AGRICULTURE. . 321 of May, wheat or oats are seldom sown until the first of the latter month. Barley will ripen if sown before the 20th of June, although it is generally sown earlier. Potatoes are planted about the last of May, or before the middle of June, and often later. Turnip seed is sown about the middle of July; some prefer sowing it the first week in August, in which case the leaves are not so liable to injury from worms. Gardening commences early in May, and generally combines the different departments of fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Haymaking begins in the latter end of July, and as the weather is commonly very dry at this time, it is attended with little trouble in curing. Hay is sometimes put away under cover, but oftener made up into stacks or ricks. Experienced farmers say, that the common run of old settlers on the island dry their hay before they stack it. Barley is reaped in August; there are two varieties of it, five-rowed and two-rowed ears. The wheat and oat harvest commences sometimes before, but generally after the first of September. Some use a cradle for cutting their grain, and afterwards make it up into sheaves and stooks, but the common way is to reap and lay it up in sheaves, and then gather and stack it in the same manner as in England . Potatoes and turnips are left undug until the mid¬ dle or end of October: the first are generally ploughed up, except on new land, where the hoe alone is used. Parsnips may remain in the ground during winter, vol,, i . . x