2DO 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[OOTOBEIt, 
occasions, but who do not, are responsible for 
the failures of which they are the first to complain. 
Farmers' Clubs. — Organize theni early. One 
should be in operation in every school district. 
Secure an occasional address on agricultural sub- 
jects from competent speakers, but devote the 
meetings mainly to informal conversations on the 
facts connected with the every-day farm experience 
and observations of the different members: this 
will be of greater benefit in eliciting thought, and 
more interesting to the participants, than attempts 
at speech making, or listening to elaborate essays. 
Grain. - Have all threshed and safely stored, 
ready to take advantage of a favorable mar- 
ket. Reduce all contracts for future delivery to 
writing, and ascertain the responsibility of parties 
before closing a bargain. Cash is the safest pay- 
master, the world over. 
Hoys.— Push on fattening rapidly, before cold 
weather tithes the fat. Keep pens well supplied 
with pure water, and with plenty of leaves, weeds, 
straw, nrack, etc., for making manure. 
Ice-Houses may be made cheaply, and they will 
abundantly repay their cost, especially on dairy 
farms. A double-walled room with the interstices 
tilled with sawdust or spent tan-bark, built in one 
corner of au out-house, provided with drainage 
uud ventilation, are all the essentials. 
Implements. — Have them all in their places under 
cover. Preserve iron and steel from rusting by 
thinly coating them over with a cheap mixture 
of lard and rosin melted together. 
In-door Employments — First secure all the labor- 
saving items for the household department, which 
may have long been waiting for a convenient time; 
such :w a few hooks, pins or nails for hanging 
clothing, catches for loose doors, buttons or other 
fastenings for windows, convenient arrangement 
for water, scrapers for the doors, sharp knives and 
scissors, and all the hundred and one little matters 
which the women folks will think of, and which 
will contribute greatly to their good nature, and 
thus to the comfort of the household. A friend 
at baud proposes to the ladies, that they keep 
a slate or scrap of paper hanging in plain sight, 
and on it write a list of such needed improvements 
as they happen to want from time to time. It 
might be headed "Gentle Hints." 
Manures. — In most sections a large addition can 
be made to the manure heap, by collecting leaves 
from the forest. They are excellent material 
to compost with cattle droppings for manure for 
the garden and fruit-yard. Provide sheds for the 
reception of the manure as it accumulates : it will 
be worth at least 25 per cent, more than if left ex- 
posed to the weather during the Winter. Secure a 
stock of lime and plaster to be used in making 
compost, and have an abundant supply of muck or 
black earth on hand for the same purpose. 
Plow deeply heavy land that is intended for com 
next year, and leave it exposed in ridges. The 
frost will pulverize the lumps and otherwise pre- 
pare it for working in Spring. 
Potatoes.— Harvest and store immediately in a 
dark, cool, and well-ventilated cellar. A liberal 
amount of earth collected with them is rather 
beneficial than otlf*rwise, in their preservation. 
Poultry.— Provide warm, well-ventilated, and 
comfortable winter quarters. Keep their premises 
clean : occasioually pass their roosting poles 
through tire, to destroy vermin. Supply them 
with animal food as well as grain, and with plenty 
of clean water, gravel, and ashes to wallow in. 
Pumpkins.— Store those wanted for family use in 
a dry, cool place, protected from frost. They may 
also be pared, sliced, and dried, or stewed and 
dried upon plates. Prepared in this way they will 
keep goo3 a year or more. Remove the seeds from 
those fed to milch cows. 
Root Ciops.— Gather and store in cellars or pits 
out of doors before endangered by frost, com- 
mencing with carrots and ending with turnips, 
vTiicfii are net injured by slight frosts. 
Schools. — See that school-houses are in good or- 
der, and use every endeavor to secure first-class 
teachers. Arrange the work so that the boys may 
Infill attendance at the commencement, to secure 
the advantage of early classification and of the 
additional time. Frequently examine as to their 
progress, but be in no haste to listen to "chil- 
dren's tales out of school." 
Sheep. — Keep 6heep and rams separate until five 
months before iambs are wanted. Keep all in good 
condition by occasional allowance of oats, if needed. 
Sorghum. — Strip off leaves a few days before 
cnttiug the stalks. Cut off the two upper joints 
witli seed, as 60on as ripe, or before heavy frost, 
and cut stalks just above lower joint at the same 
time. Keep from freezing, and manufacture as 
rapidly as possible. 
Orchard and Nursery. 
October is a busy month in this department. 
Besides gathering the fruit in the established or- 
chard, new plantings are to be made, and this 
causes demands upon the nurseryman and creates 
activity in his business. As far as we have noticed, 
the wood of nursery trees has made a good growth 
this season, and ripened well, and as soon as the 
leaves fall, transplanting may be done. In any soil 
lit for an orchard at all, Fall planting can be suc- 
cessfully practised. The earlier it is done after the 
fall of the leaf, the better, as the earth settles 
around the roots, and the tree becomes well estab- 
lished before Winter sets in. The success of plant- 
ing trees at any time depends mainly on two 
things: the faithfulness of the nurseryman who 
furnishes the trees, and on that of the purchaser 
who plants them. Many failures result from the 
careless treatment of well grown and carefully 
taken up trees ; other failures come from the care- 
less manner in which the trees are treated in the 
nursery ; they are so mutilated that no after care 
on the part of the purchaser will ever make healthy 
trees of them. In taking up trees in the nursery, 
care should be used to preserve the fibrous roots. 
It is very easy to take a sharp spade and cut around 
within a foot or so of the tree and then pry it out 
with its mutilated roots. To take up a tree prop- 
erly, requires both time and labor. The surface 
soil should be carefully removed so as to expose 
the main branches of the roots and then each of 
these should be followed out and carefully lifted 
with all the attached fibres. Iu nurseries it is cus- 
tomary to take up a stock of those kiuds which are 
most called for, and to heel them in, in a conveni- 
ent place, so that orders may be readily filled. In 
doing this, too much care can not be exercised in 
keeping the varieties distinct. A nurseryman who 
lias a proper appreciation of his business, will no 
sooner send out a wrongly named tree than he 
would steal its value from the pocket of the pur- 
chaser. In the nursery every preparation should 
have been made for the Fall trade — stakes, labels, 
mo-s, straw, bagging, twine and all packing mate- 
rials should be at hand, so that all orders may be 
tilled at the earliest possible moment. 
We have so often advised farmers to plant trees 
that the counsel seems trite. Yet we know that it 
can not be too frequently repeated, and we know 
that no better investment can be made than in a 
judicious purchase of fruit trees. Every farmer 
should have a good orchard to supply fruit for home 
use, and for marketing. Any one wishing to pur- 
chase a farm will pay much more for one with a 
well established orchard, than he would for a place 
without fruit trees. Our advice has always been, 
to deal directly with the nurserymen and avoid 
tree peddlers. There are but few persous who are 
not within reach of a reliable uurseryman, and those 
who are not aequaiuted with one, can consult our 
advertising columns. 
Applies. — These should be picked with the precau- 
tious mentioned iu the article on marketing fruit 
on page S04. The later sorts may be left on the 
trees until frosts occur. Pick in dry weather. 
Buds inserted last month will need looking after, 
and the bandages should be loosened if too tight. 
Grounds for Fall or Spring planting may be ma- 
nured and plowed, and if the land is at all inclined 
to be wet, abundant draius should be laid. 
Insects.— Those which make their cocoons upon 
the branches, may be readily discovered after the 
leaves have fallen. Remove them wherever found. 
Labels.— Sec that those which are partly effaced 
are renewed before winter. Do not depend upon 
labels for an orchard. As soon as the trees are 
planted, make a map and record the name of each 
tree iu its proper position. See label on page 305. 
Manure.— Apply to the orchard. Do not be con- 
tent with putting a small quantity around the 
trunks, but coat over the whole surface. 
Ornamental and Shade Tree*.— The deciduous va- 
rieties may be planted as soon as the leaves fall. 
Stone Fruits. — Cherries and Plum trees may be 
set out in the Fall, but the more tender Peach, Ap- 
ricot, and Nectarine, are better left until Spring. 
Seed Beds may be made according to hints on page 
305. The same treatment may be pursued with the 
seeds and nuts of most of our ornamental trees. 
Weeds should be kept down in the nursery until 
frost renders the use of the hoe unnecessary. 
Kitchen Garden. 
The near approach of frost makes this a busy 
month in the Kitchen Garden, as there are many 
crops which must be secured before they are injured 
by it. This, with preparation for next Spring's 
work, will keep all hands fully occupied until the 
ground becomes frozen. A good gardener will have 
everything cleared up, and the garden as clean and 
tidy in the Fall as at any other season. 
Artichokes. — These, in this latitude, need a winter 
covering of litter, and to be banked up with earth. 
Asparagus.— Cut down the stalks and burn them. 
Cover the beds with a generous coating of coarse 
stable manure. New beds may be made now ; hints 
upon this subject are given on another page. 
Beans. — Limas are ruined by a slight frost. As 
soon as there is any danger, pick the crop and shell 
and dry those not wanted for immediate use. 
House the poles for another season. 
Beets. — These should be harvested before hard 
freezing. In cutting the tops, do not cut too close. 
Store iu bins and cover them with sand or earth to 
prevent wilting, or if the quantity is small, they 
may be put in barrels. They should be allowed to 
dry a little before housing. 
Cabbages. — Harvest upon the appearance of hard 
frosts. The best plan we have tried for wintering 
them is, to place two rails side by side, or to plow a 
deep furrow and set the cabbages heads downwards 
on the rails or along the furrow. Then by meaus 
of a spade or by turning up the earth with a plow, 
completely cover the cabbages, and pat the earth 
down hard with a spade so as to shed water. The 
ridges should be madeon a sloping piece of ground 
from which water will run freely. Plants sown last 
mouth for wintering, may be set out in cold frames. 
Cauliflowers. — Those which have not headed, 
should be taken up with a ball of earth and placed 
in the cellar; they will generally form heads. Set 
young plants iu cold frames. 
Carrots. — Harvest as above directed for beets. 
Celery. — Harvest before severe frost. Take up 
the plants, and having removed the waste leaves, 
stack it upright in a narrow bed, and cover with 
earth and a protection of boards. 
Cold Frames should be in readiness before the 
weather becomes too cool. Cabbages, Cauliflowers, 
etc., may be wintered in them, toafford early plants 
in Spring. Air should be given during mild weath- 
er. Rank earth around the frame upon the ap- 
proach of Winter, and cover the glass with boards 
or other protection. 
Hot-Beds. — Provide a heap of rich earth in a con- 
venient place for use in hot beds in early Sprinir. 
