The Portland daily press., 1875-10-26
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Take Care.

NOW That the DlrdS nave gone, The autumn
nal equinox has come, and Jack Frost has
made some hostile demonstrations, we are
forced unwillingly to believe and admit that
the summer is ended. With its depart
ure, many of our luxuries and liberties have
disappeared, to which we are unwisely in
clined to cling. We can no longer lounge on
the greensward under the shady elm, or lin
ger at the twilight hour to see "the Swallowed
light of evening fall" or battle in the ripping
winds as they float through the open window;
any such romantic and poetic tendencies so
natural and appropriate for midsummer, are
sadly out of place in these October days.
Woe betide the luckless wight whose suscep-
tible Imagination ignores the lurking chills
and colds and coughs under every green re-
treat of summer.
We cling to summer, and part with it as
we do with youth; and yet It is the wiser
part to submit to the inevitable, and man.
We sound therefore the note of warning
and say, take care of your health-guard the
body against the sudden changes which range
from the dog-star's heat to the biting frost,
from desert drouth TO the sloppiness of
March; avoid the chilly dews of evening,
and the damps of the earth in the morning,
which the sun SO slowly dissipates. Let par
ents especially provide winter undertaking
for their children, now at once-and then as
colder weather comes on, add such outer
rrar unto 10 y}osx>
the absurd old-fashioned idea that one grows
tougher by going half clothed, although
shivering and chattering in the cold. He
easiest sustains the attacks of winter, who
arrays himself against its first advances.
The record shows that in the long run the
most work and the hardest fighting have been
done by men who were well fed and warmly
clad.
Now is the time in these charming Indian
summer days to prepare our dwellings for
winter. Do not wait until the cold winds
and the rains and the SHOWS remind us of our
neglect, but let us make haste to mend win
dows, and stop leaks in the roof and close
the crevices that admit the weather-and
rats as well into the cellar. An outside coat
of paint may be applied to advantage, while
the air is free from dust and insects, and
while the weather is so mild that the brush
may be comfortably handled. Mix the sedi-
ment in the paint pot with clean sharp sand,
and you have an excellent cement for stop
ping leaks around chimneys, or elsewhere
The last work in the garden ought soon to
be done, as the earth will be frozen in a few
weeks, and SHOWS may fall that will not en-
tirely disappear. Roots should be gathered
before their exposed crowns are frost bitten,
and housed in their proper places. Cabbages
may remain safely week or two longer, and
perhaps they will continue to head. It is
well to leave row or two of parsnips in the
ground through the winter, for early spring
use.
A good deal Of garden work may be done
now in time of comparative leisure, that is
usually postponed until the rush and hurry
of spring. The strawberry, asparagus, and
rhubarb beds shonld be weeded the earth
spaded, and coat of manure applied, and
then they are all ready to begin to grow as
as soon as the SHOWS disappear. Dry stalks
and vines and all the rubbish of the garden
should be collected and buried on the ground.
Ashes. plaster, and stable manure may be
spread on the surface, there TO remain; or if
the soil is light, it may as well be plowed, land
then in the spring only the cultvator or har-
row will be needed. We advise all tillers of
the soil to make small garden bed, raised
above the reach of winter floods, for the fall
sowing of lettuce, tomato and other hardy
garden seeds. An early start OF healthy Wig
crous plants is thus secured, at time when
the ordinary pressure of spring work would
prevent the giving of any attention to them.
Probably nearly all field and garden crops
before this time have been harvested and
securely sheltereJ-if beans or corn still
remain on the soil they should be well pro-
tected. Hay caps still retain their full value
after the haying season is over, and they
should be used for every crop needing COW
ering. Ifyou have fruit trees growing up in
your garden border where the grass has
crepts in around them, throw shoyelful or
two OF loose earth around their roots, and
thus defend them against the depredations of
field-mice.
This is the very time to take an inventory
of farm and garden tools and implements
bring them together in some convenient barn
or shed, inspect them thoroughly and repair
all defects, then oil or paint them, and put
them away in their. proper places all ready
for future use.
We have enjoined it upon all to take care
OF their own boGies-let them not limit their
attention to themselves alone, but rather
extent the same regard to everything of
their own that hath breath. Aside from
considerations of humanity, no reason can be
given why man should deliberately defraud
himself by neglecting his animals. The way
to obtain good returns from horses, oxen and
COWS, In the way of labor, beef and milk
during midwinter, is to take good care of
them now. They should not be exposed.
young stock especially, to cold rains in the
pastures-give them the shelter of shed or
barn and liberal allowances of meal or roots
The same care and forethought that we
manifest towards our own dwellings, should
be exercised over the homes of our animals
small investment in boards, shingles and
clapboards may save a larger one in hay and
provender. 1t is surprising TO see how
many tons of hay and bushels of meal 90 out
through openings in the roof or walls of
barns, which might have been saved had
they been made warm and comfortable. and
thereby prevented the extra consumption of
food which such exposure must needs re-
quire.
At this suggestive season of the year when
the laboring man naturally reviews and also
resolves, 1t is well to survey the whole do
main and see what requires care, and if one
has any possession more valuable than houses
or land or crops, it will be well to take care
of that.
Value of Covered Manure.
At various times we have pointed out to
our readers the profits resulting from cover
ing manure, instead of allowing it to get
soaked by the rains or dried by the sun, as is
generally done. We have given this advice
from what we have actually seen. When
rough sheds have been built to cover the ma
h hure heap, the crops fertilized by this pile