596 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



Nov. 



part is then completed. December snows and 

 winds will do the rest, by filling all the open 

 places among the branches, so that wind and 

 frost will not find their way where you do 

 not want them. 



In the spring, the branches may be easily 

 put upon the bonfire heap in the garden, and 

 their ashes give an abundant crop of cabbages 

 or other vegetables. Will you try it ? 



There are many other things that may, and 

 ought to be done in N^uvemher, and if attend- 

 ed to, there will be little inclination to think of 

 clouds or gloom, or be distracted by night- 

 mare, or hypochondria. , 



Drain the wet land, if the ground is not too 

 much frozen. 



Collect muck, if the swamp will admit you. 



Prune the trees, if they need it. 



Haul off stones, if they are in the way. 



Make all tight and snug about the buildings, 

 if you would like to be comfortable when read- 

 ing in the evening. Have a thoughtful care of 

 the cattle, and the good old servants, the horses. 

 They look to you for their meat in due season. 

 Will you see that they have it ? 



Collect materials of every possible kind to 

 be converted into manure. 



See that the swine have dry lodgings to go 

 to, and that the wind cannot come to them 

 through cracks in the floor when they are 

 lying down. Will they gain a pound per day 

 lying upon a wet and ventilated bed ? 



If it storms too hard to attend to out door 

 duties, go to the house cellar and put that in 

 order, so as to save the women the job. Sweep 

 the bottom, and spider Avebs from the walls 

 and top. Sort over the potatoes and — ah ! the 

 apples are not there this year. 



Clean out the wood-house and make ready 

 the piles for winter use. 



Do all these, and leave no other duties un- 

 done, and the women will love you, your 

 •children reverence you, and God will bless and 

 bring }ou to an inheritance of glory and peace 

 at last, of which the heart of man hath not yet 

 conceived. And so ends our November 

 homily. 



— Geo. Kaler, of South China, brags in the Maine 

 Farmer of a smart hen. In five months and tliree 

 days, commencing the 25th of last March, she has 

 hatched out and brought up three litters of chick- 

 ens — thirty -nine in all — without a single addle egg, 

 has laid l^rty-threc eggs, and is still doing her 

 duty ou the uest. 



For the New England Farmer, 



THE QABDEN IN NOVEMBER. 



"The fading, many-colored wonds, 

 Bhade deep'iiiiig over shade, the country round 

 Imbrown ; a varied umbrage, dusk and dim, 

 Of every hue, from wan declining green 

 To sooty dark." 



Many hard-working, money-making, prac- 

 tical men see little else in nature than that which 

 may be turned into dollars and cents ; but not 

 so with all, even though they be farmers de- 

 pendent upon their labor for their daily bread. 

 The ever-changing seasons, as they revolve, 

 alFord food for thought and pleasing reflection ; 

 and of all seasons the fall of the year furnishes 

 scenes of the most gorgeous and suggestive 

 variety. These, instead of suggesting only 

 gloomy and foreboding thought, should fill the 

 mind with those of the most thankful, pleas- 

 ing and glorious kind. And we believe that 

 as intelligence and refinement spread among 

 the labormg class, the beauties and suggestions 

 of the ever-changing seasons are better en- 

 joyed and better appreciated. Still, much of 

 the sentiment and poetry of fervid writers fails 

 to be realized by the every day workers either 

 in town or country. Those who are depen- 

 dent on the daily labor of their hands 

 or heads, find less sentiment than reality in 

 the business to which their lives are devoted. 

 But the reader will ask what has all this to 

 do with gardening ? The main part of our 

 active duties in the garden are brought to a 

 close ; the crops are garnered, seeds saved, 

 and we are enjoying the fruits of our labors, 

 and now is a proper time for moralizing, re- 

 flecting, and making resolves for future ac- 

 tion. Nature is now going to rest, to recu- 

 perate and prepare for the future, and can we 

 do less than take advantage of the same season 

 for our own improvement ? 



We have often urged the utility of a good 

 garden, and will now quote the words of an 

 eminent physician, who says: "I consider 

 the kitchen garden of very considerable im- 

 portance, as pot-herbs, salads, and roots of 

 various kinds, are useful in house-keeping. 

 Having a plenty of them at hand, a family will 

 not be so likely to run into the error, which is 

 too common in this country, of eating flesh in 

 too great a proportion for health. Farmers, 

 as well as others, should have kitchen gardens ; 

 and they need not grudge the labor of tending 

 them, which may be done at odd intervals of 

 time, which would otherwise chance to be con- 

 sumed in useless loitering." 



We might (juote other testimony in favor of 

 a garden, but as our exhortation would hardly 

 reach those who most need it, in an agricultu- 

 ral paper, we will merely urge at this time 

 those who have heretofore had a small veg- 

 etable garden, to plan improvements on the 

 f)ast, to add some vegetables and fruits not 

 leretofore cultivated, to strive to cultivate 

 better, and to avoid the errors of the past. 



With us most or all crops are gathered and 



