NORTHERN CALENDAR FOR APRTL. 
123 
draw a slight bed toward them. Closely examine the 
plants every night and morning, and destroy the nu¬ 
merous worms which feed upon them. First look for 
a small grub about the roots under ground, and after¬ 
ward a large ugly worm which feeds upon the leaf. 
There is also a small worm which attacks the buds of 
the plant, and if not killed, will prove a sure dgstruc- 
tion of its further growth. Another worm of a smaller 
size may be found within the two coats of the leaves, 
which feeds on the juices alone. All of this work can 
be done by boys and girls from ten to fourteen years 
of age. 
Prepare your ground for sweet potatoes by ridging 
tip rows about four feet apart. Set out your drawings 
similar to cabbages, eight or ten inches asunder in the 
ridges, as fast as they rise, and the season will permit. 
Some prefer large round hills four feet apart each way 
to drills. Hoe and plow your Irish potatoes and In¬ 
dian corn. Sow cabbage, savory, and cauliflower 
seeds for next winter, but let them remain in the nur¬ 
sery-bed until August. Sow carrots and parsneps. 
Plant young orange-trees and water -them until they 
take root. 
You may now set out all kinds of evergreens success¬ 
fully. 
See Northern Calendar for June. 
NORTHERN CALENDAR FOR APRIL. 
This is the month when the general plans of the 
husbandman should be laid out for the coming season. 
His farm should be plotted, and each field assigned its 
crop for the year. What manure is left in the barn¬ 
yard should be got out this month if possible. Plowing 
may be done on all light sandy or gravelly soil, as soon 
as the frost is out of the ground. But on all clay soils, 
their exact condition should be observed, and if not 
previously plowed in the fall, as they always should be, 
they must be turned over only when they are compara¬ 
tively dry. Plowing when wet mixes the soil into a 
mortar, which subsequently bakes into large lumps, in 
which condition it remains through the summer, unless 
beaten in pieces at great trouble and expense. Deep 
plowing is too much overlooked. It should be the ob¬ 
ject of the farmer constantly to deepen his soil by cul¬ 
tivation, and in proportion as he enriches it, a small 
quantity of the subsoil should be brought up for im¬ 
provement. By this means the roots of the plants will 
have greater resources for food, and before he is aware 
of it, his crops will be doubled by this system. The 
mowing fields should be put in order, by carrying off 
any surface water there may be upon them; and all 
the stones should be carefully collected and put into 
fences or used for making under drains, to convey the 
water from springs, or such as can not be otherwise 
carried away from stiff clay, or boggy lands. Spring 
wheat ought to be got into the ground early after the 
snow leaves it. Oats and barley may follow. Corn 
for soiling may be sown broadcast, or closely in drills. 
All early potatoes, and most of the early vegetables in 
the garden, may be planted. The garden should be 
particularly attended to. As much frequently may be 
raised on an acre of ground, for the support of the family 
in a garden, as from the best five acres of the farm. 
Plaster, with which any farmer who can use it to ad¬ 
vantage ought to be well supplied, may be sown in 
this and the following month. It is the cheapest manure 
he can apply, in connexion with other manures, and it 
ought to be used liberally, wherever it is found bene¬ 
ficial. Field peas may now be sown, and if ground 
has a good exposure to the sun and is dry, some corn 
may be planted. The fences should be thoroughly 
staked up on every part of the farm, so as to prevent 
waste of time and crops from the inroads of unruly 
cattle. 
Animals should not be suffered to get into the fields 
before a good bite is afforded them, and they should at 
all times, but especially when first allowed to run on 
grass, be well supplied with salt, to correct the fre¬ 
quently too purgative effects of the fresh feed. Look 
particularly after the young things, and do not allow 
them to follow their dams into the fields till the ground 
becomes dry, warm, and firm. 
Sow hemp-seed the early part of this month where 
the climate will answer; for full particulars of its cul¬ 
tivation, see Vol. I. of the American Agriculturist. 
Sow tobacco-seed also, and the last part of the month 
plant castor beans. 
Kitchen Garden. —During this month, early cu¬ 
cumbers, melons, cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuce, rad¬ 
ishes, &c., which have been brought forward to the 
hot-betl, should be transplanted into the open ground. 
Attend to the asparagus bed, if not prepared before, 
according to the directions of last month. All kinds 
of table vegetables and early root crops sow in the 
open ground. Tomatoes, egg-plants, and peppers, that 
have been forwarded in pots, plant out the latter part 
of the month. Draw out the sweet potato sprouts and 
plant them. 
Fruit Garden and Orchard.— All kinds of fruit 
and forest-trees, and shrubs, should be transplanted 
this month, before the leaf-buds shall have come out. 
All grafting and spring inoculating performed. Straw¬ 
berry beds dressed and cleaned. Currants, raspberry, 
and gooseberries, that have not before received atten¬ 
tion, can now be pruned ; the latter should be pruned 
to open heads for the admission of sun and air, be well 
manured about the roots, and the soil made loose and 
mellow with the spade; the roots of peach trees be ex¬ 
amined, and the worm cut out with a knife. Scions 
may be set the last of this month, and all the exposed 
wood should be carefully protected by wax. Several 
compositions may be used for this purpose, but perhaps 
as good a one as can be made consists of 3 parts of 
bees-wax, 3 parts rosin, and 1 part tallow, which is 
best secured by putting on bandages of new, strong 
cotton cloth. 
Flower Garden and Pleasure Grounds. —Bulbs 
that have not yet started ought now to have the earth 
about them stirred, to the depth of three or four inches. 
The borders of the flower-garden be made up, and per¬ 
ennial herbaceous plants transplanted. Seeds of an¬ 
nuals should not be sown until next month. Hedges 
and shrubs may be trimmed, and box-edging set out- 
Put in order the gravel-walks and pleasure-grounds, 
and, if necessary, give the lawn a top-dressing of ashef. 
Deciduous trees should be transplanted this month if 
not done before, and shrubbery for the door-yards and 
gardens. Too little attention is paid to these last in 
our country. Many a farmer will spend $50 a year to 
procure ribands, gauzes, and artificial flowers, for his 
wife and daughters, when one fifth of the money would 
furnish him ornamental grounds throughout the year. 
Fruit-trees are ornamental as well as useful, and are 
perhaps the most profitable use to which he can put a 
few acres. The choicest kinds of every specie® should 
be selected, for it costs but little more to raise the best 
kinds than the poorest, and they frequently produce 
him five times as much in value. A large hole should 
be dug for the reception of the roots, which should be 
filled with loose mould, and when the tree has a large 
top, some branches should be lopped, and the extremi¬ 
ties of the twigs cut off. 
