354 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[December, 
Calendar of Operations for Dec., 1881. 
[A glance over a table like the following will generally 
ca’l to mind some piece of work that would otherwise be 
'orgotten or neglected. The remarks are more especially 
adapted to places between 38° to 15°; but will b4 equally ap- 
p.icable further North and South, by allowing for latitude. 
—The calendar will, of course, be much more full during the 
season of active Held and garden work. 
Eip'anations.—/.indicates theflrst; m, tho middle; and 
1, the list of the month.—Doubling the letters ( ff, or mm, 
or ll,) gives particular emphasis to the period indicated.— 
Two letters placed together, as fin, or ml, signify that the 
work may be done in either, or in both periods indicated ; 
thus work marked fin, indicates that it is to be attended to 
from the first to the middle of the month.] 
Farm. 
The comparative leisure of Winter affords valuable 
time for learning the science of Agriculture. Mere book 
knowledge will never make a good farmer, neither 
will mere working on a farm : knowledge and practice 
must go together to secure the best results. The study 
of agricultural works will not only add to the stock of 
nractical ideas, but will develop and cultivate the man 
himself. We urge that all the animals upon the farm be 
well cared for during this inclement season, but are yet 
more solicitous that the cultivator does not neglect him¬ 
self. Mind-power is superior to horse-power, or steam- 
power on the farm or elsewhere. 
Accounts—Settle with all debtors and creditors. At 
least let accounts be made up, and a balance agreed upon, 
if debts can not be canceled. 
Buildings—Save feed and fuel by excluding wind and 
storms, but provide for ample ventilation for animals. 
Cattle—Keep under shelter, feed liberally, with frequent 
change of diet, and allow free access to water, give plen¬ 
ty of bedding, and keep their skins in good condition by 
frequent use of the card and brush. Read article page 363. 
Cellars—Keep out frost and rats ; sort over vegetables 
that may be decaying. 
Cranberry Plots—Keep flooded if practicable. 
Fencing Materials—Collect from woods, and from 
swamps when they freeze, and prepare rails and posts. 
Fodder Racks or Boxes—Provide them for all stock. 
Grain—Complete threshing, ff, and market as soon as 
prices are satisfactory. 
Hogs—Complete fattening and kill as early as possible. 
Give warm food to store hogs, and allow plenty of litter. 
Horses—Keep in warm, light, well ventilated stables. 
Feed we’.l. Blanket when needed. Keep sharp shod. 
Give sufficient exercise ; use card and brush often. 
Ice House—The first formed ice is usually best. 
Lumber and Timber—Draw from the forest to the mill 
while sleighing is good. 
Manures—Keep all the factories employed. Save li¬ 
quid manures with absorbents of muck, leaves, or straw. 
Keep under cover, and compost with muck or waste lit¬ 
ter. Much of next year’s profit will depend upon the 
care and skill now bestowed upon laying in a good stock 
of good manure. 
Meadows—Apply top-dressings of fine compost where 
needed. Read “ Blanketing Meadows,” on page 360. 
Where practicable it is often beneficial to irrigate mead¬ 
ows by overflowing from adjacent streams. 
Poultry—Keep in warm quarters, feed liberally, sup¬ 
ply with fresh meat, lime, and gravel, and warm food. 
Sheep—Keep separate from other stock. Shelter from 
storms, in well ventilated sheds. Give roots cut fine with 
hay, and a little oats or corn. Salt regularly, and allow 
plenty of water. See page 363. 
Tools—Keep all under cover; repair such as need it. 
Turnips—Harvest, ff, any remaining. Examine those 
stored ; keep well ventilated and protected from frost. 
Winter Grain—Keep surface drains open, and allow no 
stock to graze or trample the fields. 
Wood—Cut and pile ready to draw when snow falls. 
Se'ect dying and unthrifty trees, and thin out undergrowth. 
Orchard and Nursery. 
There is little to be attended to in this department, if 
our suggestioi s last month have been carried out, though 
there are a fe r things of prime importance. 
Cions for grafting next Spring should be cut this month, 
if not already provided. Better secure an excess for all 
possible wants of yourself and friends. It costs very little 
time, trouble, or expense to transform trees bearing poor 
fruit into producers of the best. Choose good healthy 
trees of desired varieties, and cutoff twigs of well ripened 
new wood. Fortunately the favorable Autumn weather 
has matured the new growth well, (and this by the way, 
augurs well for plenty of fruit next year.) Tie up each 
variety by itself in small bundles, and attach a good label. 
Bury the bundles in sand or dry earth, in the cellar, or in 
any dry spot where there can be no standing water. 
If any pruning must be done before July (the best sea¬ 
son), let it be done now. Not only is there now more 
time for the work, but the cut surfaces will harden over 
before the starting of sap in Spring. 
Remember that fruit trees repay expense for manure 
quite as well as any other crop, and look out now, and 
through the Winter, for a good supply. The lime, hair 
and leather scrapings from tanneries, waste wool from 
the clothiers, spent tan, leached ashes, oyster shells, 
muck, canal sediments, etc., are all worth carting home, 
and some of them may well be purchased. 
In snowy countries, care will be needed to guard against 
mice which often gnaw off the bark of small trees near 
the ground. Tramping down each fresh fall of snow 
about the trees is a good preventive. Shake the newly 
fallen snow from evergreen and other trees to prevent its 
weight from splitting down the branches. 
Prepare stakes, labels and tallies for the busy Spring. 
Look over fruit in the cellar as directed under “Farm.” 
Kitchen and Fruit Garden. 
Little can be done in northern latitudes except protect¬ 
ing plants left in the ground, and preparing for next sea¬ 
son’s operations. Bulbs, blackberries, currants, etc., can 
be planted, and draining, trenching, and subsoiling be 
done until frost prevents. 
Asparagus—Cover all unprotected beds with manure 
from the horse stable, or other litter. 
Bean and Hop Poles, Stakes, Brush, etc.—Collect and 
store for next season, and during winter provide an ad¬ 
ditional supply from swamps or forests. 
Cabbages, Cauliflowers and Celery—Harvest, ff, any 
remaining in the ground. Examine what is stored, and 
attend to any found decaying. 
Cold Frames—As the cold increases, cover with mats 
or straw, and place boards above these to shed rain. Ven- 
t late by day when the weather is mild. 
Cuttings—Secure from best varieties of grapes, cur¬ 
rants, gooseberries, etc. Cut when not frozen, and pre¬ 
serve in dry earth. 
Manure—Collect a full supply ; keep under cover. 
Raspberry Canes—Protect, ff, all tender sorts not cov¬ 
ered. Bend down and cover with an inch or two of earth. 
Spinach—Cover thinly with straw or other litter. 
Strawberries—Examine those already protected, and if 
too thickly covered, remove a part. An inch of leaves 
or straw is sufficient. 
Vegetables and Roots for Seed—Select the best, and 
store in boxes of dry earth. 
Fl«w«r Gtinlcii and Lawn. 
A little attention to the evergreens and shrubbery to see 
that the branches are not broken down by the accumu¬ 
lated snow, is nearly all that is required in the pleasure 
ground. Such upright growers as the yew and juniper 
are best protected from the snow by winding spirally with 
strong twine. 
If any bulbs are still out of ground, put them in at once. 
They will show a partial bloom in Spring, but not as fine 
as when planted earlier. 
Where there is no snow or frost, any needed changes, 
or improvements by way of laying out, grading, and even 
setting deciduous trees and shrubs, may properly be car¬ 
ried on now. A plan can at least be made out for any 
alterations or for laying out new grounds, even if it can 
not be worked out before Spring. 
The frames and flower pits should be kept ciosed most 
of the time. They may be opened at mid-day, during 
mild weather, for an airing, but if it continues cold, add 
more covering of straw, or mats. Set traps or put in 
poison for mice. 
Green and Elot-EIouses. 
We are glad to observe the increasing desire manifest¬ 
ed to contrive some plan for keeping the Summer favor¬ 
ites through the Winter. The attention given this sub¬ 
ject in the late numbers of the A griculturist, is contribu¬ 
ting in no small degree to this end, as is shown by the 
numerous letters we are receiving. The idea of heated 
apartments for flowering plants, has heretofore suggested 
costly structures and heavy expenses in keeping them 
up, but the chapters alluded to, go to show that with very 
little expense a small conservatory or bay-window, may 
be attached to the living room, capable of containing an 
interesting collection of plants. The heat is mainly the 
waste from other apartments, thus involving very little 
extra expenditure. But even if a separate building be 
erected for this special purpose, the cost need be but a 
few hundred dollars which is amply repaid in the pleas¬ 
ure and healthfulness of caring for the plants, and in the 
returns received for early flowers and vegetables that 
may be started from these houses earlier in Spring. 
Considerable care will now be required to maintain a 
proper temperature in the houses. In attempting to ex¬ 
clude the outside cold atmosphere, there is danger af too 
great heat and dryness. The temperature may he safely 
raised to a much higher point where there are abundant 
evaporating pans of water than where there is little mois¬ 
ture. In extreme cold weather with high winds, it may 
require much vigilance to keep up sufficient warmth. 
See that every crack and crevice is calked or listed, and 
have shutters or mats in readiness to cover the glass. A 
simple curtain suspended from the inside over the side 
windows, and let down over horizontal wires overhead, 
will do much towards checking cold blasts. 
The syringe, or Hydropult, or hand force pump, will be 
found very useful in assisting to maintain a humid atmos¬ 
phere, so essential for the healthy growth of most plants. 
A pump or Hydropult should always be on hand in case 
of fire. The open tank or cistern should also be kept well 
filled, both to serve as an evaporator, and to supply water 
in case of fire. Plants in pots require frequent sprink 
lings, the artificial heat tending to dry the soil rapidly. 
Watch for the first appearance of mildew, and dust the 
affected plants with sulphur, or syringe with sulphur wa¬ 
ter. Insects will also come in for a share of attention. 
To secure a good bushy growth, the plants must not be 
too crowded, either in the pots, or in position upon the 
shelves. Give them plenty of room and pinch to a desired 
form. Stimulate lagging plants with weak manure water. 
The grape vines have probably been tied to the wires, 
and in the earliest houses are even bursting into growth, 
and require much moisture with an even temperature 
Prune vines in the cold grapery, unless done last month 
Apiary in December. 
Prepared by M. Quinby—by request. 
It is now time to decide in what way the bees are to be 
wintered. Such as are to be housed, may be taken in 
during the first days of real Winter. Unless the room is 
warm independently of the bees, much less than 50 stocks 
will not be enough to keep up the required temperature. 
More than one hundred are quite sure to make it too 
warm part of the time. Without a warm room, or bees 
enough to render it so, the open air is the safest, especi¬ 
ally for good colonies. The hives should be protected 
from prevailing winds; and to prevent the bees from 
smothering, there should be air passages at both top and 
bottom of the hives, and so arranged that they will not 
choke with dead bees, frost, ice, etc., and at the same 
time the mice should be kept out. A hole in the side of 
the hive, a few inches from the bottom is not often choked 
up. When the opening is' large enough to admit mice, 
cover with wire cloth, except a passage way for the bees. 
Second or third rate stocks, where there is no warm 
dark room or cellar, should be put in an out-door protec 
tor, as was recommended in the American Agriculturist, 
Vol. XIX, page 355 (Dec. No.). When the hive can not 
be removed from the stand, surround it on three sidei 
with hay or straw, open the holes in the top, and fill the 
covers of honey boxes with fine hay, and set it over. The 
sun should be allowed to shine on the front side occasion¬ 
ally, to melt the frost that will accumulate inside. 
2500 fehls. (78,750 gallons) Monte 
Grown Sweetening in La Salle County, 111. 
—The Prairie Farmer estimates that 2,500 barrels of Sor¬ 
ghum or Chinese Sugar Cane syrup has been made in 
La Salle County this year, or enough to supplv every 
family in the County with sweets for twelve months to 
come, saving the farmers $35,000 in this one item. The 
yield is 200 to 250 gallons per acre. Farmers are advised 
to save all the well ripened seed from the sweetest cane. 
(The above estimate is at nearly 50 cents per gallon, 
which is perhaps too high. At 40 cents a gallon the syr¬ 
up would be worth about $30,000.—It may be interesting 
to state, that probably nearly all, if not all the above crop 
was grown from the produce of the seed distributed free 
from the office of the American Agriculturist in 1857. 
In that year, before the sorghum plant was generally 
known, we obtained nearly 1600 lbs. of seed, and scat¬ 
tered it freely all over the country, to every subscriber 
desiring it. We secured many thousands of new sub¬ 
scribers in this way, and some slow cotemporaries cried 
out “ humbug.” What have they now to say concerning 
the millions of gallons of good sweetening made the pres¬ 
ent year, to supply the place of that which we don’t get 
from Louisiana ? We are satisfied with the result, and 
hope others are. We still keep on distributing seeds of 
various kinds. See list for next year.) 
