SEASONABLE REMINDERS. 339 



The bush-house is our mainstay for ferns, fuchsias, gloxinias, primulas, 

 inimulas, azaleas, rhododendrons, and other beauties, which require arti- 

 ficial warmth in the colder south. Water and shade, with shelter from 

 winds, are our requirements to have a steady blaze of flowers and foliage 

 all through the summer season. 



SUMMER FIELD A.ND GARDEN OPERATIONS. 



NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, JANUARY. 



Summer Weather. We can be certain of having heat enough during 

 this and the two months following. Rain is more uncertain. Heavy 

 thunderstorms have been common in November in former years ; so have 

 dry spells. 



Summer Farming. Our most certain course of action now, seeing 

 that we are fairly in for summer heat, is to get all the work we can done 

 by the cultivators ; to have the surface loose and open, so as to keep the 

 crops growing by taking in all the rain that falls, and so resist the effects 

 of dry spells. 



Feed for Winter. Now is the time to get in winter feed for making 

 ensilage or hay. In no part of the world are more suitable or heavier 

 yielding crops available. (See chapter xvii. Dairying.) 



Wheat. Harvesting commences in the early districts northwards 

 in November, and reapers and binders require to be got into thorough 

 working order for the crop. 



Select Seed Wheat Harvest is the time to do it. By marking off the 

 pieces that are most thrifty and suitable for the district. Such wheat, 

 when allowed to ripen thoroughly, and then threshed out by hand, gives 

 the best promise we know of for seed wheat. 



Maize. Go on planting, giving the crop all the manure that can 

 be spared. Maize will take any quantity of it, and any sort available, 

 though manures rich in ammonia and phosphates are the best. Manure- 

 means big cobs and plenty of them. 



Harvesting for Hay. Oats, barley, rye, and vetches are all ripening 

 for the harvest, whether for hay or ensilage. 



Catch Crops. Cape barley is very quick, so is buckwheat, and either 

 or both of them may be sown at this time where there is land available 

 that is not wanted for other crops 



Potatoes. Care is required now. Where they have been hilled up, 

 and all weeds killed, very little need be done until they are tit for digging, 

 but when ripe, dig at once, or they may start growing again. Stirring of 

 the soil is a.s likely to injure as benefit potatoes in growth during the 

 warm season. In the warmer sections potatoes are planted in January 

 and February. 



Tobacco. This crop requires constant attention from seeding to 

 harvesting. It should now be showing for the full crop of leaf, and in 

 addition to such cultivation as keeps the land clean and open, flowering 

 buds have to be pinched off, and the leaf thinned until eight, ten, or 

 twelve leaven are left upon a stern, according to its strength. This 

 treatment tends to mature and ripen the crop for harvesting. 



