1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
43 
Early Lambs for the Butcher should be kept warm 
and dry, and pushed forward as rapidly as possible. 
Give them all the sliced roots, bran, and oats, or 
oil-cake, or corn-meal that they will eat, in a little 
trough separate from the ewes. Give the ewes 
plenty of bran, clover hay, and sliced roots, and 
keep them warm, dry, and comfortable. And do 
not forget that they need a constant supply of 
water. This is true of all animals, but it is more 
especially true of those that are giving milk. 
Swine.—Let pigs of all ages have access to a mix¬ 
ture of ashes, salt, and sulphur. Keep the pens 
and troughs clean. Let them have a dry, warm, 
well-ventilated place to sleep in. Do not put too 
many in a pen. Keep the younger and weaker 
separate from the older and stronger. Feed accord¬ 
ing to what the pigs are designed for. 
Fattening Pigs should be fed all the corn or other 
grain they will eat. 
Breeding Sows should be kept in a thrifty condi¬ 
tion. Vigorous health is the main point. Aim to 
let them have all the food they can eat, but let it 
not be too rich, and make them work for it; i. e., 
make them take as much exercise as possible. 
Last Spring Pigs designed to be summered over 
and fattened next fall, should be kept growing 
rapidly. They make good scavengers, picking up 
much that would otherwise be wasted. As a rule, 
however, they are not fed as liberally as would be 
profitable. Well-wintered is half-summered. 
Fall Pigs need the best of care and food. There 
is nothing better for them than cooked corn-meal 
mixed with skimmed milk. If they have a ten¬ 
dency to get too fat, substitute a portion of bran 
for corn-meal. 
Be Forehanded with your Work .—This is always 
good advice, but it is particularly so now. Any¬ 
thing that can be done now to save labor in spring 
and summer should not be neglected. 
Oil the Harness , and have it thoroughly overhauled 
and repaired when needed. Wash it clean with 
warm soft water and soap and brush before oiling. 
This is very important. Then oil it, and hang it 
up in a warm place to dry. But do not burn it. 
The Wood-house should be filled with sawed and 
split wood, and if more than it will hold will be 
needed before tliig time next year, cut it, haul it, 
saw it, split it, and pile it up to dry under cover. 
You will never have a better time. In piling, be 
careful not to get it too compact. Leave plenty of 
space for the air to get through it. 
There are many other things that can be done to 
facilitate work in the spring that will occur to any 
farmer who will take time to think over the matter. 
Write them down whenever they occur to you. 
And, above all, make up your mind to do them— 
and do them at once. 
Work in the Horticultural Departments. 
of the day, the canker-worms will ascend the trees 
to deposit their eggs for the brood of caterpillars 
to be hatched next June. It is not too early now 
to take precautions to prevent their ascent. The 
numerous contrivances, patented and otherwise, all 
have some good quality to recommend them to the 
orchardist, but the simplest and cheapest is a baud 
of tarred paper, or printer’s ink applied as directed 
in an article on page 63. Tent-Caterpillars’ eggs 
can be easily seen and removed now by a long- 
handled pruning-shears, and the eggs burnt. Their 
destruction is much easier now than when the eggs 
have hatched and the caterpillars built their nests 
later in the spring. Lately, we have received spe¬ 
cimens of a small beetle, known as the Apple-twig 
Borer, from Kentucky. These insects, though very 
numerous west of the Alleghany Mountains, do but 
very little injury to large orchard trees. They are 
most injurious to nursery stock, the small branches 
of which they penetrate, causing the twigs to wither 
and the leaves to turn brown. The only remedy 
is to cut off all infested twigs, and burn them. 
Injured Trees .—Trees from which branches have 
been broken off by storms or ice should have the 
wound cut smooth, and a coat of shellac varnish 
or melted grafting-wax applied to their surfaces, to 
prevent decay from moisture. 
Varieties .—If new orchards are to be planted, the 
trees should be obtained as soon as possible. Due 
regard of course must be had in the selection of 
varieties, using only those which are known to be 
good and abundant bearers. Select also with refer¬ 
ence to having a succession from earliest to the 
latest, if intended for family use. 
Nursery Trees often arrive during cold weather, 
when they will be found frozen, or sometimes they 
have been subjected to drying winds, so that when 
they arrive at their destination they are shriveled, 
and at first sight apparently worthless. When 
frozen, put in a cool place, where they will thaw 
gradually. Ifsliriveled by drying, most of them will 
recover if buried entirely in earth for a few days. 
Manure .—Cart to the orchard and put in small 
heaps, when the weather is suitable. If there is 
snow on the ground, use a sled, as this will save 
much labor in loading, and, besides, avoid cutting 
up the ground in the orchard by cart-wheels. 
Scraping the dead bark from orchard trees will 
add much to their good appearance, and induce a 
healthy growth the coming summer. A small tri¬ 
angular plate of steel attached to a handle two or 
three feet long is the best implement. Any vil¬ 
lage blacksmith can easily make , one which will 
answer quite as well ns those sold at the stores. 
Cions must be cut before the sap starts, and pre¬ 
served in sawdust or sand until needed for setting. 
Pruning may be done when the trees are not 
frozen, though June is" probably the best month 
in which to do it. If done now, it saves time, 
which is valuable during the summer months. 
have all that they will eat. If they leave any, re¬ 
move it from the mangers and give it to the cows. 
If tlie horses are at moderate work, two or three 
days a week, mix three quarts of meal with the 
bushel of chaff, or four quarts if the horses are at 
moderate work nearly every day. If you have con¬ 
veniences, it is a great advantage to wet the chaft 
with boiling water; cover with a blanket and let 
It stand for a few hours. Try this plan. 
Cows.—Wo are feeding our own cows chaffed 
corn-stalks' and straw, with a quart of corn-meal 
to a bushel of chaff. Those that are giving milk 
get in addition a pint of corn-meal and a quart of 
bran, stirred into a pailful of water, twice a day. 
Keep the stable clean, warm, and well ventilated. 
All cows are better for being carded—those that are 
stalled, especially need it. If the cows leave any 
of the cut stalks and straw, remove them from the 
mangers and sprinkle a little salt water over them. 
The cows will then eat the most of them. 
Young Stock should be fed liberally. They are 
growing, and can not be kept healthy unless they 
have enough nutriment to provide for their natural 
growth. A bushel of chaffed straw or stalks, a 
bushel of chaffed clover hay, half a peck of fine 
bran, and a quart of corn-meal, mixed together, 
forms a cheap and excellent food. Let them have 
all they will eat of it. If they leave any, give it to 
the older cattle. 
Working Oxen should be fed somewhat in propor¬ 
tion to their work. If possible, never feed grain 
or meal alone. It should be mixed with cut feed. 
This is far more important with oxen and cows than 
with horses. The horse has but one stomach, and 
that a small one, while the ox has four, and can eat 
and digest a much more bulky and less nutritious 
food than the horse. Grain fed alone is very apt 
to pass into the intestines undigested. Corn fed in 
the ear is better for oven than shelled corn. 
Sheep .—Fattening sheep should be pushed for¬ 
ward rapidly. With us, the rule is, for three or 
four-year-old Merino wethers, one pound of corn 
each per day, and all the bright wheat-straw they 
will eat, until about rlie first of February. Then, 
either give a little clover hay in addition to the 
straw, or else increase the corn to pound per 
day, or, for the last few weeks, we have known 
1% pound fed without injury. 
Merino Ewes that are not expected to lamb before 
April can be wintered well on good clover hay 
alone, but with us it is much cheaper to feed straw 
and half a pound of corn each per day. 
Merino Lambs and Yearlings should be kept by 
themselves, aud have better feed than the older 
store sheep—say half a pound of com and one pound 
clover each per day, and all the straw they will eat. 
Old ewes that are not doing well, if you have no 
other place, may be put with the lambs where they 
will get better food. 
Long-wooled Sheep , or mutton sheep of any breed, 
require somewhat different treatment than sheep 
kept almost entirely for wool alone. They mature 
earlier, grow much more rapidly, and the young 
sheep require, or at any rate will pay for better food 
than Merinos. A flock of well-bred long-wooled 
lambs might have one pound straw-chaff, one pound 
clover-chaff, one pound bran, and a pint of oats 
each per day. Five or six quarts of sliced roots 
might be given with advantage as a substitute for 
the bran. If you are fattening wether lambs, in¬ 
tending to sell them after shearing, a pint of corn 
might be given in place of or even in addition to 
the oats. If the lambs do not eat up all their food 
clean, remove it and give it to the store sheep. 
Breeding Long-wooled Ewes should be kept in a 
good, thrifty condition. Avoid giving too much 
corn, on the one hand, or of having them get 
poor on the other. Clover hay and bran are better 
for them than corn, except in very cold weather. 
The Main Points in managing a flock of well-bred 
long-wooled sheep in winter are to keep them dry 
and comfortable, to feed liberally, and let them 
have as much exercise as possible. Dry cold does 
not hurt them. Warm, damp, ill-ventilated quar¬ 
ters or exposure to severe rains are very injurious. 
During the month of February everything should 
be put in order, and all plans completed ready for 
the opening of spring work. If the tools are not 
repaired and painted, the seeds and trees ordered, 
the rapid advance of spring work will crowd out 
these necessary operations, and the gardener will 
find himself behindhand. Calculations ought to 
be made long before they are to be put into execu¬ 
tion, as a storm or some unforeseen accident may 
prevent the doing of some job, aud thus cause loss 
in time and labor which could have been prevented 
if careful plans had been laid. The snow which 
has covered the ground during much of the winter 
will probably leave the garden in such a condition 
that it can be worked quite early. The snow has 
performed the part of a mulch, and the frost 
has not penetrated very deep, and the probability 
is that spring will open early. To succeed in gar¬ 
dening drive the work, and not allow it to lag, 
so that everything is done just too late. 
Orchard laaiffl Nursery. 
Insects .—As the sun’s heat increases from week 
to week, and the ground thaws during the middle 
Fr«iit Garden. 
Grape-Vines maybe pruned when they are not 
frozen, and before the sap starts in the spring. 
Vines pruned in the fall should be gone over, and 
the extra buds left at that time removed. 
Timber for trellises and grape-vines ought to be 
sawed and stored where the air can circulate freely 
around it, so that it may be properly seasoned, 
ready for use in the spring. Posts made of locust, 
chestnut, aud red cedar are best for durability. 
Strawberries may be planted as soon as the frost 
will permit. 
Trees trained upon wires or trellises should be 
looked after occasionally, to see that the ties have 
not been broken by the weight of snow and ice. 
Gates and fences should be kept ki good repair, 
as stray cattle will often do much injury when the 
ground is soft, by tramping upon strawberry beds 
and breaking down trees, trellises, etc. 
Blackberries and Raspberries .—Set as soon as the 
ground will admit of being worked, as the under¬ 
ground shoots which form the canes for next season 
are tender and liable to be injured if left until late- 
