May3. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 83 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
sio ! 
WEATnEENEAR LONDON IN 
1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon Moon’s 
R. & S. 1 Age. 
1 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
Day of i 
Year, j 
MAY 8—14, 1855. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
8 
Tu 
Gvrinus villosus. 
29.558—29.448 
58—32 S.W. 
62 
22 a 4 
31 a 7 
1 49 22 
3 41 
128 
9 
W 
Elater tessellatus. 
29.861 —29.676 
60—3i N. 
17 
20 
32 
2 16 e 
3 45 
129 
10 
Th 
Elater balteatus. 
30.039—29.992 
58—41 N.E. 
— 
18 
34 
2 37 24 
3 48 
130 
11 
F 
Elater nitter. 
30.075 — 29.939 
56—30 W. 
— 
17 
36 
2 53 25 
3 50 
131 
12 
8 
Elater aeneus. 
30.186—30.118 
67—39 s. 
— 
15 
37 
3 8 26 
3 52 
132 
13 
Sun 
Rogation Sunday. 
30.110—30.083 
6/-37 N.W. 
— 
14 
39 
3 21 27 
3 53 
133 1 
14 
M 
Elater lineatus. 
30.139—30.112 
67—37 N.E. 
— 
12 
40 
3 36 28 
3 54 
134 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tem- 
peratures of these days are 62 .° 6 , and 40.7°, respectively. The greatest heat, 81°, occurred on the 12th, in 1833; and the lowest cold, 25°, 
on the 11th, in 1638. During the period 117 days were fine, and on 79 rain fell. 
Not long since an American lady was asked, “ What has 
woman to do with agriculture?” and in reply she 
related this anecdote :— 
“ I know a woman who, twelve years ago, was left a 
widow, with six small children, in debt, upon a farm of 
one hundred acres, fifty improved and indifferently 
cultivated. The fact enforced itself upon her mind that 
she had something to do with agriculture, and although 
she was as ignorant as farmers’ wives generally, she 
went to work industriously to inform herself; for upon 
her efforts and her success depended the education it 
had always been her ambition to give her children. Her 
success was undoubted ; and now she will tell you, if 
you ask her, what crops are most exhausting, and 
which least injurious to land; she will explain the 
course necessary to be pursued to elevate the standard 
of fertility; will tell you how she made her dairy 
profitable, aud why she finally exchanged her cows for 
sheep. I know several other instances where families 
similarly circumstanced have been broken up and 
scattered, because the mother could not attend to the 
farm. If our own interest, and the interest of our 
children is not inducement enough for us to inform 
ourselves upon this matter, then the ambition to become 
sensible companions for our husbands, and intelligent 
mothers for our sons, should be enough to induce 
farmers’ wives and daughters to learn something re¬ 
specting the principles of agriculture.” 
Can any one either by reason or ridicule make us feel 
that this reply is absurd? Can any one convince us 
that a knowledge of the culture of the soil is incom¬ 
patible with those other acquirements which render 
woman the support as well as the adornment of a 
household? Happily, we know many instances to the 
contrary, and we are well pleased to quote as an 
example the Leicestershire Lady, whose little pamphlet 
is now before us.* The dedication reveals its author¬ 
ship, for it pages are “ Inscribed by a mother to her son, 
with a hope that they may be the means of turning his 
attention to the pursuits of agriculture, and may lead 
him by observation and practical experience to forward 
that science, upon which the welfare of society so much 
depends.” The writer, however, has another object; 
for she thinks her pages are likely to be useful to the 
beginner, “who feeling anxious to cultivate a few acres of 
land, may be glad of some general rules on first entering 
* Hints on Agriculture adapted to a Midland County. Price six¬ 
pence, London : Hamilton, Adame, and Co., PaternoBter Row. 
upon one of the most praiseworthy and enjoyable 
pursuits a person can adopt— 
“ To study culture, and with artful toil 
To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil, 
To give dissimilar yet fruitful lands 
The grain, or herb, or plant that each demands. 
This, this is art pursued without a crime, 
That leaves no stain upon the wing of time.” 
We assent to all this—not only to the worthiness of 
the pursuit, but to the opinion that all ladies living in 
the country, and all beginners of the art of soil-culture, 
whether allotment holders, or tenants of wider spaces, 
may read the Lady of Leicestershire’s “ Hints” with much 
advantage. We include ladies resident in the country 
within those who may read the “ Hints” with advantage, 
because it will increase the pleasures derivable from their 
rambles if they understand the proper why, and when, 
and how of what is doing daily around them. Let 
no lady say, “Oh, I know quite enough of such matters,” 
for we fear that very few know even the simple facts 
contained in this short extract. 
BARLEY. 
“Barley requires the land to be in a highly pulverized state > 
which should be ploughed if possible before Christmas, so a s 
to have the benefit of the frost upon it. It will not requir e 
manuring, as I suppose the ground has been well manured 
for the previous crop of turnips. March and April are th e 
months for sowing this crop. I advise three bushels per acre 
to be drilled, you are thus enabled to hoe between the rows 
and keep the land clean. The clover seed is sown broadcast 
after the barley; the quantity per acre will be 10 lbs. of red 
clover, 2 lbs. of white, and 2 lbs. of trefoil mixed together. 
If you find in the Autumn the clover seed has come up 
thick, and promises a good crop, you may turn the sheep 
upon it to eat it down, provided the weather is not frosty, 
but it must not be too closely cropped under any circum¬ 
stances. The clover crop will be fit to cut and make into 
hay about the following June. When it has sprung up a 
second time and become a good crop, mow it or turn the 
sheep upon it to eat it well down, preparatory to its being 
ploughed up for the wheat crop in October. Barley is not 
injured like Oats in being allowed to be dead ripe before it 
is cut, and may be mowed, the corn not shelling. Barley 
should weigh 1C stone net per sack.” 
Let any one lady who does possess such knowledge 
take our word for it that she possesses a store of useful 
information, which it would be well if all her sisterhood 
possessed. We have given some reasons shewing why 
it is desirable for them, and, besides, who among them 
can tell whether she may not one day find herself in an 
emigrant household? Then will she find the full value 
of such knowledge, and be able to write to dear ones in 
the old country such a letter as that now open before us. 
It is from Australia, and from one who has shone in 
No. CCCXLV. Voi. XIV. 
