American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-02-22

The following travesty of a very stupid
habit of agricultural Journals is taken
from st. Louis paper:
The Febl uary work of the farmer is
| very important. He should lose no time
in planting his fence posts, and shallow
planting is advisable il he wants them TO
come up. Rail seed, to insure crop,
should be sown early, on light snow if
possible, of a dark one if necessary. The
precise time cannot be exactly stated, but
early sowing may be understood to mean
any hour before breakfast. This is good
employment for the leisure hours of the
farmers wife. 1t is not worth while for
him 70 buy any other sowing machine.
He had better begin to train his hens to
lay fence. fit is a worm fence, they will
like the job, as they are fond of worms.
If the hens can't come to the scratch, he
will find that fence laying is good EN-
plOyment for the leisure hours of his wife
and it will be her best chance to get good
layout. Drilling is recommended Tor
spring wheat and summer clothes. Both
can be attended to by the farmers wife
during her leisure hours. The mortgage
on the farm ought to be taken up before
the spring rains set in, or it may be wash
ed away. All fence corners ought to be
cleaned and swept, and the cobwebs
shoald be brushed down, early in the sea-
son. This will give the farmers wife
some pleasant employment. If there Is
any threshing left over from last year, it
may be attended to now. 1t is never too
late to thresh, even when the children
have gone to bed. Potatoes that have
been planted in the cellar should be taken
up and set i'm iron pots. After they have
been soaked in boiling water about fifteen
minutes they will be in fit condition to go
down, whether they come up or not.
This business can be attended to by the
farmers wife. Turnips that have been
buried should be turned up to see how
they will turn out, as the hard weather
may have sOftened them. Those who
have ice houses. the product OF which Is
not needed during the winter, may proht-
ABLY employ them in raising cucumpers.
In fact, there is no other means by which
the requisite GOODNESS can be given to that
delicious vegetable. 1t would be much
better for our farmers if they would pillow
out their corn and pull their fodder and
cut their grass before the hot days of sum-
mer set in. However, if the duty of polk
ing the fire keeps them too busy at pres
ent, they can leave those little chores UNI
til July or August, when their wives will
need some employment for their leisure
hours. Strawberry vines may be pruned
anytime during the month. They should
be trained upon trellises six feet high and
eight feet apart. The economical farmer
will thus find use for his wife's hoop
skirts. If rabbits have gnawed the bark,
apply porous plaster. Insects may be
kept away by a strong solution of altar OF
roses or patchouli. The delicious days
that sometimes occur in February, when
the farmer finds it impossible to remain
in the house, should be employed by him
in hauling up plenty of wood for his wife
to chop during her leisure hours. Water
melons that are grown as house plants
should have an equal proportion of whis-
XIV mixed with them, to keep them from
freezing. The careful farmer can easily
find enough to keep his family employed
during February. If he looks about the
farm with an eye to Improvement he VIII
sec many odds and ends of work =
which his wife can do just rs well as any
body.