314 
SOUTHERN CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER. 
pot your tender roses and everything else that requires 
protection in the winter, and have them ready to move 
in on the sudden approach of any cold weather. Flow¬ 
ering and ornamental shrubs can now be found and 
also propagated by layers, cuttings, and suckers. The 
latter part of this month new pleasure grounds may be 
formed, and all hardy deciduous trees may be trans¬ 
planted, as soon as they have shed their leaves. Live 
hedges can now be planted. Continue to mow your 
lawns, clean the gravel walks, cut and carry away all 
weeds, decayed flower stems, fallen leaves, &c., and 
prepare ground for spring planting. 
SOUTHERN CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER AND 
NOVEMBER. 
To the sugar planter, as well as the cotton grower, 
October and November are the most important months 
in the year. To the cotton grower, the work of these 
months will be nearly the same as that of September; 
as to the sugar planter, it will claim his special atten¬ 
tion. In the early part of October, let him commence 
and get everything in readiness for cutting and grinding 
his cane. Repair the roads leading from the cane fields 
to the mill, if necessary; put your carts and yokes in 
order; procure and sharpen the knives or hooks for 
cutting the cane; see that the mill or rollers are prop¬ 
erly geared, well oiled, and are clean. If your busi¬ 
ness will warrant it, procure by all means a steam 
engine, rather than use horses or mules in grinding. 
See that the kettles are well set, and that the flues are 
strong and cleared of filth. Put in order the coolers, 
and all minor implements used in the operations. Also 
prepare barrels or hogsheads for filtering; and look to 
the gutters or conductors for conveying the juices or 
syrups, and see that they are tight, and properly fitted 
to your work. Draw and split fuel for boiling if it has 
not been done before. 
By the last of October, in ordinary seasons, more or 
less of the cane attains its usual maturity in Florida 
and Louisiana. When this period arrives, the first 
thing to be done is to provide for future crops. Give 
early attention to the saving of seed, on account of the 
injury which seed-cane receives by frost, and which is 
liable to occur before the middle of November. The 
general rule observed in saving cane for planting, is to 
reserve such a portion of the crop as is the least valua¬ 
ble for grinding. Hence, those fields which have pro¬ 
duced cane from the same stubble for two, three, or four 
years, and which now require, from the stinted growth 
they produce, to be replanted with cane or some other 
crop, are selected to furnish seed-canes. The canes 
from such fields are small and short, having the joints 
nearer together, each of which sends up shoots called 
rattoons. One acre of such rattoons is sufficient, in 
ordinary cases, for the planting of three acres of land. 
They are cut near the ground, and carted to the vicin¬ 
ity of the fields where they are to be planted out, and 
then formed, when not planted as soon as cut, into long 
beds, about fifteen feet wide, which are called mattresses. 
These are made by commencing at one end of the bed, 
and placing a row of canes, with their tops on, across 
it—the tops directed outward. Upon this a second row 
is laid, so that the buts are placed about eight inches or 
a foot in advance of those of the first row. Upon the 
second row a third is placed in like manner, and so on. 
By this arrangement the lower part of the stalk is pre¬ 
served from the cold, by the tops; except in two or 
three layers across that portion of the mattress last 
formed, where the protection is afforded by four or five 
inches of earth. 
A great part of the planting may be done with about 
three feet of the rejected cane tops, to which a greater 
portion of the green leaves are attached at the time of 
gathering the crop. These, when not reserved for 
planting, should be left on the field for the protection of 
the stubbles; but when cut for planting, it is better to 
cut them one or two joints longer than usual, and to 
form them into windrows across the field. In this case, 
from two to four rows should be thrown into one, and 
arranged as respects the over-lapping, like the mat¬ 
tresses above described. The fields from which these 
tops are obtained, are often those that were planted the 
previous year, and in which the cane is high, and some¬ 
what prostrated at the beginning of the grinding season. 
Hence it is necessary to cut this earlier to prevent it 
from rooting at the lower joints. When the force of 
the plantation will permit, the land should be planted 
as fast as the seed-cane is cut. Canes planted at this 
season should be in the driest fields, and covered to the 
depth of three or four inches, in order that they may 
take an earlier start next spring than if they remained 
in the mattresses during the winter. The remainder, 
and by far the greatest part of the planting, may be 
deferred until the grinding season is over, which varies 
from the 20th of December to the middle of January ; 
and often it is not completed before the first of March. 
The covering given to the canes is more and more shal¬ 
low as the season advances, until the close of Febru¬ 
ary, when it rarely exceeds two inches. 
In preparing the ground for planting cane, it should 
be first thoroughly ditched or drained, and then plowed 
and harrowed; after which it should be drilled, at dis¬ 
tances varying from thirty-three inches to six feet 
apart, according to the newness and strength of the 
soil. Into these drills or furrows there should be laid, 
three or four inches apart, two parallel rows of cane- 
tops, from two and a half to four feet in length, and 
covered with earth at a depth corresponding to the sea¬ 
son of the year in which the planting is done. 
In the latter part of October, or early part of No¬ 
vember, prepare for preserving sweet potatoes for the 
winter. Select a dry place, level the earth, and lay a 
bed of dry straw so as to form a circle of about six feet 
in diameter. On this straw pile up the potatoes until 
they form a cone four of five feet high, over which 
spread a little dry grass. Then cover the entire cone 
with corn-stalks set up endwise with the buts resting 
on the ground and the tops reaching over the apex, of a 
sufficient thickness to conceal all of the potatoes. Then 
cover the whole pile with earth at a depth of at least a 
foot, without leaving any air-hole at the top, as is fre¬ 
quently done. A small shelter should then be made so 
as to prevent the rains from washing off the earth. 
This may be done by inserting in the ground about the 
pile four forked stakes, on which rails may be placed to 
support the covering, which may consist of boards, 
bark, thatch, or other substances. Potatoes can be 
preserved in this manner until June, nearly as fresh as 
when first put up. 
In these months dress burr artichokes, taking away 
all their suckers, except three to each stock, open their 
roots, lay about them new earth and manure, and plant 
out suckers for another crop. Trim and dress aspara¬ 
gus beds by cutting down the stocks and burning them 
over the beds. Then dig between tire shoots, level the 
beds, and cover them three fingers deep with fresh earth 
and manure, mixed. Continue to plant celery, set it in 
gutters, as it grows, and hill up; sow spinach, lettuce 
and radish seeds, and plant out evergreens—they will 
do now perhaps better than in April. Plant vines or 
beans, and early peas. 
