NO. 17. 



THE FARMERS' CABINET. 



369 



ground, you may begin to sow the seeds of 

 these roots, for field culture, and thence up to 

 the 1st of May, tiie sooner tliey are in tlie 

 larger will be their yield, and as they are 

 alike excellent food for man and beast, we 

 have always been surprised that comparative- 

 ly so few were raised. An acre, well pre- 

 pared and cultivated, in suitable soil, will 

 yield from 500 to (500 bushels, which would 

 be sufficient to keep four cows fully to their 

 milk during the winter, 



MANURE. 



Carry out your manure to your fields in 

 whicii you intend to use it. If you intend to, 

 top-dress your meadows, or growing^crops of 

 grain, the sooner that is done the better, ta- 

 king liie precaution never to let your wagons 

 or carts go on either when the ground is 

 soft. 



LIME. 



If you intend to use any this season, it is 

 time you had made your arrangements for 

 procuring or burning it. Jf intended to be 

 used on your meadows, the sooner the better 

 it is spread thereon; if on your corn ground, 

 you cannot get it on too early, as it should 

 receive sufficient ploughings to thoroughly 

 incorporate it with the soil. 



ASHES. 



Do not omit to provide yourself with a 

 Bufficient quantity of this delightful sub- 

 stance; to give your corn plants a dressing, 

 however trifling the quantity applied, it will 

 speak out most^elocjuently. 



FENCES. 



See to your fences and have them tho- 

 roughly repaired, and thus secure yourself 

 against the inroads of stock of all kinds. 



TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS. 



These must be examined and put in order, 

 — and in fact at this critical period of the 

 year, the farmer should have his eyes on the 

 earch in every direction. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



If you desire to have your table spread with 

 ;arly vegetables, those grateful accompani- 

 nents of well cooked viands, prepare yourself 

 ivithout delay a hot-bed, and sow your seeds 

 IS cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, egg-plant, cu- 

 lurabers, &c. Have you the frames ? If you 

 lave them not, get a couple of window 

 rames with the glass in then), fix yourself 

 ip a box, (the back elevated to about twice 

 he height of the front,) to fit your sashes, then 

 )repare your hot-bed, by simply separating 

 he grosser parts of your horse-dung and put- 

 ing it-in to the depth of about four feet: this 

 oust be permitted to remain for some time to 

 ;o through its more violent heatings, when 



about 4 inches of good mould should be put 

 on in a dry state; upon which, sow your seed. 

 Over your glass you must throw a matting of 

 straw at night, and always in fulling weatlier. 

 If the middle of the day be fine, the matting 

 must be taken off and the sash raised to give 

 ventilation. 



If you have no window frames, make a 

 hot-bed on a southorn border well protected 

 from tiie wind. Dig out the earth, the length 

 required, a spit deep, put in fresh horse dung 

 to the depth of G inches, then throw on the 

 earth that had been previously dug out, rake 

 it fine: take stakes with prongs, and drive in 

 back and front, about a foot higher than the 

 bed, place poles from stake to stake, then 

 cover these with a thick layer of corn-stalks, 

 then put on leaves or straw an inch or two 

 thick, and top the whole with pine brushes. 

 At night, or in bad weather, you should cover 

 this bed with a straw matting, which should 

 extend in front so as to reach the ground. — 

 On tliis bed sow your different kinds of seeds,- 

 and rude through it be, it will afford you as 

 many planfs as you may require. 



VVe have given above, two very simple 

 modes of making a hot-bed, and shall now 

 copy from M'Mahon his plan of one. He 

 says, in speaking of the 



FRAMES . 



Large frames ought to be made of inch and 

 half or rather two inch plank, of the best 

 yellow pine, 9 ft. 2 in. long, 4 feet 10 in. 

 wide, as high again in the back as in the front,, 

 to give the top a due slope to the sun and a 

 proper declivity to carry off the wet when 

 covered with glass lights, to move off and on 

 occasionally ; every joint ought to be tongued, 

 the better to prevent the admission of cold 

 air into, or emission of warm air out of the 

 bed, but in such manner as tlie gardener may 

 think proper. The back and front are to be 

 nailed to corner posts, so as to admit the ends 

 to fit in neatly, which ends are to be made 

 fast to the posts by iron bolts keyed in the in- 

 side, for the greater facility of taking the 

 frame asunder when necessary ; each end 

 must be made one inch and a half higher than 

 the back and front, so as that one-half its 

 thickness may be grooved out on the inside, 

 for the sash to rest and slide on, and the other 

 half left for its support on the inside; when 

 finished give it two or three good coats of 

 paint before you use it, and with a little care 

 and an annual painting, it may last you twenty 

 years. 



These frames will take three lights of three 

 feet wide each, each light containing five 

 rows of glass frames, six inches by four, over- 

 lapping one another about half an inch, whiclj 

 of all other sizes is the most preferable, on 

 account of tlieir cheapness in the first place. 



