352 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
Nov. 
Sundry Hints for the Season. 
There is at least one very good reason why the work 
of the last of the autumn months should be promptly 
attended to. If not seasonably performed, everything 
will be transfixed with chains and bolts of frost, and, 
to most of our readers, four months must elapse before 
emancipation can take place. In any other ‘month, 
* what happens to be neglected, may be done in the first 
few days of the next; but here, no allowance is usual¬ 
ly given the tardy and neglectful farmer. For this 
reason, it may be of essential use to point out some of 
the closing fall-jobs. 
One of the first, is to secure unharvested crops of 
carrots and ruta bagas. They may sometimes escape 
longer, but they are never positively safe beyond the 
first of the month. Ruta bagas being much exposed 
above ground, should be gathered at once. If covered 
in heaps by earth, they will endure a slight freezing 
without injury, and hence may not need so thick a co¬ 
vering as potatoes and beets ; but in the cellar, exposed 
to the air, no frost hard enough to touch them should 
be admitted. If air can be easily let in for ventilation 
below them, and ready egress is allowed for it above, 
they may be piled in large masses ; but without this 
precaution they will probably heat, rot, and spoil. In 
out-door heaps, ventilators in the top made by thrust¬ 
ing in a small bundle of brush, or even of coarse straw, 
are indispensable. These remarks will apply in some 
degree to all other roots. Heaps of potatoes are often 
found to contain most rotten ones at the top, which is 
ascribed to the supposed action of frost to this most 
exposed part,—when the true reason is the accumula¬ 
tion of foul and heated air at the highest point, where 
it can find no escape. 
The long white carrot, which has now become culti¬ 
vated by many farmers and found very productive, is 
more exposed than the orange, and should therefore be 
gathered first. In dry winters, and on dry soils, the 
orange will often remain through the winter without 
injury, but this result cannot be relied on, and all roots 
for spring feeding (except parsnips) should therefore be 
timely secured. 
The most successful mode of preserving large quan¬ 
tities of potatoes which we have witnessed, is to bury 
them in large heaps, and cover them first with straw 
thick enough to form a coating of one foot when well 
packed. A covering of earth or turf throe inches thick 
over the straw, was found amply sufficient to exclude 
frost; while the absorbing power of the great mass of 
straw prevented any injury from dampness, and the 
thin coating of earth admitted good ventilation. 
Underdraining may be performed to advantage on 
all soils not too wet. There are many portions of the 
farm that am too hard to ditch during the dryer sea¬ 
son, that have now become sufficiently softened by the 
autumn rains to work advantageously. Let as much 
of this be done as may be practicable, and next sum¬ 
mer’s erop will tell the result. 
Plowing in autumn has several advantages. It di¬ 
vides the labor of*teams, and enables them to perform 
while they are strong and vigorous, and during cool 
weather, a part of the work which must otherwise be 
done in spring, often under more unfavorable circum¬ 
stances. It frequently admits of earlier sowing of 
spring crops by a week or more,—a^jfference which 
often makes a great increased amount. We have 
known a delay of ten days to diminish the oat crop 
more than half, as compared with earlier sown fields. 
Autumn is especially adapted to the deep trench plow¬ 
ing performed with the Michigan plow, by the expo¬ 
sure which it gives to the newly turned subsoil, as well 
as in consequence of the increased facilities for a strong 
draught at this season. 
Wheat fields are often much injured by snow-water 
standing upon the surface early in spring, in large pud¬ 
dles which cannot escape. Surface furrows should be 
well cleaned out before winter so as to admit of the 
ready draining of these bodies of water. 
Ample preparations should be made for shelter to 
domestic animals during winter. Sheds, stables, shel¬ 
tered yards, feeding-racks and feeding-troughs, often 
save in a single winter their entire cost, by avoiding 
the needless consumption of food to impart warmth, 
and by preventing a waste of fodder under foot. 
Manure is always valuable, but pork brings a high¬ 
er price in market per hundred weight. Therefore 
avoid the wasteful practice many have of converting 
corn into manure, which should be made into pork. To 
prevent this waste, procure those breeds of hogs that 
yield a large quantity of pork for the amount of food 
consumed; or in other words, those that work it up 
into flesh, instead of merely chopping it into manure. 
A great saving is also made by fitting the corn for food 
by cooking, by which a much larger portion is digest¬ 
ed, assimilated, and converted to pork, than by feed¬ 
ing uncooked corn. 
The coming winter will be scarce of fodder. Much 
straw will be consumed by cattle, 'which in ordinary 
circumstances would be used for litter and converted 
directly to manure. Hence it will be advisable to draw 
from the woods all the fallen leaves that may be had, 
so far as time and team will admit. A high box to 
the wagon like that used for charcoal wagons, rakes, 
and large baskets, will greatly facilitate the work. 
Leaves make excellent bedding and excellent manure, 
more easily spread and mixed with the soil than when 
long straw is used. 
Cattle often suffer in winter for want of water, and 
prefer going without for a time to travelling a half 
mile for it, exposed to dogs and other annoyances. Pro¬ 
vision, if not already made, eannot be secured after 
the earth is frozen up. Timely care should therefore 
be taken in this particular. Good milk, sweet butter, 
and healthy and thriving animals depend more on pure 
wholesome water than many suppose. Care should for 
this reason be taken to have clean troughs; and every 
night the water should be withdrawn by means of a 
plug, so that it need not freeze, and to admit of a clean, 
fresh, un-iced portion the next morning. 
Straw-cutters should be provided. It is true they are 
