THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



cramped quarters. A pen 12x12 is about right 

 for fifteen hens. 



Guinea-fowl and turkeys should have an 

 evening meal, and be encouraged to roost in a 

 house or shed. 



Farm Crops. This is the busy harvest month. 

 Buckwheat should be cut when it commences to 

 turn brown. Leave it in sheaves to dry. When 

 ready, spread a sheet over the hayrack. Take 

 up each sheaf carefully, and when the load has 

 been collected, drive at once to the barn and 

 thresh. We have always used the flail in prefer- 

 ence to a machine for buckwheat, because the 

 latter crushes the grain. Choose a bright, dry 

 day, for buckwheat is extremely susceptible to 

 moisture, and it is difficult to thresh if the at- 

 mosphere is not clear. 



Cut silage crops and fill the silo. Mature 

 corn should be cut before frost robs the stalks 

 of food value. But don't shell the ears until 

 the milk is all dried out of the kernels. 



Plowing now not only facilitates work in 

 the spring, but materially improves the qual- 



414 



