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'-CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS.—AUGUST.

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CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS.—AUGUST. August has long been depicted as a rosy maiden, crowned with a wreath of fruits and flowers, and holding in her Z!5 hand the sickle and the wheat-sheaf. Do not let the corn become too ripe before you begin to cut; it is a very com- Z) mon error, and is attended with several disadvantages the crops all become ripe together—the labourers cannot cut with sufficient rapidity—much seed is lost—and, if wet comes on, the corn sooner sprouts—the days get shorter- the night dews increase-seed sowing is retarded. Turnip hoeing, however, must now be going on. and on no account neglected, for on this depends more than one har- vest of the farmer. Coleseed, or better, the six weeks' turnips," may also be sown this month in some of the earliest 8tubbles that are cleared. The practice of the Flemish farmers is admirable; they grow rye or early peas for the purpose of succeeding these by transplanted rape or cabbage, which they, immediately after planting, Water with their liquid manure. In harvesting corn, prefer stacking. Wheat, 11 the farmer's chief hope," and barley, are safer from vermin when on frames; the sample is always of a better colour, and you may cart it earlier for stacking than for the barn. Beans, without they lay some days before they are tied, must be in small sheaves, and then hardly any weather will hurt them. Turn the ram to the ewes for early fat lambs. Stock- farmers now sell off their lambs aa.d draft ewes. Wether flocks should now have good keep to forward them for tur- nips. Sows should farrow this month. Ir-you have spare time, collect the earth upon which you intend to form your compost heaps; this can hardly be done with too much care. The practice of mixing earth with chalk or marl, and well p 0 mixing them with the plough or spade for some months before the dung heap is formed on it, is excellent. These earth beds should be formed deeper at the sides than in the centre, to allow of some of it being spared for covering over the heaps. I will here introduce the description recom- mended by Mr. Blackie, of the best mode of forming dung heaps, or pies in turnip fields, so as to prevent, as much as possible, the waste of gaseous matter during the fermentation of the manure. When," said this intelligent agriculturist, ifr is found necessary to empty the dting-yards early in the season, I recommend that preparations should be made in the usual way for the reception of the dang heaps in the in- tended turnip fields, by collecting large heaps of clay, marl, Z3 t5 or such other materials. The bottoms for the heaps should not, however, be laid above six or eight inches thick of the earthly material, and a good quantity of it should be placed in rows on each side of the bottoms marked out; the dung should then be drawn out of the yards a id placed upon the bottoms, but not in the usual way of 'hvowing it up loosely to cause fermentation on the contrary, by drawing the carts with their loads upon the heaps for the purpose of compress- ing the dung, thereby retarding fermentation. One or two men should remain constantly at the heaps while the teams are at work, on purpose to spread and level the dung regu- larly, so as to render the ascent easy for the succeeding teams as they come with their loads. If the dung has not been previously mixed in the yards it should be so in draw lug to the heaps, by taking up a few loads from one yard, and then a few from another alternately; and even from the same yard the loads of dung should be taken from different parts alternately, for the dung is not of equal quality, nor made with the same regularity in all parts of the yard. The coal ashes, road scrapings, and all other collections of manure about the farm-house should also be carried to these dung h ;aps, and when the heaps are raised es'high as convenient for the horses to draw up, several leads should be shot up at the ends of the heaps for the purpose of making them up to the square of the centre; the whole heaps should be then completely covered with the marl and clay, or soil previously collected by the sides the heaps, so as effectually to enclose the dung-heaps in crusts, and they are thenceforth denomi- nated pies. In these the dung will be preserved in a very perfect state, with little or no fermentation, and without loss by exhalation or evaporation. The pies, within ten days or a fortnight of the time it was wanted for the turnip ground, should be turned carefully over, and the crust, top, bottom, and sides, intimately mixed up with the dung. When the turning is completed with the natural soil around the heaps, again wet the heaps all over; the pies will then undergo a gentle fermentation, the earth intermixed with and covering the dung will absorb the juices and gaseous matters produced," and the compost come out in a fine state of preparation for using on the turnip lands. With skilful management, and under ordinary circum- stances, one ton of dry straw is found to produce about three tons of manure, so that as the common weight of straw per acre is about one ton and a half, the straw grown upon that extent of land should yield about four tons and a half cf ccfmpi st. This is a good- time, especially if the weather is moist, to r3 p improve poor worn out pastures, either by sowing grass seeds or by using the sub-turf plough, or both; rye and winter barley for spring feed, should be sown this, month, and towards the end a small crop of tares for first feeding. C. W. JOHNSON.

THE COTTAGE GARDENER—AUGUST.

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LONG AND SHORT LIFE.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, THURSDAY,…

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