1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
•407 
provide pure water liberally and frequently. To 
prevent sickness is much easier and vastly better 
than to cure various troubles by medicine. 
Horses and Colts.— If the stable is comfortable, no 
horse should be blanketed at night. Much mis- 
chief is done by keeping animals too warm. The 
coat is greatly thickened as cold weather approach- 
es, and provision is made by natm-e for the change 
of season. Good ventilation is absolutely necessa- 
ry, and a temperature of 40° in the stable is more 
healthful in winter than 00°. A pound of oil-cake 
meal at each feed, will help to keep a horse warm 
and his coat smooth. If his coat is smooth he is 
in good health. Colts should have plenty of exer- 
cise, and a moderate but regular supply of grain. 
Coarse food given to colts tends to enlarge the di- 
gestive organs, and produce a " pot-belly," which 
destroys their future capability for quick work. 
Coins and Calrrs.—Covts which are to come in 
early should be dried off six or eight weeks previ- 
ously. Both cow and calf will be the better for it. 
Profuse milkers that can not easily be dried will be 
better to be milked regularly and fed cautiously. 
There are but few cows that are of this character, 
but these few will need special and careful treat- 
ment. Calves and yearlings will need such treat- 
ment as will keep them thrifty without forcing 
them. Bran and oat-meal are the best grain food 
for young cattle. 
Sheej). — Rams will now need to be well fed. A 
quart of mixed oats and wheat bran, with the best 
clover hay, will be the best food for a ram in ser- 
vice. Ewes that have been 8er\'ed should be fed 
half-a-pint of the same extra food, with a little oil- 
cake meal, and should be kept quiet, and not driven, 
or worried by dogs. When it can be done conveni- 
ently, the ram should be turned in with the ewes 
only at night, being kept in a yard alone in the day. 
Swine. — Fattening hogs should be pushed forward 
as rapidly as possible. Fat is now made at less ex- 
pense of food than in cold weather, and in the 
present condition of the market, it is at least safe 
to market hogs as early as possible. Store hogs 
should be fed a portion of roots if possible. Smut- 
ty com is highly injurious, or even poisonous to 
hogs and other stock, and its use should be avoid- 
ed. Spring pigs may noiv be provided for. There 
are no better pigs than grades of the pure breeds. 
Whatever breed is chosen, the boar shoidd be fine 
in the bone, smooth, well haired, and at least a 
year old. Sows coupled in this month will farrow 
in March, going with young sixteen weeks. 
Sundry Jfatters. — This is the season for renewing 
the subscription for papers, and procuring what 
books may be needed for reading and study during 
the leisure days of winter. Every farmer's family 
should have a good paper and a few books. These 
make home attractive, and keep the family circle 
unbroken in the evenings. Then every one is 
pleased ; the wife is happy to have her family 
around her, the father finds the society of his clil- 
dren as pleasant aa that of other people, and the 
children are gratified to know that their society is 
sought by their parents. Nothing tends to make 
the home more agreeable and united than for the 
children to know that their parents are interested 
in their society and their sports. While everything 
is pleasant within, everything without should be 
made snug and comfortable. It is needless to enu- 
merate what should be done, but " whatsoever 
thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might " as 
well as it can be done. 
Work in the Horticultural Departments, 
In all but the extreme northern states, November 
will be a month of active preparations for the com- 
ing cold weather. The late crops of cabbages, 
roots, etc., must be harvested, cellars, pits, and 
other storing rooms put in order, and everything 
made ready for sudden changes. Ground which is 
to be broken up at this season should be plowed 
and left in ridges so that the frost can do its part 
towards reducing the soil to a fine condition, ready 
for planting next spring. Fences will need re- 
pairing, and in many cases renewing, to keep stray 
animals out of the orchard and garden , gates must 
be put iu order, and where the posts have been 
pulled out of position so as to cause sagging, they 
should be taken up and reset, and if convenient, 
the bottom may be surrounded with small stones, 
fiiTnly rammed down. Manure is the basis of all 
good crops in the garden and orchard, as well as on 
the farm, and every means should be used to pro- 
cure it by saving and composting all sods, leaves, 
muck, and other vegetable matter, as well as such 
animal substances as can be had. For a method to 
keep manure fermenting without freezing, see 
Walks and Talks, on page 419. 
Orchard and ;>'nrserj'. 
All nursery stock which is received from the 
nursery for spring planting, should be heeled-iii 
where the water will not settle during the winter ; 
to avoid all danger from this source, it would be 
well to turn several furrows on each side towards 
the trees, thus leaving a trench to allow any water 
that may gather to ran ofT. All ground which is 
to be used for nursery or orchard purposes, ought 
to be plowed at once, so as to have the benefit of 
the winter frosts ; it would, however, be better if 
new land could be planted for one season with corn 
or potatoes, or some other hoed crops, before set- 
ting it out with trees. 
Labor is so generally abundant and cheap now, 
that if one can employ more men to advantage, he 
had better do so. Drains may yet be dug in most 
places ; wood-lots to clear up. brush and old trees 
to be grubbed out, and numerous other works of 
improvement that will warrant the employment of 
extra men at low wages. It tramps come around, 
give them nothing unless they will work for it. 
Leaves. — Gather from the woods as many as 
possible, they will be useful for mulching, and 
also for bedding in the stable and pig-pens. 
Fruit. — In order to properly keep winter fruit, 
the temperature of the room or cellar ought to be 
as low as can be kept without freezing ; the doors 
and wmdows should be left open during the warm 
days and nights. When closed, proper ventilation 
must be provided. 
Cider. — All fruit not fit for sale, either as the first 
or second quality, should be made into cider. This 
when made of sound apples, filtered through sand, 
barreled and bunged at once, will make a fine arti- 
cle. Never put rotten apples into cider, as they 
are sure to give an unpleasant flavor. 
Tiiiegar, for which there is always a sale at re- 
muuerative prices, may be made from the inferior 
apples or surplus cider. A little old vinegar put 
into the casks with the cider will cause it to change 
to vinegar quicker than it othernise would ; always 
leave the bung out of barrels in which vinegar 
is making ; the ottener it can be changed from one 
cask to another the sooner will it be fit for use. 
Ciom. — Cut and store in small bundles in saw- 
dust or sand in the cellar : if in large parcels they 
are liable to heat and mold. 
Seedlings.— Cover with leaves or hay, or what is 
better, if they can be had, evergreen boughs, but 
do not do this until freezing weather sets in. 
SlocTcs for root-grafting should be lifted early this 
month and stored in earth iu the cellar where they 
can be got at easily when wanted for working. 
Frnit Ciarden. 
The pruning of the various kinds of small fruits 
and vines, together with the work suggested under 
*■ orchard," will be in season in this department. 
Grape-vinex. — Prune this month if possible before 
freezing weather comes. Cut back the canes of 
vines which have been properly trained to two or 
three buds. Old neglected vines will each one re- 
quire special treatment to bring it into proper 
shape for future training, and no general rule can 
be given. Save all well ripened wood which may 
be needed for propagation in the spring, tie in 
small bundles and preserve in sand in the cellar. 
Strawberrits will stand the cold winter better if a 
slight covering of leaves or hay is given, especially 
if the plants were newly set this fall. Do not cov- 
er so thick as to smother them ; cover the soil 
well, but put very little on the plants ; do not apply 
it before really cold weather has come. 
BlacTcbcrriis and Rxspberrie.'i need but little atten- 
tion now, if the old canes were cut ofi after th<3 
fruit had been picked. Some of the tend«r varie- 
ties of raspberries will do better if laid dowa and 
partially covered with earth. 
Currants aad Gooseberries: — Prune at once, cufc- 
ting out the old wood where crowded, and shorten- 
ing the new, and giving the bush an open head, to 
admit air and sun to prevent mildew. Save all cut- 
tings needed for new plants, and plant at once, or 
preserve in sand in the cellar for spring planting. 
Apply manure to the plants which are to come into 
healing the next season, there are no fniits whicli 
responds to manure more satisfactorily than these. 
Trellises. — The jiresent is a good time to paint all 
grape and other trellises ; many use a lime-wash o.f 
some pleasing color, as it is cheaper than paint. 
TrcUises so treated last longer, and are more 
pleasing to the eye than when left unpainted. 
Jiiseets. — In many places the oyster-shell bark- 
louse has become very common, and we often have 
inquiries as to what it is, and how its ravages can 
be stopped. It appears upon the bark of the 
branches, and sometimes spreads over the whole 
tree, and is very destructive. The best way where 
only a few young trees are affected, is to dig out 
and burn them, but when the whole orchard of 
large trees is affected, the cheapest way is to use 
a wash of whale oil soap, mixed with a little car- 
bolic acid, and applied with a stiff brush. 
KitcUen Ciarden. 
Many of the directions given under this head last 
month, will be equally applicable now. Plow any 
grass laud which is to be used for garden purposes, 
as spring plowed land seldom gives good returns. 
Asparagus if not yet manured, should not be neg- 
lected until later, else there is danger of freezing. 
Cut off the tops and bum, to destroy the seeds, 
Cold-Frames. — Prepare and have these in readi- 
ness at once, for fear of sudden freezing. Cabbages 
and other half-hardy plants may be kept over win- 
ter iu safety in them, and also any seeds which do 
not like much moisture during the whiter. 
Cabbages. — The best plan for storing cabbages is 
to lay down two rails 4 to inches apart, and then 
place the cabbages head downwards on them, leav- 
ing the roots exposed ; then turn a furrow towards 
them on each side, and by the aid of the spade 
cover the head with 4 to 6 inches of earth ; select 
a diy place where water does not stand. 
Celery.— Store in trenches a foot wide, and as 
deep as the hight of the stalks ; place the plants 
close together without any earth between them, 
and cover with straw and boards, increasing the 
thickness of the covering as the cold increases. 
Spinaeh will winter better if the bed is covered 
with a few leaves, or a slight covering of hay just 
before the ground freezes solid. 
Lettuce. — A small bed planted in some shelterefd 
spot and slighly covered, will give an early crop 
next spring. 
Soots may be preserved in root cellars where one 
is fortunate enough to have one, or in pits in the 
open ground : see several articles in this number 
of the American Agriculturist. Parsnips and salsify, 
if desired, may be left in the ground until spring. 
Jiubbisfi. — Clear up potato tops, melon vines, 
and the like, and bum the late weeds before any 
seeds have time to ripen ; when left until spring, 
most persons are too busy to bum them, but rake 
them into the fence comers, where they serve as 
a nursery for every foul weed. 
Flo-wer <jiardeii and I>s\rn, 
Little more can be done now than to follow the 
directions given last month. Arrange all work so 
that there will be no delay in the spring, and every- 
thing will then go on smoothly. 
Planiing of ornamental trees and shmbs may 
still be done early this month, taking care not to 
