1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



497 



For the New England Farmer, 

 THE GAKDERT IJST NOVEMBER. 



Our notes for this month will necessarily be 

 brief, as but lew if any crops remain that will 

 need attention. As long as the ground re- 

 mains open, however, something can be done 

 to tave or forward woik in spring. Drains 

 may i)e laid, wherever necessary. Trenching 

 or 'subsoiiing stirF soils, txpo.-iig new surface 

 to the action of the frosts of winter, will tend 

 to anielior ite and t niich such soils, or rather 

 loo-en and set free elements already there, 

 ready to be appropriated by succeeding vege- 

 tation. Much work indicated for past months 

 may have lapped over into this, and should be 

 attended to. In our New England climate 

 few if any crops will remain to be gathered, 

 yet if such there be they should be harvested 

 at once. 



Asparagus. — If not already done, the beds 

 should have a good mulch of coarse manure 

 spread over them. If the ground remains un- 

 frozen, new beds may yet be made and the 

 roots set. 



Cabbage — Those not gathered should be 

 harvested before any more freezing. It is 

 better to bury in trenches made in dry soil, 

 heads down, covering the heads five or six 

 inches, banking so as to shed water, any left 

 out till now which it is desirable to preserve 

 for spring, as after hard freezing they will 

 keep better thus than if put in the cellar. 

 Cabbage will endure considerable frost without 

 injury ; yet there is a limit to all things. 



Celery. — This we suppose is all harvested, 

 but should any remain, it should be transferred 

 into boxes or barrels of earth in the cellar, or 

 be buried out door where it can be got at con- 

 veniently, and not freeze hard. 



Cold Fkames. — See directions for their 

 construction and use, in the following arti- 

 cle. Put in cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and 

 such other plants as are to be wintered. Give 

 plenty of air daily, closing in and banking up 

 as the severity of the weather increases. 



Manure — Increase the compost heap by 

 adding muck, tods, manure, slops and every 

 thing that will help increase the store of plant 

 food, as it will all be needed. Do not throw 

 away any bones, but preserve and gather old 

 bones, breaking them in jieces and pack them 

 down in a close barrel, with good wood ashes, 

 coveiiag them well with the ashes, and keep 

 them soaked with urine and slops from the 

 chamber, and next spring the bones will crum- 

 ble and may be mixed with the ashes, and you 

 will have an excellent phosphate which will 

 require care in using. Such is the practical 

 observation and experience of the writer. 



Parsnips and Salsify. — Leave the main 

 crop in the ground through the winter, as 

 fronts improve their quality. A few may be 

 dug and buried in the cellar, if desirable, for 

 winter use. 



Prune, lay down, and protect grape vines 



and all other plants, shrubs, &o., needing 

 winter protection. Gather in, under cover, 

 all poles, stakes, frames, wooden appliances 

 and implements, and see that they are well 

 preserved. A little care w.ll be well repaid in 

 their prolonged durabi.ity. 



W H. White. 

 South Windsor, Conn., 18G9. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 COLD FRA-MES. 

 Their Construction and Use. 



Having received letters of inquiry concern- 

 ing wintering cabbage plants for early spring 

 planting, from some of the readers of the 

 Farmer, to save correspondence, I propose 

 to answer the same through its columns. 



A cold frame is merely a box of boards set on 

 the ground, banked up well all around, and 

 covered with 'hot-bed sash, or sometimes with 

 board shutters. Take two boards of equal 

 length, corresponding to the amount of sash 

 proposed to be used, — the back one a foot 

 wide, and the front eight inches ; set posts at 

 the corners and nail to them ; cut end pieces 

 to match of length corresponding to width of 

 .-ash, — say about three feet, — these are made 

 fast. We now have a frame somewhat simi- 

 lar to a hot- bed frame, when we have put on 

 cleats for the sash to rest on. Dig and make 

 tine and mellow a bed in good, generously 

 rich soil, sheltered from north and northwest 

 winds, and place )Our irame on, facing the 

 south or southeast. No manure is used for 

 heatirg, as with the hot-bed, all the heat be- 

 ing received from the sun. The frame is 

 banked all around securely with earth on the 

 outside. Such frames are used fur protect- 

 ing cabbage plants, cauliflowers, lettuce, &e., 

 in the kitchen garden, as well as for wintering 

 pansies, carnations, roses and other ha'f-hardy 

 plants, where the advantages of a green house 

 are not had. 



To obtain cabbage and cauliflower plants 

 for winteiing, the seed should be sown in well 

 prepared beds, in the open ground, with good 

 pio:ection from cold wmds, &c., the last of 

 September, in the Norihea>terii States. On 

 the ap()roach of cold weather they will have 

 attained a growth of about two inches, when 

 they should be transplan ed into the cold bed, 

 Ltt a distance of two to three inches apart. 

 The plants are almost hardy, and will stand 

 considerable freezing without injury ; yet they 

 require a certain amount of care in cold 

 weather, as well as during clear pleasant days 

 of winter. During the coldest weather they 

 will need to have the sash covered with mats 

 or board sh"tters, or bjth ; and on mild days 

 and even in clear days when the thermometer 

 indicates 18° or 20° in the shade, they should 

 have abundant air, by hoisting or taking the 

 sash off entirely. The more this hardening 

 process is attended to, the less danger there 



