1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
<103 
rapidly and mature early, require liberal feeding- 
while young, and will pay well for it. 
Breeding Ewes should be selected with care. 
Draft out all that have lost their teeth, have bad 
udders, or are in any way defective. Select the ram 
with even still greater care. He ought to be pure¬ 
bred, and as near perfect as you can get him. A 
defect in a thorough-bred will be impressed more 
strongly on his offspring than the same defect in a 
ram of mixed blood, and so will his good qualities. 
Put but one ram in the flock at a time. It is well 
to remove him every evening and shut him up for 
the night, and give him a pint of oats and a pint of 
bran. It is also very desirable that the ewes have 
liberal feed for some time before and at the time the 
ram is with them. Salt regularly, aud see that they 
do not want for water. 
Lambs should be kept in a flock by themselves, 
aud have the best of food and care. If any are 
affected with scours, give half a pint of milk por¬ 
ridge, made with wheat flour. 
Ticks are often very troublesome in winter or 
eai-ly spring, especially on long-wool lambs. If not 
already done, dip all the lambs and sheep in a so¬ 
lution of carbolic soap. Use warm, soft water, and 
dip the sheep in all over, except the head. Select 
a dry, sunny day for the operation. Squeeze the 
wool as dry as possible with the hands, and the 
sheep will not he likely to take cold. 
Swine .—Push forward the fattening pigs as rapidly 
as possible, aud dispose of them as soon as ready. 
We shall be obliged to accept what we can get. 
Next year prices will probably be higher, and as 
corn is cheap, it may be well to keep over our 
spring pigs rather than fatten them now. Young pigs 
of this fall’s litters should have good care and 
abundance of nutritious food. Keep them, growing 
rapidly through the winter, aud next summer they 
will thrive on clover, and a little com will make them 
ready for the butcher early in the fall. Select good- 
sized sows for breeding, and secure a vrell-bred 
boar. Those who improve their stock of swine are 
sure of their reward. 
Poultry .—Select out the best for breeding, and 
fatten and dispose of the rest. 
Fall Plowing. — As long as the grouud is dry 
enough to work we would keep the plows and cul¬ 
tivators going. Except on the lightest sands, which 
are liable to leach, there can be no doubt of the 
advantages of stirring and exposing the soil; and 
our springs are so short that we should aim to do 
as much work as possible in the autumn. Plow or 
cultivate com stubble and potato ground. 
Digging Potatoes .—Use every dry day in finish¬ 
ing this work. There is nothing to be gained by 
delay, and much to lose. See Hints for last month. 
Harvesting Root Crops —Mangel aud other beets 
should be gathered at once, as they are liable to be 
injured by frosts. Swedes and other turnips arc 
less liable to injury, but it is better to secure early 
all that are to be put in pits or in the cellar. It is 
hardly worth while trying to preserve the tops. 
Feed them out now, giving plenty of dry food, 
such as hay and bran, in connection with them. 
If mangels are kept in pits, be very careful to pro¬ 
vide plenty of “chimneys” for ventilation. Our 
own plan is to put a board lengthwise of the pit 
on top of the straw, putting only dirt enough on it 
to prevent the wind from blowing it off. This will 
keep out the rain, and it can at any time be lifted 
with a crowbar and the heap examined. If the 
straw is wet and the roots warm, the heap needs 
ventilating. We kept 3,000 bushels of mangels in 
pits, last year, in this way, without loss. We need 
hardly say that a perfectly dry location is essential. 
Carrots not needed until spring, are best kept in 
pits. Those put in the cellar should be “ corded,” 
and not thrown in a heap. The more soil there 
is mixed with them the better they will keep. 
Parsnips are not injured by being left in the 
ground all winter, and if fed out early in the spring, 
before they commence to grow, this is much the 
better way to keep them. 
Cabbages are best preserved by plowing a deep 
“ dead-furrow ” in a dry soil, and then lay the cab¬ 
bages with the roots up in the furrow, and cover the 
heads with soil. Be careful that no water gets to 
the heads. Do this in dry, cold weather. 
Get Ready for Winter .—If stones are placed in 
large heaps, they can be drawn where they are 
wanted for fences or otherpurposes in whiter while 
the snow is on the ground. Large stones 6hould 
be lifted with a crowbar, and a small stone or piece 
of wood put under them, to keep them off the 
ground; otherwise they will freeze to the earth, 
and can not be removed without great labor. 
Underdrains can be dug"' in winter, even in the 
Northern States, provided you make deep dead- 
furrows where the drains are to be cut before winter 
sets in. The snow blows into the dead-furrows and 
keeps out.the frost. 
Gravel for roads should be screened so as to re¬ 
move the sand. It can then be drawn on sleighs in 
winter, and much labor will be saved. One load of 
screened gravel is worth three loads mixed with 
earth. There is dirt enough already on our roads. 
Work in the Horticultural Departments. 
The pleasant weather of October has given the 
gardener time to make everything in and around 
the garden snug and ready for winter. The har¬ 
vests of vegetables and small fruits have been un¬ 
usually large the past season, but unless continued 
exertions are made bountiful harvests will not be 
had. It is only by long and arduous labor that a 
gardener becomes successful, and through the use 
of improved methods and labor-saving implements. 
In the more southern latitudes, out-door work can 
De continued during the month, and it must be re¬ 
membered that a man can do more labor in a day 
at this season than during the hot and sultry days 
of August and September, even though the number 
of working hours is less now than then. Every¬ 
thing in the way of rubbish should be cleared up, 
so that the grounds may look neat during the win¬ 
ter, aud also to save much valuable time in the 
spring when work is pressing. 
©i*cl»ar«l and PVursei-y. 
Many of the operations mentioned in this depart¬ 
ment last month will hold good for the present, 
and a little careful thought will suggest others 
which we may fail to minion on account of space. 
Panting done now will save a great deal of time 
in the spring, and trees are pretty sure to live in 
moderate climates if properly planted, and protect¬ 
ed around the roots with a good mulch. 
Seeds of trees for nursery stock may be plauted 
now and subjected to the action of frost. Chest¬ 
nuts, walnuts, acorns, peach-stones, etc., are much 
more likely to germinate than if allowed to dry 
until spring. Seedlings raised last spring will need 
mulching, and to be protected from cold winds 
by means of evergreen boughs or board fences. 
Heeling-in .—When trees are not plauted at once 
in the orchard, it is customary to lift them from 
the nursery rows and heel.them in. When treated 
in this way they do not start until until two or 
three weeks after those left in the nursery. There 
is danger, however, that the work will not be done 
properly, and many do not, advise it, but if the trees 
are carefully lifted, and no air-holes left around the 
roots when set in the trenches, the process is per¬ 
fectly safe and reliable. 
Ripening is the first step towards decay, and the 
more this process is retarded the longer the fruit 
remains in a sound condition. The fruit-room 
should be opened whenever the temperature will 
permit, or when it is not warmer outside than in. 
Stocks for Root-grafting .—Take up, assort, and 
tie in convenient sized bundles, pack in boxes 
of sawdust or sand, and place in a cool cellar. 
Fruit Garden. 
Pars that have been carefully preserved will 
bring good prices now if put up neatly. The best 
method of marketing choice specimens is to pack 
in shallow boxes containing a single layer of fruit 
each, wrapping each pear in soft white paper. 
Covering plants, whether with earth or straw, 
should not be done too soon, nor left until too 
late. The best time is just as the ground is about 
to freeze ; if covered before this, there is danger of 
the plants heating, and consequent decay. 
Root-Cuttings of blackberries, raspberries, etc., 
are very easily made, and where a stock of any new 
or valuable variety is needed this is the readiest 
method of propagating. The roots are cut into 
pieces of two or three inches in length, and packed 
in a box containing earth; the box should be pro¬ 
vided with holes to allow water to run off, and 
then buried in a dry place deep enough to be safe 
from frost; if the ground is naturally moist, pro¬ 
vide a drain. 
Cuttings of gooseberries, currants, and quinoes 
may be planted now, taking care to press the soil 
firmly against the lower ends of the cuttings. 
Grape-vines .—This is the best season in which to 
trim grape-vines, unless they can be pruned very 
early in the spring before the sap has commenced 
to How. There have been so many methods given 
in previous numbers of the Agriculturist, that it 
will not be necessary to repeat them here; but 
whatever method is employed it is best to leave 
upon each cane one or two buds more than are 
necessary, in order to guard against winter-killing; 
the extra buds may be cut off early in the spring. 
Do not cut the cane off close to a bud, but leave 
about an inch of wood above each bud. 
Grape Cuttings .—The wood cut off in pruning 
may be used for propagation. Cut into pieees of 
six or eight inches in length, and tie in convenient 
bundles and bury in sand, and place in a cool cellar. 
KUchen Garden. 
Look over the directions given for last month 
concerning the preparations for the soil, etc. See 
that as much of the soil is spaded or plowed up as 
possible. Grass land intended for use next summer 
should be heavily manured aud plowed. Put in 
drains where they are needed. 
Asparagus. — After the frost has stopped the 
growth of the tops, cut them off and burn, and 
apply a heavy coating of manure. 
Roots .—After digging what parsnips, salsify, and 
horseradish are needed for winter use, the remain¬ 
der may be left in the ground over winter. If the 
other root crops have been harvested and stored, 
as recommended for last mouth, they may be 
covered with earth as soon as settled cold weather 
renders it necessary. 
Manure .—Every means should be used to in¬ 
crease the stock of manure, and everything that 
can be converted into a fertilizer should be carefully 
saved. Plenty of dry earth should have been 
secured to use in the earth-closets. Save all house 
slops, provide a heap of soil through which are 
placed layers of leaves to receive them; it will 
become a valuable fertilizer next spring. 
Rhubarb .—Better transplant for new beds now. 
Cover the old beds with plenty of manure. 
Cold-Frames .—Cabbage and cauliflower plants 
wintered in a cold-frame often sufferfrom too much 
heat; they will bear considerable freezing without 
injury. Place the sashes on the frames at night 
only, unless the weather is unusually cold. 
Celery may be stored in trenches now, or left 
until later in the ground banked up with earth. 
The trenches for storing it during the winter are to 
be made a foot wide, and as deep as necessary to 
admit the plants. The roots arc to be set close 
together without any earth between, and when cold 
weather comes on covered with straw and boards 
to keep out the rain. 
Cabbages .—Store as recommended for last month, 
but wait until the ground is about to freeze up 
before giving the final covering*. 
Spinach .—Apply a slight covering of hay or straw 
to protect it through the winter. In the wanner 
latitudes it may he thinned and sent to market. 
Soil .—Prepare soil for use in hot-beds next spring. 
