FARMERS' AND GARDENER'S CALENDAR FOR DECEMBER.

Southland Times, Issue 866, 16 December 1867, Page 3

FARMERS' AND GARDENER'S CALENDAR FOR DECEMBER.

Hoe and thin carrots to 6 inches apart. Finish sowing turnip 3, using the earlier varieties last. Transplant cattle cabbage where free from blight, and single out mangold wurzel to 12 inches apart. Cut grass for the proper hay crop -when in bloom, mowing close to the ground. Bye-grass intended for seed should be carefully "watched, and not cut until the ears are prety full, as the large proportion of rye-grass seed saved at present is almost ■worthless, being little better than the chaff of •what good seed ought to be. Experience has proved that -well- filled seed, weighing 251bs to the measured bushel, can be easily grown in the Colony. In thrashing out the seed tate great care that it is kept in a cool, open place, as heating destroys it, No kind of farm seed being more easily damaged than rye-grass, if heated or kept in a damp place, it gets musty, and becomes worthless. Use all diligence in getting the hay crop secorely stacked and thatched. Continue soiling cattle — keep the horse hoe at work amongst potatoes, turnips and mangold, as the loosening of the soil tends to absorb moisture, and dry weather may be anticipated during the nest month. Kitchen Gabden. — With this month we arrive at the commencement of summer. In the kitchen garden earth up pease and beans, likewise cabbages ; stake pease, for they bear much better. Pease may still be sown for succession. Plant out vegetable marrows, ridge cucumbers, tomatoes, and capsicums — neither of those vegetables will succeed if exposed to cutting winds. French beans may now be planted with safety ; the best sorts are the early dunn, the negro and the early speckled. Scarlet and white Dutch runners should now be planted. Full crops of turnips may be sown for autumn and •winter use, also red beet, and white or silver beat as a substitute for spinach. Continue successional sowings of radish, mustard, cress, lettuce. Plant any of the sorts of cabbage or broccoli upon vacant ground, and keep the hoe going and all crops free from weeds. Cucumbers and melons in frames should be earthed up, and ■well supplied with water in dry weather. The celery sown in the nursery bed should now be exposed to the open air to harden, but shaded irom the mid-day sun and well supplied with water, and in about a week or ten days should be planted in a nursery bed of light rich soil, about •one or two inches apart, and well watered and shaded till they strike root. In the flower garden all pot plants that have been preserved throughout the winter may be planted out with safety, as all danger of froat may be considered paßt. Balsams and other tender annuals may also be sown, and hardy ones thinned out, as they grow stronger and flower batter for it. Continue to stake and tie everything requiring it, as neatness and cleanliness should be the order of the day.