158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



is better adapted to that crop, and that he 

 must change it. This i.s porpk-xing, and car- 

 ries with it from day to day an uncertainty as 

 to what is best to be done. 



It is important, therefore, in the first place, 

 that the farmer shall be fully accjuaintcd with 

 the different tpialities of his soils, and their 

 character as to being wet or dry. With this 

 knowledge, he will be able, at his fireside, to 

 determine what portions of land shall be 

 ploughed for cultivation, and what particidar 

 crop shall be applied to each. Nothing of 

 this kind should be left to be done when the 

 time for sowing or planting has come, and 

 men and teams are waiting to enter upon the 

 work . 



He who commences in the spring with this 

 uncertainty and delay, will be quite likely to 

 find himself in the whirlpool of doubt and diffi- 

 culty, until another frost shuts up the earth. 



We should neglect a duty, did we not urge 

 upon the farmer 



More Attention to the Garden. 



No part of the farm can be made more pro- 

 fitable. It will be surprising to those who 

 have not tried it, how much may be obtained 

 from a well cultivated garden, towards supply- 

 ing the table all through the sunnner and au- 

 tumn months with fresh, nutritious and pala- 

 table food, — the early lettuce, radishes, as- 

 paragus, peas, onions, early potatoes, toma- 

 toes, cabbage, beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, 

 squashes and melons. Then there are the 

 fruits ; delicious strawberries for the breakfast 

 or tea table, or for dessert at dinner, instead 

 of costly puddings or j)ies ; the raspberry, cur- 

 rant, or the white or black thimbleberry, that 

 will grow and fruit abundantly on almost any 

 soil. These are healthful, and highly appre- 

 ciated by all, especially the children, and are 

 altogether more wholesome than much meat 

 in hot weather. Some hardy varieties of the 

 blackberry, one of the finest fruits of New 

 England, may also be grown in our fields or 

 gardens. 



These garden growths not oidy minister to 

 our physical wants, but they save much money 

 that is needed for other* purposes, — for the 

 mechanic, for household conveniences or com- 

 forts, for books, clothing, schools or the 

 ohurch. 



"But," says one, "it is too puttering work, 



I cannot break my back over it ; I had rather 

 raise oats or potatoes, and buy the garden 

 stuff.'" But he did no such thing ; for when 

 unexpected visiters came, he horrowed a few 

 vegetal)les in order to break up the awful 

 blank between the bread and meat upon the 

 table. Without the garden, the vegetables 

 and fruits are not abundant u])on the farmer's 

 table. We are happy to confess that a sensi- 

 ble change has taken place in this matter. 



There is no real dillieulty in the way of any 

 farmer having a good garden. It need not be 

 laid out in forms requiring the aid of a land- 

 scape "ardener, but with those simple lines 

 which would make it easy and convenient to 

 work among the plants. These should be as 

 far as possible in straight lines, so as to do a 

 large portion of the work with a hand culti- 

 vator or wheel hoe. The women and children 

 would assist in weeding, and in gathering the 

 crops as they are wanted, so that the task of 

 tending a garden would not be half a'b burden- 

 some as is sometimes imagined. 



But the robin and bluebird, the bare fields 

 and swelling buds, all invite us into the open 

 air, so we will (juote part of an old song for 

 the young folks who have read the foregoing 

 about April and the Garden, and then visit 

 the singers in the orchard. 



"Come listen to me, and so shall you be etoutliearted 



and IVecli as a dai^^J' ; 

 Not ready to chatter on every matter, nor bent over 



books till you're hazy ; 

 No splitter of straws, no dab at the laws, making black 



seem white, so cunning! 

 But wandering down out o' the town, and over the 



green meadow running. 

 Ride, wrestle and play wiih your fellows so gay, all so 



many birds of a feather, 

 All breathing of youth, good humor, and truth, in the 



time of the jolly spring weather; 

 In the jolly spring time, when the poplar and lime 



disiievel tlieir tresnes together." 



APRIL AFFAIRS ON THE FARM. 



A person may pretty thoroughly understand 

 his business, and yet sometimes forget to do a 

 certain work at the time when it could most 

 appropriately have been done. 



For instance, how many times have you 

 heard some of your neighbors say, within twen- 

 ty-five years, that on the land that was in grain 

 last sunnner and laid to grass in the fall, they 

 forgot to 



Sow Clover seed in the spring. There 

 are hundreds of acres now lying within a few 

 miles of us, which were laid to grass last fall, 

 where it is the intention to sow clover seed 



