Calendar of the Digger

Calendar of the Digger is a book, by Florentine economist and author Marco Lastri, that proposes an agricultural calendar. The complete title of the work is Calendar of the Digger: The Monthly Tasks of the Digger, Work of the Utmost Importance to the Farmer, as Written by Lastri ().
This calendar was also included, amongst other Lastri-authored works on rural subjects, in a single volume entitled Lessons on Practical Agriculture (). The volume is considered to be one of the best books on agrarian practice in Italy during the nineteenth century.
Outline
The Calendar of the Digger outlines an agricultural calendar and frames rules and machines best suited to the monthly tasks of farmers, depending on their roles. In particular, it focuses on the prescription of monthly tasks for the titular digger. Although such a method is not regarded as the most eloquent or comprehensive, Lastri considered it to be the most instructive.
The text consists of a brief introduction to the reader, and twelve chapters for the months of the year. In a later edition, a section of Lessons on Practical Agriculture was added to it. The Lessons comprised agricultural suggestions not according to the seasons, but rather according to material. Both methods had been used since antiquity, and were still considered established methods of agricultural practice by 18th century contemporaries.
Content
In January, the digger uses the shovel to prepare the soil for planting, begin re-opening trenches for the grapevine and renew pieces of depleted soil and barren land.
In February, following a decreased risk of rain and ice, the shovel is used on depleted soil to sow the seeds of broad beans or other soil-renewing plants.
In March, the digger sows seed. He also works the plains, in which the grapevine trenches are refilled; the filled grapevine trenches are then prepared.
In April, the digger turns the soil of the plains adapted for Turkish grain, hemp, and beans. The digger must prepare more grapevine trenches. An aerator is used to prepare fields for watermelon, cantaloupe and other plants.
In May, the digger shovels the beds where the beech trees and beans will be planted, finishes preparing the grapevine trenches, prepares grapevine grafts, and digs the trenches for the grapevines left from the year before.
In June, the digger should finish constructing berms for the grapevines and repair damage caused by landslides and erosion during the previous winter.
In July the digger should rest. The digger must examine the condition of the shovel and seek repairs or replacement from the blacksmith if necessary.
In the middle of August, the digger returns to work, digging trenches along the roads and fields and displacing the dug soil next to the grapevines, as it will be of use to the vines and to the field. He must also drain stagnant water that collected during the heavy rains of summer.
In September the digger should dig irrigation trenches in the middle of the fields and trenches along public roads to encourage the drainage of rainwater
In October, the digger digs grapevine trenches for planting in November, digs holes and mounds for various species of fruit, and drains the water from the fields.
In November, the digger prepares the fields for rye and winter broad beans by building ridges with the plow or spreading the beans across the field and then covering them in rows of raised soil.
In December, the digger must continue to sow beans as long as the soil remains dry, begin to dig for the March planting in case weather conditions permit early planting, and open the trenches for the grafted grapevines. It is advised to turn all the soil that will be planted in the coming year.
Throughout the book, Lastri emphasizes that the digger should shovel often and appropriately to ensure the fertility and richness of the soil. According to him, the productivity of the farm depends significantly on appropriate working of the soil by the digger, and by judicious use of fertilizer.
Editions
* Lastri, Marco, Calendario del vangatore nel quale restano descritte le faccende mensuali del vangatore scritto dal proposto Lastri, produzione che deve essere sommamente cara agli agricoltori, 1793, in Venezia: stamperia Graziosi a S. Apollinare.
* Lastri, Marco, Calendario del vangatore nel quale resta descritto le faccende mensuali del vangatore ... del proposto Lastri, 1806, in Venezia: stamperia Graziosi a S. Apollinare. Nuova edizione accresciuta: 1. Della vera piantagione del frumento di Pietro Caronelli; 2. Della regola vantaggiosa fondata sulla esperienza circa la coltura, semina, e raccolta de' risi; 3. Di un trattato pratico di seminare, coltivare, e preparare il tabacco in polvere ..
Other related works
* Lastri, Marco, 1793, Regole per i padroni
* Lastri, Marco, 1793, Calendario del maremmano
* Lastri, Marco, 1793, Calendario del pecorajo
* Lastri, Marco, 1793, Calendario del castagnajo

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