16 CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS—OCTOBER. 
boggy parts, which retain moisture,—should be left for spring 
planting, as on account of this description of ground swelling 
during frost the plants are apt to be ejected, particularly 
those that are inserted by notch-planting. 
Fell timber; thin out plantations; grub out furze on 
plantation ground. Many of our most important hardwood 
trees ripen their seeds at this time. 
Underneath the oak, and particularly after frost with a 
breeze of wind, the ground will be covered with acorns ; these 
should be collected and spread out on a barn floor, so as to 
prevent fermentation ; or if the nursery ground is ready, they 
may be sownimmediately. Prefer the largest; these are most 
readily got by using a wire riddle of a size suitable for allow- 
ing the small to pass through. 
Beech-mast is also shed about this time, when it should be 
collected and passed through a barn fanners, or exposed to a 
steady breeze of wind in an open situation to effect a separa- 
tion between the sound and the empty seed. When sown 
immediately, it comes up, if the weather is fine, in the end of 
March, or early in April, when the crop is endangered by 
frost ; it is therefore better to spread the seeds on the floor of 
a loft, turning them occasionally till they are dry, when they 
may be kept in a heap, and sown in the end of February or 
in March. The crop will then appear at a time when it will 
generally be exempt from injury. 
The seeds of maple of sorts, if not formerly gathered, 
should now be collected ; also chestnuts, walnuts, and all other 
sorts as they become ripe. 
As the ground becomes empty in the nursery it should he 
dug deep and turned over roughly, or cast into ridges, to admit 
the influence of frost. Previously to this being done, such 
parts as are exhausted should receive a coating of well-decom- 
posed manure, particularly after crops of ash, elm, beech, 
spruce, or hawthorn, which generally leave the ground in a 
very poor state. 
Of all sorts of deciduous plants none require to be attended 
to in early transplanting more than hawthorn or quick, 
