Very little can be done now in this department, except by way of preparation for another year.

Manure can be placed on the ground wherever required, and asparagus beds, if not already done, should have a slight covering of it. Bean poles, pea-brush, and stakes of all kinds should be got now, the tool house gone over and put in order, and everything kept in good order and studiously in its place. When the season of operation commences, there will then be nothing to hold back the attention.

If there is abundance of leaves or manure at command, and small frames, beds may be put up for early spring salads, at the end of the month. Radishes and lettuces are, however, very impatient of too much heat; they will come on well if the temperature be kept at 450. When it goes above that, the sashes should be lifted entirely off. The same remarks apply to the potato and Early Horn carrot.

For those who have time to do it, nothing pays better than an annual washing of the stems of fruit trees. It helps to keep the tree clear of dead bark, and that is an advantage in itself, and then it keeps away the shelter for insect eggs, and the spores of injurious funguses. The old-fashioned lime-wash with sulphur, and some soot or clay to keep down the glare of the lime, is very good, but if even this covering be objected to, there is soft soap, potash, or any of the numerous articles which have been found to be not injurious to the tree itself. The mere wash is a benefit. Surface manuring is also a benefit, and even here the exact material is not such a very momentous question. The leafy vegetable matter, with the sand of roadside clearings, has been found to be very beneficial. We have rarely seen a tree suffer from too rich feeding when that food was applied to the surface.

The pruning of fruit' trees should have prompt attention. Apple or pear seldom need more than a thinning out of the weaker branches, except when the growth is weak from insect attacks, over-bearing, or poverty, or bad management. Shortening in, so as to get a new, vigorous growth, will then be a benefit. Just how much pruning should be done, cannot be told outside of the orchard to be pruned. In the old times, we had pictures and written sketches of just how to prune a tree, which no one could follow, because no two orchards will bear just the same treatment. The grape can be brought nearer a general rule - but, even here, little more can be said than that we do not want to retain weak shoots, and we do want the strong ones - we do not want the whole length of the cane which we preserve, but we shorten in proportion to its strength; we want always to keep our annual shoot as near the ground, or as near the main stem, as possible, and, therefore, in pruning, we study to so cut as to give the lowest ones all the encouragement we consistently can, keeping in view our desire to get a full crop of fruit the coming season.