CALENDAR OF GARDEN AND FARM OPERATIONS FOR OCTOBER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 92, 9 October 1852, Page 7

CALENDAR OF GARDEN AND FARM OPERATIONS FOR OCTOBER.

The Garden. —October, the equivalent of an English April, and the last month of spring, recalls to the recollection of every practical cultivator the energetic efforts essential to a complete fulfilment of the numerous gardening operations of the season, for each successive day throughout the month suggests additional duties peculiar to itself, the performance of which cannot be advantageously deferred. Wherever neglect or unavoidable circumstances may hitherto have deterred the planting and sowing of the various vegetable crops, every effort should at once be made to redeem the time lost, and to overtake the season in its onward progress. The late beneficial rains have rendered the ground in excellent condition for the reception of seeds ; first amongst which onions ought at once to be sown, probably less for the size their bulbs can now attain to than for their usefulness to draw green throughout the summer and autumn months, and save earlier sown crops likely to produce an abundance of fine bulbs. Carrots and parsnips may, throughout the month, continue to be sown, for some remarkably fine roots of both produced last season were not sown till late in October, though there is little question but these roots would have been still finer had they been sown in September. Successional sowing of peas, beans, French beans, and scarlet runners may still continue to be made. Early in the Dresent month is still a suitable time for sowing celery, cauliflower, brocoli, borecole, Brussels sprouts, savoys, turnips, spinach, and parsley, together with the varieties of early and late cabbages, whilst early spring sown plants of either, now fit for removal, may at once be transplanted. From the middle of the month the varieties of cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, vegetable marrows, capsicums, and tomatoes, may be sown within a sheltered enclosure formed by peas or any other tall growing vegetable, though the better way to treat such tender plants is to sow them in a flower-pot, or any substitute, and place them either in a glass frame or within the window of a dwelling house, and after the plants are about an inch in height, they may for a few days be gradually inured to exposure by placing them out during the day and keeping them in at night, after which they may be finally planted out in a sunny sheltered situation. Established strawberry plants, now coming into bloom, should, during dry weather, be frequently watered to assist them in setting and swelling their fruit. Ehubarb and sea-kale shewing a disposition to start to seed should at once be deprived of their seed stems, which cannot be produced without considerable injury to the plants. The Farm.—lt would be difficult to conceive a more favourable seed time than the late dry weather succeeded by refreshing rains has afforded, a circumstance of which every energetic farmer —worthy of the name—has taken advantage, and now exults in his glossy green luxuriant Wheat, and marks with pleasure the daily progress of his timely sown Oats and Barley. But in farming, as in every other occupation, those who are naturally dilatory will always lagg behind the truly industrious—blaming the weather or the land for their scanty crops—discovering a cause for failure in every other circumstance save their own negligence. Oats and Barley on all well-managed Farms are supposed to have been sown last month, but where this has been omitted, and has yet to be commenced, time may be gained by steeping the grain at least 24 hours in water, then draining and allowing it lie in a heap from 36 to 48 hotirs, covered with a winnowing sheet, with sacks ov any other covering for the purpose of securing a uniform fermentation of the seed, for all leeds must imbibe a certain amount of moisture, and undergo an incipient fermentation before vegetation commences. By adopting this simple mode of forcing, Oats and Barley sown in October may overtake those sown

in September, and ultimately prove equally productive, i Ji. Amongst Wheat, Oats and Barley, the early sown Grasses and Glovers have already germinated, presenting a most promising appearance, and though it is now becoming late for sowing them by themselves, yet where they are to be sown with Oats and Barley it is still sufficient time, for the rapid growth of the grain will afford abundant shade and protection against injury from hot weather. The varieties of Long Red and Orange Globe Mangold Wurtzel, where not already done, may throughout the month continue to be sown. The earlier in the present month Potatoe planting commences the better, the first step towards_ which, next to the preparation of the land, is the cutting of the seed, for experience warrants me. in affirming the planting of whole potatoes—herein this country where failure of any description is unknown—to be only an extravagant waste of seed, producing a superabundance of slender stalks and an undue proportion of small potatoes. Select, therefore, middle or large sized potatoes, cut them into two, three, four or even five moderate sized sets, twelve hundredweight of such being amply sufficient for an acre. The land being previously well ploughed aud harrowed, let the drills be drawn 28 inches asunder, planting the sets 12 inches distant in the drill, and immediately covering in with a double mould board plough. The work of planting is thus completed until a few weeks hence, when it may be desirable to run a light Harrow over them to flatten the drills and afford a fresh level surface shortly before the Potatoes begin to appear. W. W. Christchurch, October 4, 1852.