106 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



the want of it. If you have kept a portion of 

 carrots or ruta-bagas for this season, they -will 

 supply the wants of the animals better, probably, 

 than any other kind of food. 



March is the time to fit up the hot-beds. 

 Every farmer may have, at trifling cost, a few 

 square feet covered with glass, to bring forward 

 at least some early tomatoes, cabbages and cu- 

 cumbers. Dig out a space as large as your glass 

 will cover, about eighteen incnes deep. Add to 

 the top of this ten or twelve inches of horse ma 

 nure, and cover it with four inches of good soil, 

 and sow the seeds, put on the frame and cover 

 with the glass. Or a pile may be raised without 

 digging, and the frame set upon it, banking up 

 about the edges with the warm loam and manure. 

 It must be six or eight inches larger each way 

 than the frame. When the plants grow so as to 

 reach the glass, the frame may be gradually rais- 

 ed out of their way, and in this manner strong 

 and vigorous plants may be plentifully supplied. 

 The nearer the plants are to the glass, the better 

 they will grow. Raise the glass in the middle of 

 pleasant days, and occasionally sprinkle with the 

 watering-pot. The fermenting manure will keep 

 the soil warm at the bottom, and the sun will 

 ^arm the top, and thus the germinating seeds 

 will find a wann soil and warm air, which will 

 put them forward some two or three weeks earlier 

 fclian they would come in the open air, and you 

 -will liave fine, thrifty plants to set out about the 

 time seeds are usually^own in garden beds. 



When all this has been done, use some slight 

 cover to protect them from the cold night air, 

 and, if needful, from the black flies and other in- 

 sects, and you will have nice tomatoes and cu- 

 cumbers aud cabbages, that you will enjoy very 

 much. Now this may seem a small matter to many 

 farmers, and not worth the trouble — but if tried 

 will be found one of those little things that con- 

 tribute to the pleasures of life — that keep us cheer- 

 ful and contented and in a happy frame of mind. 

 You will watch the growth of these plants, green 

 and vigorous ])efore anything around them shows 

 itself above the ground, with great interest. They 

 tell us of what is coming. They strengthen our 

 faith in the certainty of the results of nacure's 

 arrangements, and encourage our hopes in the 

 future. There ie a satisfaction in getting our 

 early mess of peas, or radishes or lettuce, that 

 well repays all the trouble they cost. 



On the twenty-second the sun will have com- 

 pleted half his annual journey towards the north, 

 and have reached the equator, and. the days and 

 nights will then be equal. Thenceforward, until 

 the sun shall have reached the northern tropic, or 

 turning point, the days will be gaining upon the 

 nights, and the soil will then receive more heat 

 from the sun in the long days, than it will throw 



off" by radiation in the short nights. Hence the 

 heat will accumulate in the soil. This Avill go on 

 till the twenty-fifth of July, or a little later, after 

 which the days, having become considerably 

 shorter, the nightly radiation about equals the 

 heat received during the day. 



Within the tropics there is but little compara- 

 tive diflference in the length of the days during 

 the year, and the sun's rays fall perpendicularly 

 upon some portion of the torrid zone the whole 

 year. Hence the mean temperature of that por- 

 tion of the earth, for the year, is much greater 

 than that of those portions upon which the sun's 

 rays fall more obliquely. But Nature, wlio is ever 

 wonderfully fruitful in compensations, has pro- 

 vided an oflJ'set, by lengthening the days of sum- 

 mer, so that although the sun's rays fall more 

 obliquely, they fall for a much longer part of the 

 twenty-four hours. Hence, what is wanting in 

 intensity is made up in time, and even more than 

 made up, for the amount of heat received by the 

 soil, above that given off" by radiation, is greater 

 during the three summer months, at fifty degrees 

 from the equator, than it is at tAventy-five. Hence, 

 the wonderful rajndity Avith which the processes 

 of vegetation are completed in nortnern climates. 



It is well known that corn, in Canada, will 

 spring up and accomplish its growth and ripen, 

 in very much less time than it will in Florida. In 

 the extreme north the early violet opens its deli- 

 cate petals, and peeps out from under the receding 

 snow, and the green springing grass marks the 

 edge of the melting drift. 



How wonderful, how involved and interwoven, 

 and yet how simple, are all the works of nature ! 

 How great, how benevolent, how incomprehensi- 

 ble is He who planned and executed all nature's 

 works ! Let us, then, learn to adore^ and trust, 

 and commence the labors of another sj)ring, en- 

 couraged by His promise that "seed time and 

 harvest shall never fail." 



SHROPSHIRE DO"W"JSr "WETHERS. 



This variety of sheep is spoken of as being 

 black or grey faced and short Mooled. In a Mark 

 Lane Express report of a meeting in England, 

 at which a pen of the Shropshire Downs were 

 exhibited, they were noticed thus: "We espec- 

 ially admired Mr. Smith's prize wethers, for their 

 splendid quality of meat, broad chines, and full 

 plaits and wonderfully good loins and rumps." 

 The breed is said to have descended from a har- 

 dv mountain variety, having an excellent consti- 

 tution. Their favorable reputation is increasing 

 rapidly in England. They come to maturity at 

 an early age. The London Farmer's Magazine, 

 from which we condense the above, says : "The 

 Shropshire sheep have excellent form and sym- 

 metry, first class wool of thick pile, and great 

 length of staple, Avcll-formed, good dark brown 

 heads, deep chests, famous legs of mutton, with 

 a good dock set high on a straight, long spine. 



