WORK FOR APRIL, NORTH AND WEST. 
107 
carrots, barley, or Indian corn. But if it be poor, 
it will be useless to attempt this crop without the 
addition of some fertilizer or dung. On soils only 
moderately rich in vegetable matter or the remains 
of organic manures, which were applied to the pre- 
vious crops, 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano or 30 cu- 
bic yards, (six cords,) of stable or barnyard manure 
may be plowed under with 12 bushels of bone dust, 
previous to sowing the seed ; or, what would still 
be better, a top-dressing, spread broadcast just be- 
fore harrowing in the grain, composed of 15 cubic 
yards, (three cords,) of barnyard manure, 100 lbs. 
of guano, 1 bushel of plaster of Paris, and 5 
bushels each, of charcoal dust, wood ashes, oyster- 
shell lime, bone dust, and common salt. But if 
your land be exhausted by injudicious tillage, 
double the above-named quantities may be added 
whether used as a top-dressing or plowed in. Land 
thus treated will bear an excellent crop of wheat 
and will be in a good condition for rotation for a 
series of years. From 11 to 2 bushels of seed 
may be sown to an acre, previously washed several 
times in strong brine, or soaked two hours in a satu- 
rated solution of Glauber's salt, and then thoroughly 
mixed with 6 quarts of dry, powdered, air-slacked 
lime. If you design to lay the field down to grass, 
8 quarts of clover seed, mixed with 6 quarts of 
Timothy, or 1 bushel of orchard-grass seed, may 
be sown to each acre with the wheat. 
Indian corn, if the land be rich and in good tilth, 
may follow, in rotation, almost any of our field 
crops; but if it be poor, or "bound out 1 ' by graz- 
ing or cropping with hay, it is preferable to plant 
with potatoes the first year, and after harvesting 
them in the fall, to spread broadcast on each acre, 
50 cubic yards, (ten cords,) of barnyard manure 
which should immediately be plowed in ; and the 
spring following, 75 cubic yards, (fifteen cords,) of 
green, unfermented stable manure, spread on the 
surface and plowed under, should be added to bring 
the land in good heart. Then, as soon as the apple 
blossom begins to appear, and the Juneberry, (shad- 
bush,) is in full blow, or the " white-oak leaf, is of 
the size of a squirrel's ear," the corn may be 
planted and cultivated the usual way. But as com- 
paratively few of our farmers, in the Atlantic 
states, have sufficient manure of this kind to apply 
to their lands, they must be fertilized by other 
and more economical means. In many localities, 
this may be done with oyster-shell lime, marl, wood 
ashes, guano, poudrette, fish,swamp and pond muck, 
composted or worked over by hogs, or the scrapings 
of roads and streets. If your land has not been 
previously limed or marled, by nature or otherwise, 
and the soil is rather thin, 25 bushels of lime to the 
acre, sown broadcast and harrowed in previous to 
planting, will be sufficient, or what would be equi- 
valent, say 50 bushels of leached ashes or 100 
bushels of marl. If the ground be in tolerable 
heart, double these quantities may be applied; but 
if stiff and clayey, or is rich in vegetable or organic 
remains, and is deficient in calcareous matter, 100 
bushels of lime may be employed to the acre or 
300 bushels of marl. Pigstye manure, street 
sweepings, and composts made of road scrapings, 
fish, guano, plaster of Paris, pond muck, &c, may 
be applied, in the hill, at the rate of 75 cubic yards 
or 15 cords per acre. Poudrette should not be used 
as an exclusive manure for corn, but may be ap- 
plied at the time of planting by scattering a gill to 
each hill. The application of guano, fish, charcoal, 
plaster, oyster-shell lime, and coal or wood ashes 
will further be treated of in the after culture. 
Early potatoes, if not planted last month, should 
be put in this, as soon as the season will permit. 
If the ground is not already sufficiently rich, each 
hill should receive about 3 quarts of horse manure 
and half a pint of oyster-shell lime, as soon as the 
potatoes are dropped, say 8 cords or 40 cubic yards 
to the acre. If planted on a mellow sod, no ma- 
nure will be required other than the oyster-shell 
lime. In all cases, the soil should be well pulver- 
ized by the plow and harrow so as to be perfectly 
friable, dry, and loose. Cultivating in hills, say 
three feet apart each way, is the most convenient 
mode of tillage, as they admit of a more thorough 
stirring of the ground with the cultivator or plow. 
Two middling-sized potatoes, (say two inches in 
diameter,) or three small ones, (one inch in di- 
ameter,) may be dropped in each hill, then cov- 
ered with the manure, and lastly with two or three 
inches of light earth. Three and a half bushels 
of the small-sized potatoes or 20 bushels of the 
larger ones will be sufficient to plant an acre. 
" Greening" the tubers in some warm apartment, 
as near a kitchen stove, for a few weeks previous 
to planting, will hasten the maturity of the crop. 
And potatoes with sprouted shoots, eight inches 
long, laid horizontally in the bottom of the hills 
have a tendency to increase the yields on account 
of a greater length of stem below ground. ♦ 
Onions may be cultivated agreeably to the direc- 
tions given at pp. 105 and 141, of our seventh 
volume ; and celery as directed at p. 78 of the 
same. 
For the cultivation of carrots, parsnips, mangold 
wurtzel, beets, &c, as field crops, the reader is refer- 
red to Allen's " American Farm Book," and our back 
volumes. 
Any work omitted last month, as laid down in 
our March number, may be done this, if the for- 
wardness of the season will permit. 
Kitchen Garden. — Early cucumbers, melons, cab- 
bages, cauliflowers, lettuce, radishes, &c, which 
have been brought forward in hot beds, should be 
transplanted this month into open ground. Let 
the asparagus beds be attended to. Sow^lhe various 
kinds of table vegetables and early root crops for 
open culture. Tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, 
that have been forwarded in pots, can be planted 
out the latter part of the month. 
Fruit Garden and Orchard. — All kinds of north- 
ern fruit trees should be transplanted this month, 
before the leaf buds come out. Grafting and spring 
inoculation must also be performed. Strawberry 
beds may now be dressed, cleaned, and supplied 
with a small sprinkling of guano or some other 
stimulating manure. Currants, raspberries, and 
gooseberries, that have not received attention before, 
can now be pruned. 
Flower Garden and Pleasure Grounds. — The 
ground about bulbs that have not yet started may 
now be forked or hoed. Herbaceous perennials 
may be transplanted into flower borders. Hedges 
and shrubs may be trimmed and box-edging set out. 
Top-dress lawns. 
