and rolled. Meadows which have been flooded during 

 winter will, in favourable situations, show a considerable crop 

 of grass by the beginning of this month. Turn off the water a 

 week or ten days, till the surface gets firm; then feed with 

 ewes and lambs, giving a little haj in the evening. Calves may 

 also be turned on these me idows, but nothing heavier. The 

 best mode is to hurdle off the grass in strips, in the manner of 

 eiting turnips or clover in the places of their growth. Moles 

 7631.) and worms (7704.) are best destroyed at this season. 



6. Arable Lands, (4925.) 



There are few hardy seeds, whether of agriculture or garden- 

 ing, that may not be committed to the soil during this month. 

 S|n -iiiiC wheat of the common kind (5004.) may still be sown : 

 but it possible, not later than the middle of the month ; oats 

 (5120.), tve (5069.), barlev (50SO.), canary corn (5169.), buck- 

 wheat (6111.), beans (522*.*, peas (5121.)', tares (5257.), &c. 



Clover and rye grass (5521.) may now I* sown among young 

 wheats after naked fallows, or among spring com in lands in 

 good heart and fine tilth. 



Field beet (5482.), carrots [5443. , p ;!.), and 



Swedish turnips should be sown the last fortnight of the month, 

 provided the land is dry enough to be sufficiently cleaned, and 

 pulverised to the depth of at least a toot. It more in 

 happens that this cannot begot done till the beginning of April", 

 and hence this class of seeds is seldom got 

 die of that month. The carrots should be first sown, and the 

 Swedish turnip will bear to be the latest. Lands intended tor 

 potatoes, carriages, turnips, transplanted Swedish turnip, and 

 other plants of the Brassica kind snould be brought forward by 

 such ploughings, cross ploughings,and workings with the grub- 

 ber, as their nature and state may require. It is one gr< 

 vantage of the common white turnip, that it admits of two 

 months more time for preparing the soii than other root or 

 Z>rassica crops. Summer or wheat fallows require at least one 

 furrow in course of the month. 



7. Fences (2960.) Roads (3523.), and Drains. (4213.) 

 Thorns and other hedge plants may be put in, but the earlier 



in the month the business is completed the better. '1 hi-- is an 

 excellent season for making or repairing roads [3727-), drains, 

 ponds, embankments, &c, the ground being still moist, and the 

 clays sufficiently long to admit of a man's labouring ten hours, 

 or from six to six. In January, the ground is often too wet, or 

 frozen, or covered with snow, and the days tooshort for advan- 

 tageous day labour. In July and August the ground is too dry 

 and hard for spade work, and day labour high on account of the 

 proximity of bay time and harvest. 



8. Orchards (4079.) and Hop Grounds. (5997.) 

 Finish pruning fruit-trees (4111.), and also digging round 



their stems, if that is practised. (4111). ) Where young orchards 

 are grazed, see that the guards or fences to the single trees are 

 in repair. 



Form plantations of hops (5997-), and open up and dress the 

 hills of established plants, returning the mould to their roots. 

 (6025.) 



9. Wood-lands and Plantations. (3906.) 



In the tree nursery, finish sowing acorns, keys, nuts, mast, 

 berries, stones. Sow also the lignter trees, as poplar seed 

 (where it can be got), willow, birch, alder, elm, &c. Trans- 

 plant from the seed bed, or from narrow to broader intervals, 

 and attend to other parts of the usual routine culture. 



Kent plantations may still be planted, endeavouring if possible 

 to finish putting in deciduous trees with the month ; using the 

 puddle in dry weather (5940.), and fixing by water. (5952.) 

 Where large "trees are introduced, the latter generally require 

 to be staked. 



Evergreens of the harder kinds, as the Scotch pine, spruce fir, 

 Sec. may t,e transplanted in the last week of the month, but not 

 safely before. They are often put in during any of the winter 

 months, but the result shows the impropriety of the practice. 



Fill up blanks (3983.) in young plantations and hedges, and 

 fell timber, cut over coppice woods, and thin out \oung woods 

 as in last month. When plantations are to be raised from setd 

 where they are to remain for timber (5926-), this is the month 

 for most seed, but April is better for the pine and fir tribe. 

 Sow the others in the second or third week of the month ; and 

 if resinous trees are to be mixed, a sprinkling of their seeds can 

 be sown over the others in April. 



APRIL. 



Weather 



Londi '■! 

 Edinburgh 



Average of I <?"?««» 

 tin- "I her- Variation 

 from the 

 . Average. 



mometer. 



49 9 

 46 3 

 51 125 



Average 



of the 



BaroraetCT. 



•29 77 



Quantity 

 of Kain. 



1-160 inch 



Hit 



2-561 



REMARKS. 



The weather of this month is distinguished hy the ra- 

 pidity of its changes. It is generally stormy, inter- 

 spersed with gleams of sunshine, bail, snow, some frost, 

 and occasionally violent storms of wind. It is a month 

 of the utmost activity to the cultivator of arable iand, 

 who during its course" finishes the sowing of spring corns 

 and grasses, and begins that of roots and leaves. 



1. Calendar of Animated Xnture round London. 

 In the first n-eek: the viper (Cdluber berus) and v*oodlouse 



(Oniscus jlsell us) appear; the misseltoe thrush (Tardus visa'. 

 Torus) pairs ; frogs (icanae) croak and spawn, and moths (Pha- 

 lae n£) appear. 



Second week : the stone curlew (Cbaradrius (Edicnemus) cla- 

 mours ; voung frogs (ftana temporaria) appear. The pheasant 

 (Phasiarius) crows, the trout (Salmo Trutta) rises, and spiders 

 Mranete) abound. 



Third rveek : the crested wren (J/otacflla Regulus) sings ; the 

 blackbird (Turdtis .Verula), raven (Corvus Corax), pig. on ICo- 

 luroba domestical, hen (Phasianus Callus), anci duck i.-li.as 

 bdscha)sit; variou, insects appear; and the feldfare (Xurdus 

 pilaris) is still here. 



Fourth n-eek: the swallow (Hirundo rustica) returns; the 

 nightingale (.Votacflla Lusc'nia"; sings ; the bittern (,4'rdea ro- 

 tellariaj makes a noise; the house martin (ffirundo lirbica) 

 appears; the blackcap (.Uoticflla Atricapflla) whistles; and 

 the common snake (CCluber .Vatrix appears. 



2. Calendar of Vegetable Nature round London. 



In the first meek: the daffodil (iYarcissus Pseudo-narcKsu'), 

 the garden hvacinth (Hvarfnthuj orientalist, the wallflower 

 (Cheiranthus Cheiri), the cowslip (Primula officinalis) . 

 winkle (Ffnca), sloe (Primus spinosa), and various other herbs 

 and trees in flower. 



Second n-eek: the ground-ivy (Glech6ma ftederacea), genha- 

 nella (Gentiana acaulis), Pulmonaria virginica, the auricula, 

 iberis sempervirens, Omphalodes verna, and most of the com- 

 mon fruit-trees and fruit-shrubs in flower. 



Third n-eek : some Robfnwr, Andrdmecjr, Kalrm>, and other 

 American shrubs ; Daphne Laureola, I *lmus rampestr s.iiir - 

 sosplenium oppositifolium, 3fercuria/« perennis, and other 

 plants in tlower. 



Fourth rveek : the beech (Fagus) and elm (ETlmus) in flower ; 

 iv-berries drop from the racemes ; the larch in leaf, and the 

 tulip and some white narcissi and fritillaries in flower. 



3. Farm-yard. - 



This month will in most situations terminate the wintering 

 of cattle in the straw-yard. Straw is now very dry, then fore 

 tumijts, or other green food or roots, should be added in pro- 

 portion. 



Horses should be kept in high order, on account of the hard 

 work and extra exertion often required of them during this 

 month. If there are carro;- r y lafc es to steam for them 

 once a day, that will greatly aid hay and com ; if not, steam a 

 part of the hav- 



The accid-rital supplies of food for store pigs and poultry are 

 less abundant during this month, because less time can be 

 snared for threshing. Theie are fewer wintering rattle, and 

 the vards are generally now cleaned out for the field dung- 

 hills". 



4. Live Stock. (6216.) 



The end of this month is a good time for mares to foal 

 and thev should have the horse accordingly. (6631.) Attend 

 at the proper periods, first to moderate working, and then to 

 entire ease before foaling time. (tiOll.) 



Com must s'ill be well fed with t> 



doors, In- grass occasionally towards the end 



of them' . „ .. . , 



and lumlis generally renin- al of artificial 



foodduriT- • th< 



expended, clover hay.grainsof bar] amalted, 



rape cake, or linseed cake, are the m 



A bout the end of the month th>y may he turned on the pas. 

 tvr.s. and then it is that mutton generally drops in price:- a 

 hint to the farmer to sell all he can in the ear .y part of April. 



4 K 2 



