1876.] 
403 
AMERICAN AGRIC ULTURIST. 
well enough ; but a mixed diet, a dry, clean bed, 
an abundance of clean water, and good ventilation, 
are necessary if one would have healthy pigs. 
Horses .—Pasture has lost its value now, and the 
nights are too cold for horses to be kept out of the 
stable. Colts should have a pint of oats daily, and 
be halter broken. Their education should be begun 
now, and the first thing to be done is to accustom 
them to handling, brushing, and restraint. Patience 
and kindness with the colt will go far to form a 
good disposition in the future horse. 
Rubbish .—Myriads of insects and spores of mold 
and injurious fungi gather in the rubbish of the 
farm. Burn everything of this kind. Potato tops 
harbor the spores of the potato disease ; straw, 
corn-fodder and stubs, harbor chinch bugs ; chips, 
bark, weeds, and all such waste, furnish hiding 
places for grubs, beetles, etc. As preventive mea¬ 
sures none are more effective than general neatness 
and cleanliness everywhere about the farm. 
Sundry Matters—A. safe lantern should he pro¬ 
cured for the stable and barn. If kerosene oil is 
used, only those kinds that are known to be safe 
should be purchased. The small extra cost is 
nothing as compared with safety from accident. 
No farmer can afford to go uninsured. Choose a 
well known, safe company in which to insure. 
Painting can be done better and cheaper now than 
at any other time; there are no dust nor flies to 
spoil the paint. Leaves should be gathered for 
bedding ; there is nothing safer in the brood sow’s 
pen. Stones and stumps may be cleared off, cellars 
banked up, cleaned, and whitewashed, and every 
tool and implement cleaned and stowed away. 
Work in the Horticultural Departments. 
In most northern localities the first hard freezing 
weather comes during November, and should not 
find the out-door work in arrears. Plowing can be 
done at any time when the ground is not frozen. 
Cellars in which roots and other garden crops are 
stored, as well as those in which living plants are 
kept, should only be closed during cold nights. 
Proper ventilation should be provided. Paint the 
out buildings, and if the wood-work of the garden 
implements is not preserved by the application of 
petroleum, give a coat of paint. Land plowed or 
or forked up in the fall and left exposed during the 
winter will become fine and mellow. 
Orchard rand Nursery. 
Many of the suggestions given last month will 
now be in season, especially those in regard to 
planting and heeling-in trees. 
Apples that were stored in bins just as they were 
picked from the trees should be sorted, put into 
barrels and stored in a cool place where the frost 
will not reach them. It will be most profitable 
in some places, if one has the conveniences, to 
make the apples into vinegar. Cider made from 
the late apples at this season is the best for family 
use, as fermentation goes on more gradually. 
Fruit Cellars need careful oversight; for the late 
sorts to come to proper perfection, and to keep 
well, they must be in a temperature as low as may 
be without freezing ; it must not be forgotten that 
fruit in ripening gives off heat, and this must be 
regulated by the admission of cold air from with¬ 
out. In ripening, a considerable amount of carbonic 
acid is given off, which would be of use in retard¬ 
ing the ripening, but very dangerous if allowed to 
accumulate in the cellar of a dwelling, hence ven¬ 
tilation by means of a chimney, or in some other 
manner, is a matter that must be attented to. 
Jloot Grafting is done in-doors in winter, and 
preparations are made by taking up the stocks and 
heeling them in where they may be got out at any 
time ; they may be out doors, well covered to pre¬ 
vent the ground from freezing or buried in the cel¬ 
lar ; they may also be stored in boxes of earth. 
Cions may be cut whenever vegetation is at rest, 
and better before severe weather. Label the sorts 
carefully. Saw-dust, as it comes from the mill, is 
the best material to keep them in ; sand or light 
soil will preserve them well, but the cions are less 
pleasant to work on account of the grit. 
Manuring .—It is commonly the case that the 
orchard is cropped year after year until the dimin¬ 
ished yield shows that something must be done. 
The proper way is to give a moderate manuring an¬ 
nually ; stable manure put on in the fall and plow¬ 
ed in, or in small orchards forked in, may be alter¬ 
nated with ashes or lime on other years. Clover to 
be pastured by hogs, and afterwards plowed under, 
is one of the best fertilizers. 
Labels should be looked to and renewed where 
necessary. Stake labels to nursery rows must be 
driven in firmly to prevent throwing out. Tie labels 
may be fastened with copper wire or what is known 
as “ lace ” leather. Red cedar makes durable labels 
and should be painted with white lead, and the name 
written with a moderately hard black lead pencil. 
Do not rely solely upon labels, but prepare a plan of 
the orchard by which the name of each tree may be 
learned from its position. 
Nursery Nows .—Turn a light furrow up on each 
side of the rows to keep the water from standing 
around the stems, and freezing. 
Seedlings .—Apple and pear stock are usually taken 
up at the end of the first year, assorted, tied in 
bundles and heeled-in until spring. Most orna¬ 
mental trees do better to remain two years in the 
seed bed, but must be protected from heaving out 
by frost. A coating of leaves or of evergreen boughs 
will prevent this. See that no water will stand 
among the plants. 
Fruit Garden. 
Planting should be done early this month of all 
hardy fruits. If the soil is not in good condition 
heel in the plants in a sheltered place. 
Blackberries and Baspberries .—If the old fruiting 
canes have not been cut out and burned as directed 
last month, do it now. While the ground remains 
open, it is better to set out plants a3 they start ear¬ 
ly in the spring, as the shoots are apt to be broken 
off if moved then. 
Strawberries .—Cover the soil of the beds with 
straw or leaves, just before the ground freezes 
hard ; let the covering over the plants themselves 
be slight, or they may be injured. 
Grape Vines .—Beginners make a great mistake in 
setting out old vines. AVe see offered in the city 
markets stems an inch or more in diameter without 
as much root as a good year old vine should have. 
Young vines, one or two years old, with abundant 
fibrous roots are preferable to older ones. Cut back 
the stem to a foot, plant in good, not over-rich soil, 
spreading the roots well, and then cover the surface 
with litter. It is not practicable to give directions 
for pruning fruiting vines, as all depends upon pre¬ 
vious treatment and present condition. It must be 
borne in mind that the bearing shoots come from 
the buds now visible, and one must leave buds 
where shoots are wanted. Most varieties may be 
propagated from cuttings made from canes of last 
season’s growth. Cut the canes removed in prun¬ 
ing into lengths of two or three buds, tie into bun¬ 
dles, label, and put away in earth in a cool cellar. 
Trellises are repaired, or new ones made, more 
conveniently now than in spring. Use the most 
durable wood. Chestnut is durable in some soils, 
red cedar lasts well; locust is the most durable, and 
where this is scarce, pieces three feet long may be 
set two atnd a half feet in the ground and uprights 
of pine or other lumber spiked to them. 
Currants and Gooseberries .—The bushes when 
crowded should have the old branches thinned out, 
and the new growth shortened one half or one 
third. The prunings of new wood may be made 
into cuttings 6 inches long and set out at once. 
Kitcfiaein Garden. 
Plow or fork up as much of the garden before 
the ground freezes, as possible, leaving it without 
harrowing. Gather up all rubbish, and weeds, and 
bum so that the whole ground will be ready for the 
plow at any time. 
Manure. —This and the following month must be 
devoted to increasing the stock of manure. Pro¬ 
vide absorbents for the stable and privy ; dry earth 
is best; if this has not been collected, use leaves, 
woods earth, dry muck, or even coarse marsh hay 
run through a cutting machine. Let the manure 
from the hen house be gathered and put in a dry 
place at least once a month, sprinkle dry earth 
under the roosts weekly. 
Winter Protection is necessary in most northern 
localities, especially for spinach and sprouts. Do 
not apply until freezing weather, the object being 
to prevent sudden changes from heat to cold. 
Cabbages. —Before the ground freezes hard, open 
a furrow in a dry spot, put down two rails 5 or 6 
inches apart, and then lay the cabbages, head down¬ 
wards, upon them ; turn the soil upon them from 
each side so as to cover the heads with 3 or 4 inches 
of earth. If a part are covered with hay or straw 
they can be got at readily during mild spells in the 
winter. Plants raised from seeds sown in Septem¬ 
ber can now be set out in cold frames to be kept 
until spring ; set down to the first leaves and do not 
put on the glass until very cold weather, the object 
being to keep the plants dormant. Those with soft 
or poor heads, if set out in trenches and covered 
with boards, will make exellent heads by spring. 
Roots. —Market gardeners store their root crops, 
(except potatoes), in trenches or pits in a dry place 
from which water will drain off. The trench is 
opened 4 feet deep and 6 feet wide; the roots are 
stacked in sections across the pit, 2 feet wide, them 
6 inches of earth, then 2 feet of roots, 6 inches of 
earth, and so on, covering all with 18 inches or 2 
feet of soil rounded up to shed water. By covering 
the earth well with litter, the roots may be taken 
out at any time. If stored in a root cellar they 
should be packed in earth to preserve their fresh¬ 
ness. If the quantity is small, boxes or barrel® 
may be used, but if large, bins may be made. 
Celery may be stored in trenches in the open 
ground; make them a foot wide, and as deep as 
the length of the celery; pack the plants closely, 
before severe weather comes. Cover with a few 
inches of hay or straw and boards to keep out wa¬ 
ter ; when very cold weather comes, more straw 
should be added. Small lots may be stored in long 
narrow boxes, with a few inches of soil on the bot¬ 
tom, and kept in a cool cellar. 
Lettuce. —Set out in cold frame for early, and 
cover that in the open ground with straw or hay. 
Rhubarb. —Make a new bed in the fall, if needed, 
it starts very early in the spring. Take up a few 
roots for forcing ; a cask partly filled with horse 
manure placed in a warm cellar will answer. 
Sweet Potatoes. —As soon as frost has touched the 
vines, cut off close to the ground. Dig on a warm, 
sunny day, and allow them to dry for a few hours, 
when they should be packed in boxes or barrels 
with perfectly dry chopped straw, and placed where 
the temperature will not sink below 55* or 60°. 
Parsnips.— Dig before the ground freezes, and 
store as recommended above ; a part may be left in 
the ground until spring. 
Carrots and Beets should be gathered before very 
cold weather, and stored the same as parsnips. 
Some cut the tops with a sharp hoe before lifting. 
Turnips will stand hard frosts and may remain 
in the ground until freezing cold weather comes. 
Feed the tops to the cows. 
Flower Graraiesa ata<8 ILsawEtt. 
Lawns. —Sow seed upon thin spots. Do not mow 
too late, else there will not be enough grass to 
protect the roots. 
Leaves. —As a matter of neatness it is necessary 
to gather these from the paths, and it is well to 
collect from the road-sides and elsewhere all that 
are at hand. They make the best protection for 
tender plants, and after using as an absorbent in 
the stable, a valuable addition to the manure heap. 
Edgings. —Cut and trim neatly all the grass mar¬ 
gins bordering the paths and drives, before freezing 
weather, and protect places where careless drivers 
are likely to encroach, by driving down stakes. 
