AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
P5\] 
Those beginning to color, or about ripening, need a com¬ 
paratively dry and warm atmosphere. Later vines re¬ 
quire thinning, while olhers have been so kept back as to 
have scarcely •'burst” into growth. Use sulphur to 
counteract or destroy mildew. 
Insects a 1 e now troublesome, unless they have been 
kept in check by following the directions already given. 
Fumigating w ith tobacco will be found effectual to de¬ 
stroy any which have established themselves. 
Repotting—Many rapid growing plants will now re¬ 
quire a shift to pots of a larger size Keep potting soii 
at all times in readiness. 
Seeds of many of the hardy annuals should be sown for 
an early blooming stock to be planted in the open grounds. 
Soil in Fots-Stir often to prevent its crusting. Keep 
free from weeds. 
Syringing often, will maintain a humid atmosphere, which 
is requisite at this season. Dampening the walls and 
floors lias a similar effect. 
Water-Give judiciously according to the wants of 
growing plants. Excess is quite as injurious as too little. 
Twice a week will usually be sufficient. Evaporating 
pans filled with water, and placed in different parts of the 
houses or rooms will be beneficial. 
Apiary la FeSsrasary. 
BY M. QUINBY. 
Care is still necessary to see that the air passages are 
not closed with dead bees or ice during severe weather. 
Moderate temperature for a day or two, will melt all the 
host, when the hive should be raised and the bottom 
board sw'ept off clean....Particles of comb scattered on 
the floor, indicate that mice have found their way inside ; 
they should be at once excluded. Any stocks that are to 
have their stands changed before Summer, should now 
receive attention, .whether the distance be rods or miles. 
The weather may be warm enough for them to fly before 
the month is out; it is much better to have them mark 
their permanent locality at first. If a new bee house is to 
be erected this Spring ; choose some mild days in this 
month and have it ready, and the bees introduced before 
they leave their hives. If bees are to be purchased and 
brought home, they can be moved easily on snow. The 
heaviest hives are not often best; those weighing from 
Unity-five to forty pounds are preferable. See that there 
is a good cluster of bees among the combs. The size of 
the colony may be estimated by the quantity of chips on 
tiie floor hoard... .The hive, whether carried on a spring 
wagon, or sleigh, should be inverted. The bees may be 
confined to the hive by covering it with thin muslin, fast¬ 
ened at the corners with tacks. In arranging the stands, 
give four feet between the hives, if possible to spare the 
room, six feet would be better ; but in a bee-house, or 
other small place, stocks must sometimes be crowded. 
Forward Spring Work How. 
“ Take time by the forelock ” is as good a max¬ 
im for farmers as for others. While there are 
some kinds of labor that can only be performed 
at particular seasons, there are others that can 
be done at any time, when the weather favors 
out door operations. The Spring, in all the nor¬ 
thern part of our country is a very brief season, 
and upon the farm, it is usually over crowded with 
work. Slack farmers especially, leave every 
thing to this season. The manure is not carted 
until the ground is settled ; the plowing is put off 
until May, and the planting until June ; the pota¬ 
toes and oats that flourish best in cool weather, 
are forced to mature in the heat of dogdays and 
rot, rust, and smut are often the result of the late 
sowing and planting. 
Something can be done even at this season, to 
help on the Spring work. The wood house is, or 
ought to he already filled so that the ax will not 
need to be lifted to prepare fuel from March to 
December. A good part of the manure can be 
carted now, much better than in planting time. 
The ground is now frozen so that the cart path 
10 the field to be plowed, is soon worn as smooth 
, 1.5 a railroad. It will be a much less tax upon 
the strength of a team to draw a hundred loads 
(if manure now, than to do it in April, when the 
team is pressed with plowing and other farm 
work. It is pretty well established now, that 
yard manure prepared in the usual way with 
muck and loam, does not lose much of its value, 
when piled up in Winter in large heaps in the 
field where it is to be used. From our own ex¬ 
perience we do not think green stable manure 
would be injured by the same treatment, if it 
were well mixed in the field with muck or peat. 
The piles should he made long, narrow, and high, 
say five or six feet so as to shed a part of the rain. 
If any of the meadow's are to be dressed with 
fine compost, there is no better time than the 
present to do it. The sward will not be cut up, 
and the warm Spring rains will carry down the 
fertilizing properties of the manure to the roots 
of plants. This must not be done however, on 
rolling land, or on steep hill sides where the rains 
wmuld wash off part of the manure before the 
frost comes out of the ground. 
A large portion of the Spring work can be an¬ 
ticipated before Winter breaks up, and then the 
farmer can seize upon the best time to plant and 
sow, and drive his work all through the season 
instead of being driven. 
■--—*»a-0 Wsb*— % -- 
Protect the Tender Plants. 
During this month and the next, all tender trees 
and shrubs will be liable to injury from frost. In 
the earlier months of the Winter, they were in so 
deep a slumber, that there was little danger of 
their being awakened by the brightest and warm¬ 
est sunshine. But now, they have had a good 
nap, and are ready to be aroused ; and the sun 
has risen higher in the heavens, and shines with 
greater power. For these reasons, tender vege¬ 
tation is liable to injury. 
Therefore, if any one has hitherto neglected to 
protect his tender trees, shrubs, and vines, 
let him now do so, without delay. In most cases 
a very light covering will answ'er, such as a few 
evergreen houghs, an old sack or mat, or a little 
straw—just enough to keep off the sun. A friend 
of ours gets a fine annual display of Spirted pruni- 
folia, by simply wrapping his wife’s old apron 
around the top of his hush, while his neighbors, 
who take no such precautions, very often have 
none. The Swedish and American Junipers are 
hardy enough, but they often come out in the 
Spring in quite a rusty, purplish dress; and Ihe 
American Yew looks quite shabby ; but this rtts- 
tinessjnight he easily prevented by some simple 
protection, as before noted. The trunks of pear- 
trees, cherry-trees, peach-trees, and some orna¬ 
mental trees may profitably be sheathed in straw, 
or have a section of bark, or a simple board set 
up on the south and west sides. 
- «&-* -SB— - -* 
Hastening Vegetation in Spring. 
One mode is by sheltering plants from cold 
winds, and exposing them as much as possible to 
the rays of the sun. This can be effected by 
building walls or high, close fences on the stormy 
sides of gardens and orchards, also by surround¬ 
ing them with hedges and belts of evergreen 
trees. In England, it has been found by an 
experiment of several years, that cherry-trees 
trained against a south wall, will ripen their fruit 
ten days or a fortnight earlier then in the open 
orchard. In cold, damp, and cloudy summers, 
the difference is less obvious, but even then, the 
flavor of the wall fruit is superior to the other. 
Skillful gardeners sometimes gain an advantage 
of several days, by throwing up beds or banks 
with a slope to the south, of about 45°, and plant¬ 
ing thereon their earliest crops of lettuce, rad¬ 
ishes, peas etc. ; the northern slopes being used 
for late crops. 
Of the influence of manure in accelerating 
vegetation, wc need hardly speak. Everybody 
35 
knows what tropical growth horse manure engen¬ 
ders in hot-beds and forcing houses, while yet the 
soil of the common earth around is cold and 
unproductive. Everybody knows what wonders 
guano, lien dung and other fertilizers perform 
every spring in garden and field. But aside 
from the action of real manure, there is a benefit 
to he derived from the use of other substances, 
such as sand and lime on clayey soils, of chip- 
dirt and leaf-mold, the tendency of which is to 
lighten up the ground and free it from surplus 
water. The use of leaf-mold, charcoal, chip- 
dirt, blacksmith cinders and whatever tends to 
make the soil dark-colored, contributes to the 
same result. 
Here too, may be mentioned the powerful 
influence of under-draining, which rids the soil 
of standing water, and prepares it to absorb the 
earliest rays of the Spring sun. Ridging up the 
earth in winter, tends in the same direction, and 
for the same reason.. Faithful attention to these 
two last processes often gives the gardener a 
gain of a week or fortnight in spring. 
Here may be mentioned also, the importance 
of selecting proper seeds The seeds of fruits 
or vegetables, which ripened earliest the preced¬ 
ing year, are likely to start earlier and to mature 
quicker than those which ripened late. Every 
gardener, therefore, should take great pains each 
year to save his seeds from the earliest matured 
products ofhis grounds. 
Think Twice before You Move. 
Multitudes are contemplating a move, some¬ 
where, in the coming Spring, or as soon as they 
can sell out, reckless of the old maxim; 11 A 
rolling stone gathers no moss.” They have jlist 
got their farms cleared up, and taken a few crops 
from the virgin soil, or they are situated upon the 
old homestead, with a hundred acres of poor, 
hard cropped land. They have good neighbors, 
good schools-, and good markets; but they are 
not making money quite so fast as they wish 
to, and mean to try their fortunes in a new place. 
Some, of course, in the older States, must 
move to make room for the increasing population, 
but, as a rule, they should be the young, who are 
not yet married, and have not the necessary ca¬ 
pital to purchase a farm at Ihe East. The pro¬ 
bability is, that such will do better where land is 
cheaper, and labor commands a better price. But 
if a man is already settled, and lias pleasant as 
sociations around him, the probability is, that ho 
will lose money by moving. If there is nothing 
else wrong but the land, pluck and industry wi. 
bring that right. There may be more wealth in 
the old farm than its owner dreams, and a belter 
management may enable him to unlock its 
treasures. 
Perhaps deeper plowing is needed to break up 
the hard pan, formed hv running the plow nose 
four inches below the surface for a century. Per¬ 
haps two-thirds of the manure is wasted, and 
there may be a loud call lo stop tho leaks. Per¬ 
haps the cattle are foddered at the stack all win¬ 
ter, and there is a dead loss in the extra con¬ 
sumption of hay of ten dollars for every head of 
stock. Perhaps the best part of that farm is 
still under water, for half the year, and it only 
needs a little draining to turn a waste into a 
fruitful meadow. 
A few changes of this kind in the management 
of a farm make all the difference, between suc¬ 
cess and failure, riches and poverty. As a rule, 
it is much better fora farmer to change his man¬ 
agement than to change his location. We have 
observed many of the latter kind of changes, and 
