DEVOTED TO AGRICUIiTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND KINDRED ARTS. 



M¥ SERIES. 



Boston, August, 1867. VOL. I.—NO. 8. 



E. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, 34 Meechants' How. 



MONTHLY. 



SmON" BROWN, 

 S. FLETCHER, 



Editors, 



FARM "WORK FOR AUGUST. 

 "Nay, tell me not of lordly halls ! 



My miDstrels are the trees. 

 The moss and the rock are my tapestried walls, 



Earth's sounds my fcymphonies." 



N Englaxd, -where the 

 small grains, such as rye, 

 barley, oats, but princi- 

 pally wheat, are the staple 

 crops, August is the great 

 Harvest month of the year. 

 Our great harvests com- 

 mence in June, when 

 we begin to secure the hay 

 crop, which is even then 

 lying down on rich grounds. 

 The gathering of this impor- 

 tant crop continues through 

 J^lly, August and even into September, in some 

 parts of New England,, where some of the 

 late meadows are left uncut up to this late 

 season. We have seen good fodder taken from 

 them during the first week of the latter month. 

 August is the time when most of our cereals 

 are harvested — the rye, barley, oats and wheat. 

 In securing the grains, the practice used to be 

 to let the straw stand until the berry became 

 ripe, hard, and changed from its milky appear- 

 ance to a dark brown color. In this condition 

 some portion of the grain — too much to be lost 

 • — would be shaken out every time the straw 

 was handled, in cutting it, gathering, tying up, 

 loading and unloading, — and what renders 

 such an operation more objectionable, is the 



fact, that when the grain is left to harden on 

 the stalk, it is not so good as when cut from 

 seven to fourteen days before it is thoroughly 

 ripened. It is lighter, per bushel, is not so 

 nutritious, and if ground, the flour is not so 

 "handsome" and will not make so good bread, 

 as flour will from grain cut earlier. This fact 

 has been well settled by most careful experi- 

 ments. 



But our prime and splendid harvest is that 

 of Indian corn, which is begun in September, 

 and frequently does not end until some time in 

 November. When allowed to stand so late, 

 the grain receives no injury unless the stalks 

 are broken down and the grain lies upon the 

 ground, but the fodder is considerably reduced 

 in value. This crop is not only exceedingly 

 valuable in itself, but is valuable in the prepara- 

 tion of sod lands to receive the smaller grains, 

 — for it flourishes best on new, or sward lands. 

 Plowing and hoeing the crop three or four 

 times during the summer, pulverizes, enriches, 

 and admirably prepares it for wheat or any of 

 the smaller grains the following season. 



The meal from Indian com is a universal 

 food. All animals like it — biped and quadru- 

 ped ; horses, oxen, cows, calves, colts, swine, 

 poultry, dogs, even packs of hounds that are 

 kept for the chase, are frequently fed on a 

 warm, Indian bannock, morning and night. It 

 is wonderful how many ways it can be pre- 

 pared so as to be not only nutritious but ex- 

 ceedingly agreeable to the taste. In "corn 



