332 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
work may be pushed forward. Surface drains 
should be arranged upon a well-matured system, 
and protected from washing, by securing a distri- 
bution of the surplus water upon grass land, or by 
stoning the* bottoms, or securing a gentle flow of 
water by greater width. Underdrainiug the garden 
will advance spring working a week or two, and 
make the product much better, by letting in.warm 
air and preventing the chill produced by the evapo- 
ration of the water from the surface during Sum- 
mer. The same results are produced in the field. 
It pays on almost all soils, even those usually 
considered dry. Clear the obstructions from the 
dead-furrow drains in the wiuter grain. Frost will 
not kill wheat or rye ; frozen water in the soil 
will. Water in freezing expands one-eighth of its 
bulk, and tears and heaves the roots ; perfectly 
dry soil does not expand in freezing ; and soil 
merely moist expands but little. 
Fuel. — It takes the heat of almost one half of 
green wood to dry the other half. Therefore keep 
the Winter's fuel dry and under cover. It will save 
fuel, time, vexation aud health, and be a mercy to 
the housewife. 
Grain usually keeps better in the bin than in the 
mow or stack, especially where mice abound, while 
in the bin it is ever ready for market. Do not burn 
the straw, even in the new rich prairie regions. Let 
the cattle lie on it. If it can not be used, let it 
lie even Ave or ten years ; there will in that time 
surely be some place that will be benefitted by an 
application of well rotted vegetable matter. Clean 
the grain well for market. A bushel of chaff, foul 
stuff, or shrunken grain in 100 bushels will lower 
the price of the whole 3 to 10 cents per bushel — an 
important difference, and one which will pay well 
for an extra fanning and screening. 
Hedges. — Thorns and other deciduous hedge plants 
may be set until the ground freezes. Leave ever- 
greens until next May. 
Hogs. — They fatten most on the same food when 
weather is warm. As cold weather comes on, give 
the hogs warm pens well supplied with dry litter, 
feed regularly — gradually increasing the amount 
of food and its richness. Hogs kept in pens will 
always dung in an out of the way corner, frequent- 
ly persisting in its being under cover, doubtless 
for convenience in cold or rainy weather. By 
watching their habits, and exercising a little per- 
suasion, when the pen is first occupied, a great ad- 
vantage in cleanliness may he secured. For early 
pigs turn in the males now. Sows run about 4 
mouths (109 to 123 days.) 
Horses need clean, well veutilated, and well light- 
ed quarters. They are fastidious in regard to food 
and drink. The nervous, high-strung nature, which 
gives the horse his energy, endurance, spirit, and 
docility, cannot be maintained without constant and 
judicious care. Young and old horses should be 
brushed clean or curried daily, blanketed in cold 
weather, using light woolen blankets in-doors aud 
warm generous ones after exercise and out of 
doors, especially if exposed, even for a few minutes, 
to wind, or cold drafts of air. These blankets 
should cover neck, breast, and flank well. No 
animal takes so quickly the temper of his master or 
driver as the horse; so be firm and gentle with him. 
Implements on many farms are depreciated more 
by exposure than by use. Rust is the enemy of 
iron, and soaking aud drying will warp and open, 
or weaken the firmest wood-work. 
Ice Houses. — Ice is becoming year by year more 
necessary to the comfort, economy, and health of 
the entire community. During this month prepare 
ice houses for the reception of the new crop. See 
that the drainage is good, and that there is no 
chance for a draft of air, in or out, at the drain. If 
you have no ice-house, put one up at once if practi- 
cable ; 10 feet square and 10 feet high, is a good com- 
mon size. If placed on a side hill, it will save 
lifting the ice in filling. 
Leaves — It will pay to collect all the leaves acces- 
sible, for the manure heap, for the hog pen, and for 
horse and cow stalls. Here they furnish a good ferti- 
lizing material; they are also excellent as a mulch. 
Manures. — " Your muck is your maun' 1 - — manure 
is money— is an old English farmer's proverb as true 
as gospel. In England 'muck' is the generic name 
for every thing of the nature of animal or vegetable 
manure, or substances in decomposition. (With 
us it is generally used to denote the black earth 
found in swamps or low places, and consisting of 
decayed roots, and vegetable matter.) To secure all 
valuable qualities in the droppings and urine of 
animals, and by allowing them to ferment in con- 
nection with inert vegetable substances, to convert 
the whole into the greatest quantity of available 
plant food, is the great study of the successful 
farmer. The " muck " of the swamp, straw, swamp 
hay, and all other vegetable matters easily decom- 
posed, are desirable to use as bedding and absorb- 
ents iu the stalls, or to mingle with manure in the 
compost heap. Save every thing of the kind to 
add to the manure, and use all means necessary, to 
prevent disadvantageous heating, fire-fanging, etc. 
Flowing. — There are few if any soils which are not 
better plowed in the Fall than in the Spring, for 
early culture. So long aB the ground continues 
open, keep the plow running. The sod begins to 
decay, and is quickly decomposed in the Spriug. 
The frosts kill the weeds, and also affect the 
inorganic part of the soil, causing it readily to dis- 
solve ; and more than all other benefits are the 
getting ahead with spring work, securing dryness 
of the soil, and ability to plant much earlier. 
Potatoes. — Warmth with moisture is injurious, 
next to actual freezing. Dryness, and a cool but 
not freezing atmosphere, in the cellar or earth-cov- 
ered heap, are essentials. When in out-door heaps, 
dig a deep trench arouud them with an outlet, so 
as to keep the bottom of the heap always dry. Add 
more earth to the heap only as needed by the in- 
creasing cold, always patting down each layer of 
earth smoothly, to shed rain. 
Poultry well eared for, pay by the eggs and ma- 
nure produced. The secret of having eggs all the 
Winter is, to give the hens the advantages of Sum- 
mer, viz. : warmth, shelter, light, water, and some 
animal food to supply the absence of insects which 
they gather in Summer, with lime enough to make 
egg shells. They devour and grind up the weed 
seeds among the grain tailings fed to them ; they 
eat almost every kind of grain. Bones pounded 
fine, and scraps of fresh meat they devour greedily 
and convert them into eggs. We find that a cake 
of scraps from the fat boiling establishments, plac- 
ed where the hens can pick at it, always keeps the 
egg machine in operation ; if the supply runs out, 
the eggs are missing. 
Pumpkins. — Avoid bruises in handling ; store in 
a cool dry place, always free from frost ; remove 
seeds when fed ; dry as directed last month. 
Sheep are fast taking the position in American 
agriculture, which they should. The high price 
of both wool and mutton is effecting this. The 
sheep owner or breeder should be a true lover of 
sheep and watch them carefully, see personally 
to their wants, anticipate their needs, know them 
all individually. Thus he will mark the deficiencies 
of ewes, in form, in wool production, in fattening 
ability, iu breeding qualities, and so match them 
that their faults will be corrected in their progeny ; 
or he will from the outset devote certain ewes, 
or their lambs to the butcher, and by thus weed- 
ing out his flock, keep it ever improving. Select 
such bucks as will correct defects, and sort the 
ewes accordingly into several flocks. Provide se- 
cure protection against storms, but give all breeds 
some range in open yards. April lambs must be 
spoken for this month. See p. 334. on fattening. 
Boots. — A good root cellar is one of the iudispen- 
sables of good farming. It is one-sided farming into 
which an extensive use of roots for stock food 
does not enter, and much of the farming of the 
United States is very one-sided. Before storing, 
roots should be clean and dry. Store them so that 
the turnips may first be used, the sugar beets, man- 
gels and rutabagas subsequently — carrots being- 
used through the stabling season as a pleasant tonic 
and appetizerfor horses, and for milch-cows, mixed 
with other roots, or cut up and fed by themselves. 
Turnips.— It is best to let them stay in the 
ground until the tops are decidedly frosted, but not 
so long as to endanger the freezing of the root. 
They keep longer and wilt less, placed in heaps, 
strawed and covered with earth, than in any but a 
very good root-cellar. However stored, have them 
first dry and free from soil. 
Weeds. — Gather weeds into windrows and burn 
them ; do not move far, nor so as to scatter the seeds. 
Winter Grain.— The advantage gained by feeding 
off a rank growth in the Autumn, is questionable 
after the near approach of cold weather. The 
danger is, that some spots will be too much denuded 
of the winter mulching which the foliage affords. 
Orchard and Nursery. 
Last month's remarks regarding work here, apply 
with equal force this month. In order to have a 
good orchard, the work must begin with care and 
conscientiousness on the part of the nurseryman, 
and be continued with equal care on the part of 
the purchaser and planter. The best trees from 
the best nursery may easily be ruined and rendered 
valueless, by bad treatment from those who buy 
them, while, on the other hand, no after care will 
make a good vigorous tree of one which has been 
maltreated in its early growth. Careful selection 
of the trees, and an equal care in planting them, are 
among the main essentials in starting an orchard. 
Cider. — Use clean sound fruit, and see that every 
part of the process is conducted in a neat manner. 
Much more fruit is frequently stored than can be 
used or sold, and this excess may often be profit- 
ably converted into cider or vinegar. 
Cions may be cut at any time after vegetation 
ceases if they are kept carefully buried until Spring. 
Cellars where fruit is stored should be kept open 
as long as they can be without freezing. Wben 
closed for the Winter, provide for ventilation. 
Fruit. — Apples which may have fallen or been 
bruised in picking, should be marketed as unsound 
fruit or made into cider, or fed to stock, or they 
may be dried, as noted on page 341. Hand- 
picked apples should be placed in barrels and kept 
as cool as possible without being touched by frost. 
Toward the close of the month, after they have 
undergone what is termed sweating, sort them 
thoroughly and head up the barrels, handling with 
care ; one bruise rots the apple, and the disease 
spreads rapidly to others. Apples packed in dry 
oats, leaves, bran, or cut straw, and kept cool, will 
remain fresh and sound long after their usual time 
of decay. Some kinds of winter pears bear the 
same treatment, but it is usually better to keep 
these upon shelves, not touching each other, and 
covered with paper. The change of color indicat- 
ing the ripenness of each one may be readily ob- 
served ; or each pear may be handled. 
Insects are now in their dormant state of larva, 
or their eggs, contaiuing germs of future trouble, 
are upon the twigs or bark. Cocoons and collec- 
tions of eggs are now more readily seen as the trees 
are naked. Destroy them as soon as discovered. 
Label everything in the nursery or orchard ac- 
cording to some plan. If labels are used upon the 
trees, see that they are of a permanent kind, and at 
the same time not likely to do injury. If, as is 
preferable, the record is kept by a map, see that 
every change or new planting is promptly re- 
corded. The value of a fruit is doubled by having 
the correct name for it. 
Manuring should be done in the orchard. Fruit- 
trees repay good feediug. Use a liberal dressing of 
old manure or compost. 
Mice. — Young trees will need protection where 
these are troublesome. AVrappings of paper, tarred 
cloth, sheet-lead, and various other appliances, 
have been suggested from time to time. We have 
not tried any of these, but have found the hard 
tramping of the snow around the trees effectual. 
