NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



363 



FARM WORK FOR NOVliMBER. 



Old Boreas, with all his attendant train of wind, 

 hail, sleet and snow, will soon be along to take his 

 turn to "rule the varied year." The farmer must 

 be ready to give him a cordial reception, rather 

 than shrink from his rough embrace. If all is tight 

 and snug, and your preparations have been care- 

 fully made, winter will hardly approach with a 

 gloomy and chilling aspect ; but rather as a season 

 for mental improvement and social enjoyments; for 

 the interchange of civilities with neighbors, and 

 for strengthening the cords of fraternal love. 



Look well to your cellars, — point with mortar 

 about the underpinning of both house and barn. 

 Your house rooms vvill be more comfortable for it, 

 and require less fuel — with a tight barn cellar you 

 will prevent your manure from freezing, and thus 

 gain two or three months in the process of decompo- 

 sition in your coarse materials. See that your ap- 

 ples in barrels are kept dry in cool places, and 

 house them before the cold is so severe as to touch 

 them with frost. 



Crops. — Finish gathering all your crops — corn 

 should be thoroughly separated at the time of husk- 

 ing, allowing no ear that is not fully ripe to be de- 

 posited with the winter supply, however large and 

 fair it may appear ; gather roots as the leaves be- 

 come dead — those with green leaves will continue 

 to grow till late in the month with favorable weath- 

 er — handle them carefully, and deposit them in 

 moderately sized bins or heaps, in dark places, and 

 they will escape mould and rot. 



Stubble Ground. — Manure stubble ground with 

 a liberal hand — green, coarse manures are excel- 

 lent, don't spread them over too much surface, but 

 manure liberally as far as you go, and plough in 



be well done. The red and white Antwerp should 

 be protected. Throw out a spade full of earth 

 from one side of the plant near the roots, and this 

 will enable you to bend it down over the hole with- 

 out injury, when it may be covered with straw, 

 or such otlier materials as can be spared. This 

 may be omitted until near the close of the month 

 if the weather is mild. Trim and tie up native 

 raspberries — cut out all of the present year that 

 bore fruit, shorten in the tops of the new plants and 

 tie the hills to a stake or trellises. 



This month affords favorable opportunities to lay 

 out the garden — that is, to arrange your beds, 

 paths, make hot-beds, and decide where your young 

 trees — shrubbery, beans, peas, early potatoes and 

 otiier vegetables aie to be placed — this may all be 

 arranged upon paper during the winter, and thus 

 give you a map of garden operations. This map 

 will be found of service in the hurrying hours of 

 planting and sowing, by showing at a glance the 

 spot selected for the various trees and seeds it is in- 

 tended to plant. 



If not done before, examine your young trees, 

 where you budded, and loosen the ties, or take 

 them away altogether. 



If the trees stand in a soil somewhat heavy and 

 liable to be thrown up by the frost, scatter straw, 

 refuse hay, corn butts, or the branches of ever- 

 greens about them. 



Sow pomace if you desire to increase your nur- 

 sery. See that your cherry, apricot and peach 

 stones are well mixed with sand and deposited in 

 the cellar. 



No injury to the tree has ever been experienced 

 by us in heading in peach trees in autumn. It 

 may be done quite early in the spring; but the 

 winds are cold and boisterous in March, and the 



deep; during the winter they will decay, give out 

 their ammonia, which will permeate the superin- i^'i'"""^ covered with snow, or wet and muddy, so 

 cumbentsoil,andinthespringyouwillfmdalight, ihatthe job then is altogether an uncomfortable 

 poious, pliable soil, ready to return you anabun-^one. Being annually headed in, by cutting off 

 dant crop; this work will save much time in the j"ne-half of the previous summer's growth, the 

 spring when your hours are more valuable. 'tree gradually assumes a round and compact form. 



Winter Grain.— Examine your fields where I ptoduces larger and better fruit, and the branches 

 winter grain is sowed, and wherever it is practica- j will seldom break down when loaded with either 

 ble cut trenches sufficient to draw off the water ^i""!^ or ice 



which otherwise would stand in low places, and 

 destroy the young plants. 



Barn Yards and Cellars. — Bed your open 

 yards well with refuse hay, weeds, stiaw and muck, 

 ready to receive the droppings of the cattle — be- 

 tween the coarse herbage and the muck add a lit- 

 tle lime. Store up meadow mud or loam in the 

 barn cellar to be mingled weekly with the fresh 

 droppings of the stall through the winter. 



The Garden. — November is a good timeto clean 

 out and manure strawberry beds — cover them, if 

 convenient, with coarse herbage or brush of ever- 

 greens — give the asparagus beds a rich coat of ma- 

 nure. Currants, raspberries and goosel)erries may 

 be transplanted this month with success if the work 



Canker Worms. — Not a moment is to be lost in 

 protecting your trees against these pests. Thev 

 have already commenced their march up them, 

 and will soon be out of your reach. If you have 

 any better remedy than a circle of tar around the 

 tree, use it; but if not, apply that? at once. For a 

 descrii.tion of the modes of application, &c., see 

 the Farmer for November, 1850, page 401, in uu 

 article by S. P. Fowler, Esq., of Danvers. 



Around your newly transplanted trees raise .i 

 mound of the surface soil 12 or 18 inches higii. 

 This will prevent the rain from standing abcuii 

 their roots, and steady them through the winter, so 

 that the winds will not rack them out of place. 



These are but a few suggestions or catch words; 



