340 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
thing else. Our season for preparation in spring is so shorty 
that we are anxious to open as much land as we can in the 
fall^ before the frosts set in and render it impracticable ; we 
therefore plough early and late^ both stubble land and green- 
sward. Besides this^ the effect which the severe frost of 
winter has on ploughed ground^ in expanding, pulverizing, 
and rendering it mellow, is so great an advantage as we 
spare no exertions to obtain. 
C. — What occupies the farmer's attention when the fro- 
zen ground will no longer permit him to plough ? 
jP. — He then kills his fatted cattle and hogs, either for 
market or for domestic consumption : this is a business of a 
good deal of bustle and activity, and attended with no small 
merriment and congratulation from one to another; the num- 
ber, weight, fatness, and description of animals butchered, 
forming inexhaustible subjects of conversation for some time 
after. Some, especially of the pork, is salted down, but a good 
deal of the beef and mutton, and part of the pork, is kept 
throughout the winter, perfectly sweet and fresh, by being 
frozen in carcases. Many sled-loads of frozen sheep, pigs. 
Sec. may be seen during the season, going to market, so hard 
and solid that they can be divided only by the axe or saw. 
The lean part of meat, when frozen hard, is more difficult to 
saw than oak plank, and makes a quantity of saw-dust. If 
much mild weather occurs in the winter, the meat thaws, and 
these repeated thawings and freezings deprive it of much of 
its juices, and make it rather dry. 
C, — All the cold-blooded animals seem to have retired 
to their winter quarters. 
F, — The reptiles have, no doubt : on the 1 6th of No- 
vember, I saw some young frogs dart from the bank and dive 
amongst the mud of a spring, which was the last time I ob- 
