On Mr. Jackson’s Farm

On his farm Mr. Jackson has a big cowshed where he keeps 20 cows. Every day Mr. Jackson workers clean the cowshed, put straw on the floor and feed the cows.

Mrs. Jackson, his wife, milks the cows twice a day. Once a week she makes butter from cream. With skim milk Mrs. Jackson feeds young pigs. Every morning the co-operative sends to the farm a truck which takes the milk cans and brings them to the milk factory.

On Mr. Jackson’s farm everyone works, even his children – Christine and William. The children look after the poultry. They feed the birds, give water to them and collect eggs. In autumn they fat turkeys for Christmas market.

Answer the questions:

1. What does Mr. Jackson keep in the cowshed?

2. What do Mr. Jackson’s workers do every day?

3. How often does Mr. Jackson milk the cows?

4. How often does Mrs. Jackson make butter from cream?

5. How does she use skim milk?

6. Who takes the milk cans every morning?

7. What do Christine and William do on the farm?

8. What do they fat turkeys for?

Task 6. Read the text and answer the questions.

Mr. Tailor’s Farm

Mr. Tailor is the neighbour of the Jacksons. He has a large vegetable garden and a hot house. So he employs workers to help him.

In the vegetable garden Mr. Tailor grows cucumber, tomato, potato, cabbage, dill, carrot, onion and other vegetables. In spring the workers plough the land by mini-tractors or dig it with spades. Then they rake the ground and plant the vegetables. Usually Mr. Tailor plants the vegetables at sunset because in day-time it is hot and they may not take roots. In summer the workers weed the vegetables and water them with sprinklers and garden hoses. When the vegetables grow ripe the workers pick them up. Then Mr. Tailor loads the boxes with vegetables in his truck and takes them to the market in London.

Mr. Tailor’s vegetables are very good because he uses fertilize to grow them. Birds like to visit Mr. Tailor’s vegetable garden. That is why Mr. Tailor puts a scarecrow there. The scarecrow scares the birds away.

Answer the questions:

1. What is the Jacksons’ neighbour’s name?

2. What has Mr. Tailor?

3. What does Mr. Tailor grow?

4. What do the workers do in the vegetable garden in spring?

5. When does Mr. Tailor plant the vegetables?

6. What do the workers do in the vegetables garden in summer?

7. In what day does Mr. Tailor take vegetables to the market in London?

8. Who likes to visit Mr. Tailor’s vegetable garden?

9. What does Mr. Tailor put in his vegetable garden?

Task 7. Read the text and answer the questions.

Mr. Baker’s Orchard

Mr. Baker lives in the village of Knightshouse. He is a miller, but he has an orchard, too. Mr. Baker employs a gardener to help him in the orchard. In Mr. Baker’s orchard there are apple-trees, pear-trees, cherry-trees, peach-trees and other fruit trees. But Mr. Baker does not grow any grape. Mr. Baker grows strawberries, too.

In May the fruit trees blossom. Their smell is very sweet.

In June strawberries grow ripe. They are nice and juicy.

Cherries ripen in July. Then come apricots, plumps, apples and pears.

In summer Mr. Baker employs workers, usually students, to pick up fruit. Then he sells the fruit and berries to the co-operative.

Near the orchard Mr. Baker has a flower garden. In the flower garden there are roses, tulips, asters and other flowers. Tulips bloom in spring – they are very nice. Roses grow on a bush. They bloom in summer and have a sweet smell. But roses have thorns and may stick. Asters bloom at the end of summer. They are pink, purple and white. The gardener looks after the flowers and waters them with a watering-can and with a garden hose.

Mr. Baker has bees. The bees live in the hives in the orchard. They collect juice from flowers and make honey from it. Bees are domestic insects.

Answer the questions:

1. Where does Mr. Baker live?

2. What has he?

3. Whom does he employ?

4. What kind of fruit trees are there in Mr. Baker’s orchard?

5. Does he grow any grape?

6. What else does Mr. Baker grow?

7. When do the fruit trees blossom?

8. What is their smell like?

9. When do strawberries grow ripe?

10. What are the strawberries like?

11. When do cherries ripen?

12. Whom does Mr. Baker employ in summer?

13. Where does he sell the fruit and berries?

14. What does Mr. Baker have near the orchard?

15. What kind of flowers are there in the flower garden?

16. When do tulips bloom?

17. Where do roses grow?

18. When do they bloom?

19. When do asters bloom?

20. What colour are they?

21. Where do the bees live?

22. What do the bees do and what are they?

Task 8. Answer the questions.

I

1. What do the English farmers do early in spring?

2. What do the tractors pull?

3. What do the farmers sow in the soil?

4. What causes great harm to the crops?

5. What do the English farmers do in summer?

6. What do they use for weeding?

7. When do the English farmers gather in the harvest of wheat?

8. What do the farmers use to gather the wheat?

9. Where do some farmers take the combine-harvesters?

10. Why do the fields in England give rich harvests every year?

11. What does the soil fertile?

12. When do the English farmers gather in beet roots and sunflower seeds?

13. What do the workers do at the sugar-refinery and oil-mill?

14. When do the English farmers pick fruit?

15. Where do they hand in the fruit?

II

1. Do your parents have a summer cottage and a fruit garden?

2. What do you do in your garden in spring and summer?

3. What kind of fruit trees do you have?

4. Do you grow any flowers?

5. What flowers do you grow?

6. What are your favourite flowers?

7. Do any of your relatives live on a farm?

8. What do they do in spring, summer and autumn?

9. What do they grow on the farm?

10. Do your relatives have any domestic animals?

11. Who looks after the domestic animals?

Task 9. Prepare a report on one of the following subjects:

1. “Work on the English Farm”

2. “Our Summer Cottage and Fruit Garden”

3. “Work on the Farm, Where My Relatives Live”

Task 10. Put one of the following words into each gap.

wheat, tractors, fertilizers, weeds, sugar

1. The English farmers plough the land by … .

2. Farmers sow seeds of … in the soil.

3. … cause great harm to the crops.

4. The … make the soil more fertile.

5. The workers make … from beet roots.