1871. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
443 
necessary in certain circumstances, but, as a rule, 
it is a most wasteful practice. Do not say you are 
short of “capital,” and that you can not afford to 
buy racks or lumber to make them. What you 
want is industry and pluck. If you can not do any¬ 
thing better, make a rack out of a few rails or poles, 
placed alongside the barn, or shed, or fence. 
Cooking Food for Stock will doubtless pay where 
everything is convenient, and where well-bred 
stock is kept and liberal feeding is required. But 
not one farmer in a thousand is ready for the work. 
His farming, his stock, and his system of feeding 
are not up to it. There are many other things of 
far greater importance for him to attend to. To plow 
under clover in the summer and steam corn-stalks 
in the winter shows great ignorance of the funda¬ 
mental principles of good agriculture. It will sel¬ 
dom, if ever, pay to cook in order to save food; 
but it will frequently pay to cook in order to save 
digestion. It will not pay to cook food for store 
cows; but it might pay well to cook for milch 
cows that are capable of turning more food into 
milk than they can digest. It will not pay to cook 
food for breeding sows that can cat and digest more 
food than they require; but it will pay well to 
cook for a lot of well-bred young pigs that are 
capable of converting into flesh more corn-meal 
than they can digest in the raw state. 
Milch Cows , if fed liberally, may be milked until 
within six weeks of calving. In ordinary cases, 
however, it is better to let them go dry for two 
months or ten weeks. The cow and the calf will 
both be stronger; and any fat or flesh stored up 
during this period will, in the case of a good cow, 
find its way to the milk-pail next summer. For 
this reason we advocate liberal feeding, even when 
the cows arc dry. Some of our associates think 
and practice differently, but the writer’s own ex¬ 
perience is in favor of drying off the cows as 
here indicated. Because a good milker is always 
thin before the end of the season, many farmers 
advocate keeping cows thin in order to make them 
good milkers. They mistake cause for effect. The 
cow is thin because she is a good milker, not a 
good milker because she is thin. There is a great 
prejudice against corn-meal for milch cows. If fed 
without judgment it may be injurious, but in our 
own experience we have never known two quarts 
of corn-meal a day, cooked or uncooked (but far 
better cooked), have any other than the most ben¬ 
eficial effect. Do not forget to card the cows, or to 
give salt regularly and an abundant supply of fresh 
(not ice-eold) water. 
Horses that have worked hard during the autumn 
had better rest a little this month, rather than to¬ 
wards spring. But much depends, of course, on 
what there is to be done. If horses are well fed 
steady work does not hurt them. And it costs so 
much to keep a horse that we can not afford to let 
him lie idle unnecessarily. Horses that have been 
pampered in the city are rejuvenated by a winter’s 
run at a straw stack, but farm horses are seldom 
benefited to a like extent by such treatment. The 
only advantage in turning them out is that it saves 
the labor of taking care of them. They ought to 
have a warm shed to run into in stormy weather. 
Sheep .—Sheep may be allowed to run out on the 
pasture as long as they can find anything to graze ; 
but they should have other food in addition. On 
grai-n farms the most economical way of wintering 
Merino sheep is on straw, with half a pound of 
corn or oats per day. Long-wooled sheep and fat¬ 
tening sheep should have a little better feed—say 
one pound of bran, half a pound grain, and all the 
straw or corn-stalks they will eat. Fattening sheep 
should be allowed more grain as they become ac¬ 
customed to it. Pea and bean straw, if well cured, 
is excellent for sheep. Clover hay should be re¬ 
served for feeding towards spring. 
Swine .—Except where corn is very low, it will 
not pay to keep fattening' pigs after cold weather 
sets in. Better dispose of them early and reserve 
the feed for the young pigs. The latter will prob¬ 
ably pay for all the extra grain they receive. Cer¬ 
tainly, if kept at all, pigs should be kept well. Fall 
pigs should have all the food they can eat and di¬ 
gest the first winter. 
Ditching —On low, mucky land, where there is 
sufficient fall to allow the water to pass away free¬ 
ly from the ditches, the frost will seldom be so se¬ 
vere as to prevent ditching this month, and the 
work can be done to great advantage. 
Work in the Horticultural Departments. 
The amount of work that can be done now will 
be limited, but still every day something may be 
accomplished which will make the labor of the com¬ 
ing spring easier. The long evenings will give one 
ample time for study and reading, and thus enable 
the gardener to profit by the experience of others, 
and to obtain butter results from a given amount 
of labor. Every year new books are being pub¬ 
lished upon different branches of horticulture, 
many of which are very valuable even to a person 
well versed in practical horticulture; and no think¬ 
ing gardener can afford to be without them, espe¬ 
cially if he wishes to keep pace with the new im¬ 
provements which are constantly being made. 
Outdoor work will have to be suspended in many 
northern localities, but many things can be done 
under cover, such as mending tools, painting, pre¬ 
paring labels, etc. 
Orchard, and IVnrsery. 
Cions .—Cut cions when the trees are not frozen. 
Choose only those which have made a vigorous and 
healthy growth. Store in sawdust or sand in the 
cellar, taking care to label each variety. Copper 
wire is best for tying up the bunches, as twine is 
liable to rot when buried in damp earth. 
Fruit .—The secret of keeping fruit during the 
winter is to place it in a cellar where the temper¬ 
ature is as low as 36”, and where it varies as little 
as possible from this. 
Manure may be carted upon the orchard during 
the winter; or it may be carted to some convenient 
place, and the coarser portions allowed to rot. 
Mice and Babbits .—Tread the snow firmly around 
the trunks of the trees, to prevent mice from injur¬ 
ing the bark; rabbits may be kept off by smear¬ 
ing the lower part of the trunk with fresh blood. 
Pruning .—If the weather is inild, orchards may 
be pruned at anytime, and the large wounds coated 
over with gum shellac, varnish, or common paint, 
to prevent decay. 
Root-Grafting can be done when the weather is 
too cool to work outdoors. Take care to preserve 
the different varieties distinct. After the grafts 
are set, place them in boxes of earth in the cellar. 
Seeds .—If any seeds of stone fruits still remain 
out of the ground, bury them before the ground 
freezes too hard, first mixing the seeds with earth. 
Water .—See that surface drains are made, to take 
off all standing water from the orchard and nursery. 
Fruit harden. 
Many of the directions given under the Orchard 
and Nursery will apply equally well b ere. 
Protection must be given to the t Jnder plants. 
The tender varieties of raspberries a/e to be laid 
down and covered with earth, and in extreme north¬ 
ern latitudes grapes do better if so treated. 
Strawberries .—Cover the ground between the rows 
with a good mulch of hay, taking care not to cover 
the plants themselves too thickly. 
Grape-Vines .—Finish trimming, and save wood 
of choice varieties, to propagate from. Cut the 
wood into lengths of two or three eyes, tie in 
bundles, and cover with earth in a well-drained spot. 
Kitclien Garden. 
Whenever the weather is mild, and the ground 
open enough, use the spade or plow. The soil is 
much better if exposed to the action of the frost 
during the winter, and besides it can be sooner 
worked in the spring. See that the fences are tight, 
so that stray cattle can not get into the garden and 
trample over the beds and paths. 
Roots .—If the roots are not all stored away for 
the winter, it should be attended to immediately, 
before the cold becomes severe. If one has not a 
root cellar, the best way is to store the roots in pits 
in the open ground. These should be 2% to 3 feet 
deep, 6 feet wide, and as long as necessary; stack 
up the roots in sections reaching across the pit, 
two feet long and as high as the surface of the 
ground. The sections are to be six inches apart, 
and the space between filled with earth. The pit, 
when filled, will present alternate sections of root* 
and earth. Finish the pit by placing a layer of 
straw on the top, and then covering with a foot or 
more of earth. The t'op should be slanted like the 
roof of a house, to allow the water to run off. 
Parsnips , Salsify , and Horse Radish are hardy, and 
may be left in the ground without protection. 
Enough of these must be taken up for winter use. 
Spinach and Leeks give a little covering of hay. 
Cabbages .—Store in trenches, with the heads in¬ 
verted ; cover with six inches of earth, and finish 
off smoothh-, to shed rain. 
Manure .—Do not neglect to take advantage of 
everything that can be had for making manure. 
See that plenty of dry earth and leaves are stored 
for bedding and composting. 
Seeds .—Thrash and winnow all seeds that are to 
be saved for planting; stoi c away from mice. 
Flower-Garden and Lawn. 
Clear up all leaves, old vines, and everything 
which will detract from the neat appearance of the 
immediate surroundings of the house. 
Trellises and Stakes .—See that these are not left 
exposed during the winter. With proper shelter 
they may be made to last for several years. 
Protection .—Give the tender roses and deciduous 
shrubs proper protection. The former may be 
laid down and covered with sods, and the latter 
tied up with a covering of straw. Tender ever¬ 
greens must not have the straw tied too closely 
aronnd them, as they arc.often smothered in this 
way. The best method is to drive stakes around 
them in a slanting direction, like an inverted cone, 
and then cover with straw, or evergreen boughs. 
Bulbs .—It is not too late to plant now in many 
places, where the ground is open, but it must be 
done soon. Give the beds a covering of straw. 
Herbaceous Perennials .—Cover the less hardy sorts 
with leaves. The hardy varieties will also do better 
if treated in the same way, or if they have earth 
drawn up to them. 
Wistarias .—In very cold latitudes these do best 
if taken down and covered with a little earth. 
Cold-Frames .—Whenever the weather is mild, 
remove the sashes from the cold-frames containing 
the half-hardy things. See that no mice are har¬ 
bored to destroy the plants. 
Lawns can be manured with well-rotted compost. 
CSroenlioiise »i»«l Window Plants. 
Heat .—During the day the temperature in houses 
•where plants are to bloom, must not be less than 
65”, and it ought not to fall to less than 45” at night. 
In the Camellia-house, for example, where it is de¬ 
sirable to prevent the plants from flowering as long 
as poss ble, the heat need only be a few degrees 
above t jc freezing point at night. 
Bulbs .—Bring the bulbs which were placed iu the 
cellar to form roots, to a warm house, where they 
will soon flower. If only a few pots are brought 
out at a time, flowers may be had until quite late. 
Air must be admitted whenever it is safe, only 
taking care that the ventilators are opened upon 
the side opposite to which the wind blows. 
Water .—Apply water with care, and do not give 
enough to make the earth soggy. The plants should 
have an occasional sprinkling overhead, to wash off 
dust. If this is allowed to accumulate, it soon fills 
up the breathing popes of the leaves and renders the 
plant unhealthy. This is more necessary with 
house plants than with those of the greenhouse. 
