KO. IC. 



THE farmers' CAEIXET. 



24 



growing healthful stalks of clover than to 

 remain nurseries for the generation of all 

 that is foul and useless in vcireuition ] Cover 

 the entire grounrl with the ^rrass intended to 

 be gffown for pasture or hay, and you keep 

 out those intruders which, if left to their 

 own will, will ultimately destroy your fields 

 for either ont^ purpose or the other. 



The manure, as soon as the season will 

 admit of it, must be hauled out and dropped 

 in place; and your (Jlover fields should re- 

 ceive a top dressing- of plaster of paris, and 

 if you have the articles within convenient 

 reach, they would derive great advantage 

 from an additional top dressing of lime or 

 marl. 



Plant out your young trees and cuttings 

 of all kinds as soon as the frost is out of the 

 earth. 



Recollect that this is the month your coii»s 

 and ewes will be giving birth to their young, 

 and that they therefore require additional 

 attention and care, (iive both, extra quanti- 

 ties of good nourishing food, and be careful 

 as they approach the crisis of their labor, to 

 keej) tiiem where they will not be disturbed by 

 other animals. And as the season has ap- 

 proached when your demand upon the labor 

 of your horses, mules and oxen, is greatly 

 increased, recollect that if you desire them 

 to do you good service, you should feed them 

 well ; no man ever yet lost any thing by 

 feeding his beasts of Ijurden with a generous 

 hand, and that humanity, one of the best 

 attributes of our species, would teach us to 

 be kind to those whom Providence in his 

 wisdom, has placed under our control. 



IN THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Rhubarb. — This delicious and healthful 

 plant should be in the garden of every one, 

 and yet such is the dilhculty of getting fulks 

 out of the old beaten track, that it is by no 

 means generally cultivated. It makes as 

 good a tart as the goosberry, is much easier 

 prepared, and is one of the best preventives 

 of the atiections of the bowels to which 

 children are subjected that is known. A 

 gentleman of our acquaintance assured us 

 some months since that a daughter of his 

 had been cured of a long standing intestinal 

 disease by the use of this vegetable alone. 

 I The following is the mode of culture: — 

 ' Select a piece of rich sandy loam, manure it 

 well, trench it two or three spades deep, 

 then level the top with a rake, lay it off in 

 squares of four feet, at the intersections of 

 which sow your seed in drills about eight 

 inches apart ; keep them weeded and watered 

 during the summer. These will be fit to 

 plant out the next spring, and should be 

 protected through the winter. If the weather 

 should prove severe during the spring that 



the seed is planted, the plants ehould I 

 covered by a board so placed as to protec 

 them fiom the frost, wliile it would adm 



light and air freely. 



Oats. 



Mr. Fessenden. — There is a differenc 

 of opinion among farmers as to the prope 

 time for sowing oats. While some conten 

 that it is best to sow as soon as the frost i 

 out sufUciently for the land to be workec 

 others insist on a different course, and choos 

 not to sow until the ground has become quit 

 dry and warm. It may be a fact that iat 

 sowed oats in some and perhaps in most ir 

 stances, produce a greater quantity of stra\ 

 than those early sown, and it may be an 

 probably is true in as many instances, i\\?. 

 the grain is proportionably lighter, so ths 

 if weight of grain is the prime object, tha 

 course of procedure as it respects sowing, i 

 best, which is most likely to produce the de 

 sired result. 



There seems to have been a general failur 

 in the crop of oats through this part of thi 

 country the past season, there being but fev 

 instances, where tfiey are so heavy by on( 

 third as they have been in other years, whei 

 no calamity has befallen them. 



Notwithstanding the general failure, '. 

 had as good a crop of oats the past season 

 as in any former year, having over one hnn 

 dred bushels, from little more than two acres 

 of ground, weighing thirty-three lbs. pei 

 bushel. Such being the fact, it is a questior 

 with myself and others, what should be the 

 cause of my obtaining a better crop than any 

 other farmers in the neighborhood. Thai 

 which to me appears as the probable and 

 only cause, is earlj' sowing. Although my 

 ground was in no better condition than land 

 in general, I sowed my oats several daj's 

 earlier than other farmers in the vicinity. 



There were several fields contiguous to 

 mine, where the soil and cultivation were not 

 essentially different, but which were sowed 

 a few days later, which in every instance 

 failed to produce a middling crop. I have 

 always been in the habit of sowing my oats 

 as soon as possible after the ground had be- 

 come settled, believing it to be the better 

 way, and observation and experience the past 

 season, have only strengthened my belief, 

 that such a course is a correct one. 



A FARMER. 

 Remarks by the Editor. — Deane's N. E. 

 Farmer states that " Oats cannot be sowed 

 too early in the spring after the ground is 

 thawed and become dry enough for sowing. 

 The English farmers sow them sometimes 

 in February." Loudon says, " I he season 

 of sowing oats is from the last week in Feb- 

 ruary to the end of April. About the middle 



