Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-19
Farm and Household.
some ses.OnsBIe Thing. 60 he Attend.
ed 60,
SUGGESTED BY THE BOSTON JOURNALS "YouNG
FARMER"


FARMER"
The farmer who is behind with his work
this spring should have some extraordinary
excuse. for he certainly cannot plead bad
weather ms a reason for not having accom-
plished all the little odd jobs which help so
much to fair start in the spring, when they
must be done after you should be blowing or
putting the seed into the ground.
You certainly should have prepared and
got home a sufficient supply of wood for the
summer use, and, in fact, for years supply,
If you burn wood during the winter. 1 do
not believe in the farmer cutting and draw
ing wood for winters FIRE when he can buy
his coal at as low rates Us it could have been
bought last summer if he has any way of
turning his time into money at fair wages. l
could always save more money upon the farm
in adding to my compost heap in drawing
out my manure for the springs use in get
ting my wagons, sleds and tools in repair for
the springs labor, or in doing such other bits
of work as were always needing to be done
upon a large farm, during winter, than l
could in fitting wood for the winters fuel.
Yet every farmer is not so situated that he
can buy and draw his coal SO cheaply as
could, and niRny have woodlots in which they
can cut their wood and get it home cheaper
than | could. Each farmer should estimate
these things for himself, and should be gov
erned by his circumstances in deciding which
will be the cheapest fuel for him to use and
in either case he should see that plenty of
it is provided at all seasons and of that which
is first-class
Perhaps more quarrels and more divorces
can be traced directly to the woodpile than to
almost any other cause No wood cut, or on
ly green wood, or flashy brush wood, are
enough to make a patient housewife get
cross while loss Of time in waiting for fires
that will not burn, the tardy meals and the
Improperly cooked food, which are the legii-
mate results of such fuel, are equally provok-
ing TO the husband.
But 1 was speaking of the work that should
have been done during this pleasant winter
weather l have named above some of my
winter jobs, and will suggest a few others.
After the wagons are all put in good condi-
ton the harnesses naturally occur to our
mind as needing some repairs and then
lHOlOuBn Wishing anu olllub' 1htN LUX
better, they wear longer, and il the work is
properly done they are SO much more COM
Portable to the horses, and so much less liable
to chafe and gall them that you will find that
the few hours spent in this work have saved
you days of labor in the hurried time.
In drawing out manure, or gathering the
material for compost, you have noticed many
other things which need attention Have you
made note of til EN- that you may take them
as you can get around to them
The rocks and large stones which you plow-
ell out last year still lay upon the top of the
ground where you left them, and day or
so will get them all out of the way as soon as
the frost leaves them free to be picked up.
Then there are few small stones upon the
moving land which can be picked up in much
less time than it takes to sharpen the scythes
or moving machine knives if you chance to
hit them next summer when moving.
Picking up these stones will remind you of
the dead limbs lying under the trees in the
orchard, if that is in grass, and before you
pick them up, you will saw off few more
dead limbs which do not improve the looks of
the trees and perhaps, also, a few live ones
which are growing the wrong way.
Then you will notice the little punches of
caterpilars eggs which are upon the tips of
the limbs, and before you realize it you will
be up some fine morning almost as soon as
the sun is, looking for them as they glisten
with the morning dew in the first bright rays
of the sun.
Then the grape-vines would look so much
better if they were trained up on trellses and
some of the dead wood cut out, that you will
not be easy until they are fixed. And the cur
rant bushes will want the dead wood cut out
of them, if you have currant bushes and if
you have not You will decide to set out few,
and perhaps few gooseberries, raspberries
and blackberries
And more than this, if you get these finish
ed, you may decide to put in a small straw
berry bed, that your family may enjoy that
best and most wholesome of fruits in abund-
ance during the season without feeling that
they are too dear to eat.
But perhaps this paragraph may catch the
eye of some smart farmer who has accom-
plished all of these and much more during
the past winter or previous winters, and who
10 INV lOuBluB lOI IcW NOIlIb u conquer.
Have you swamps which need to be under
drained? Have you rocks which are in your
way in the fields Do you need to build new
fences, or stone walls, or to repair old ones,
or to tear away some and throw some of your
small fields together to make larger ones
Have you an old orchard to dig out and
unsightly hedge rows to clean upl Do you
wish to prepare land for a new orchard or to
set rows of evergreens for wind breaks along
by the sides of some of your fields 1t is a
capital time for any part of this work, while
the ground is open, but yet too wet to plow
1t has seemed to me that if l owned farm
during the past winter could have found
such odd jobs upon it which would have paid
me better wages for myself and team than the
days wages usually paid for such work in
country towns 1t will not pay to do much
of it upon a hired farm where the tenure of
the lease is liable to expire at the beginning
of another year if so the landlord shall will,
or where you live in expectation each year of
hearing that some other farmer has made up
his mind that the farm would be worth a
larger rent than you are paying, and that
therefore you must pay such rent or leave.
Small encouragement for improvements or
even for painstaking upon such place
But whether my farm was intended for
permanent home, or was for sale when l
could get my price, as some men are fond of
Boosting that they hold everything but their
wives and babies, (wonder if they would be
on the market also, if the law allowed of such
a sale y l think such betterments, if made
judiciously, would pay literally for any time
spent in making them.
The TINE TO PRUNE The best experience
and the best practice says, prune no,c, in the
very first daYs of snrinp or what in our north