AMERICAN AGRICaLTURIST. 
[August, 
Coateats for August, 1877. 
Agricnltural MacLinery, Economy of. 20S 
Among the Farmers, No 19. — Insects — Moth Trap — 
High Manuring for Peas— The City's Filth— TLo 
Slorrs Farm — Reclaiming a Swamp — Wild Onions 
and Milli— A Lesson From Bees 294-S95 
Axe for Fence Posts MiuatTated . .Wt 
Bee Notes for Augnst ... 290 
Boys and Girls' C^olumns— Doctor's Correspondence, 
Insect with Stone House, Crawfish, Sowbn<rs, House 
Fly, Killing Snakes— Aunt Sue's Chats— Aunt Sue's 
Puzzle Box— Doctor's Talks, About the Japanese, 
How Gyp was Deceived— Puzzle Picture... .Slllui- 
trations 305-308 
Catalogues Received 989 
Cattle, Ayrshire Cow, "Ruby." lUtis/mkd.. 2S1 
Ca'lle, Echo Farm Herd of Jerseys 3 Illustrations . .WS 
Cellar Walls, Draining % Illuslral.iom . .Wi 
Cement, How to Mix It H JUmtratiom . m-i%l 
Clover, The Ornamental Species Illustrated. .301 
Commissioner of Agriculture 299 
Corn-Sheller, Home-Made 4 lUustralions . .'X>G 
Dairy at Echo Farm 4 lUustraiions. . 299-300 
Farm Work in August , 282 
Fashions in Bouquets— The Fan ...2 lUustratkms .300 
Flower Garden and Lawn iu August 284 
Fruit Garden in August 284 
Glazed Flower-Pots for House Plants 302 
Greenhouse and Window Plants iu August 284 
House, Plan for ^Illustrations . .3^:1 
Household Department— Vegetable Washing Machine 
— Water Filter — Home Topics, Husbands and House- 
Work ; Bread-Making: Repairing Comforters; Old 
Bed-Quilts ; Washing Blankets. .2 lUustraiions. . 30-3-305 
Humbugs, Sundry 287-288 
Insects— Cutworms- -CI imljcrs 299 
Insects— Potato Bug in Germany 399 
Insects— The Walking-Stick Again 302 
Insurance of Farm Buildings 298 
Kitclieu and Market Garden in August 284 
Logs, A Method of Blasting SI Illustrations. .298 
Loss to Farmers, $20,000,000 iu One Year 289 
Market Reports for Augnst 285 
Notes from the Pines— The Smoke Tree— Deutzias — 
Cultivation of Native Plants— Bird-foot Violet— Cut. 
wornis 2 lUustraiions . 302 
0<''den Farm Papers. No. 90. — Irrigation — Windmills — 
Deep Setting of Milk— Prickly Comfrey 290-291 
Orcliard and Nursery in August. . .5 lUustraiions. .283-284 
Peaches, Picking and Packing S Illustrations. 303 
Pig Pen, Portable 2 lUustraiions. .290 
Poultry— The Narragansett Turkey 296 
Poultry- Treatment of Scabby Legs 299 
Sea- Weed, The Use of 297 
Science Applied to Farming, No. XXXIII— More about 
Seeds— Testing Their Purity and Vitality— Sprouting 
Apparatus— Experiments witli Fertilizers. 3 IU. .291-292 
Seed-grain and Cold 298 
Shrubs— The Tartarian Honeysuckle lUmtraled.. ZOl 
Silk Manufacture iu America 298 
Talk on Farm Crops. No. 6.— The Corn Crop— Fall 
Plowing— Preparing Land for Barley 295-396 
II^DSX TO " BASKET," Oil SUOKTEU AIITICLES. 
Alfalfa Pasture.... 
Am. Pomological Soc'ty. 
Am. Veterinary Review. 
An Example 
Beardless Barley 
Big Head 
Blackberries iu N. C — 
Blind Pigs ... 
Blue Grass, No Curse 
Boats, Smootli-sided 
Bone with Acid or Soda 
Butter, Coloring 
Butter in Hot Climates. 
Butter, Packing 
Cancer in Bull 
Care with Fertilizers... 
Castor Pomace 
Cement Concrete 
Cement Tiles 
Charcoal, Burned Bones. 
Cisterns 
Clovers 
Clover Seed 
Cotton-seed as Fertilizer 
Crevecceur Fowls 
Cucumbers Fried 
Dduth ofChas. O. Judd. 
Death of C. H. Walton.. 
Disease of Blood 
DitchiuL' Plow 
Dog-Power Churns 
Drawing Studies 
Egg-Plant, to Cook 
E'TgPrescrvinii ... 
Fall Fallowing 
Farm Engines 
Feeding Chickens 
Food for Milk 
Fretting for Farm ..' 
Fruit in England 
■•Gardener" and other.s 
German Millet to Cows. 
Goats and Hair .. 
Green Corn Pudding. . . 
Harvesting Beans 
Hay and Grain Caps — 
Home for Sale 
289 Honor well Bestowed... 286 
314 Horse Distemper .314 
.287 Horse not Backing 31:J 
.315 Irrigation 289, 314 
.289 Liniments 315 
.815 Lobos Guano 2S7 
.288 Mignonette and Bees 314 
.987 Milking Tubes 314 
.314 Muck. Value of 289 
.314 Nebraska Matters 286 
..314 N. Y. Hort. Society 236 
.988 Nit. Soda on Potatoes. ..314 
.315 Not a Clover 314 
.286 Oleo-margirine 3S9 
. 315 Onions and Oranges 315 
. 315 Orchard Grass Seed 315 
287 Parrafin and Seeds 290 
.315 Peach Crop 290 
.313 Plague of Insects 287 
.315 Pleasure and Business. . .314 
.289 Pleurisy iu Pigs 389 
.314 Polled Angus Cattle. ...314 
.315 Potato-bugs and Flax.... 313 
■.315 Potato Fertilizer 310 
,315 Prizes tor Tree Phinting.2S7 
289 Purslane on the Table. . .290 
28tijQuidding Horse .313 
28lliRural New Yorker. . 286 
315:Sacriflce of Seeep... 315 
289 'Saddler's Wax 314 
313 Scientiflcs S14 
287 Screws vs. Sticks 286 
289 Sheep for Profit 314 
287, Shepherd Dogs 313 
289 Short-horn Convention.. .as7 
314 Slow Breeders 289 
287 Smut in Wheat 313 
313 Spavin Cure 315 
.315 Swine Husbandry 286 
290 Texas Fair 314 
314 Thumps iu Hogs 2=i9 
315 Time to Cut Timber 314 
.315 Tobacco Culture 315 
289 Trow's N. Y, Directory.. 31 4 
313 Varieties of Wheat. 288 
314 Windmills for Corn..-. . . .315 
,287 Wis. Hort. Society 314 
Calendar for Ai^ust. 
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7 59 
8 20 
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Philadelphia, 
New Jersey, 
Penn.. Ohio. 
Indiana, ami 
Illinois. 
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5 22 
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5 23:6 39 
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5 20 34 
10 12 
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Viroinia. Ken- 
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fornia. 
5 5 
5 6 
5 6 
5 7 
5 8 
6 9 
5 10 
5 II 
5 12 
5 13 
5 14 
6 15 
5 16 
5 17 
5 17 
5 18 
3 19 
5 20 
S 21 
5 22 
5 23 
5 24 
5 23 
3 23 
6 26 
3 2; 
5 28 
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7 K 
7 7 
7 6 
7 5 
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6 33 
6 .52 
6 51 
6 49 
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6 46 
fi 44 
6 42 
6 41 
6 39 
6 38 
6 36 
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It. M. 
10 25 
10 57 
11 37 
mora 
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7 39 
7 37 
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9 49 
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11 5 
11 55 
morn 
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1 49 
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6 40 
7 2 
7 21 
7 42 
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8 58 
9 33 
10 19 
I'lIASES OF THIS MOON. 
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Srt Qiuirt. 
New M'u 
1st Quart 
Full M'u 
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2 
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5 37 mo 
S3 mo 
3 44 ev. 
6 26 ev. 
N. YOKK. 
WAS^'^-. 
II. M. 
n. M. 
5 25 mo. 
5 13 mo 
21 mo. 
9 mo 
3 32 ev. 
3 20 ev. 
6 14 ev. 
6 2ev. 
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CHICAGO 
ir. 31. 
U. M. 
5 1 mo. 
4 St mo 
11 57 8th. 
11 27 8th 
5 3 ev. 
4 38 ev. 
5 .30 ev. 
5 20 ov. 
AMERICAN AGKICULTlfRIST. 
NEW TOKK, AUGUST, 1877. 
It is some years since farmers could afford to be 
as complacent as they can be now. Generally this 
season there has been, and is now, little to com- 
plain of. Wheat and rye, and oats, where cut, 
have done well; if not very well, hay has turned 
out better than it promised in the spring ; potatoes 
are a good crop in spite of the beetle ; fodder crops, 
corn, and roots, are doing well, and outside of the 
farm, business is looking up. We have got over the 
flurry of artificial values ; we have come down to 
"hard pan," and those who are out of debt feel as 
well as ever. Confidence is returning ; it is a 
wonder that it was ever lost ; and if any man in the 
world should be confident, it is the farmer who is 
out of debt, and who knows how to use his farm 
well. Unfortunately there are comparatively few 
such; but the experience of the past few years 
ought to add greatly to the number of this class. 
The great study of the farmer now should be, to add 
to the capacity of his SOU by eveiy appliance known 
to science. How we have changed during the past 
few years I No men are now more eager for scien- 
tific knowledge than farmers ; and years ago the 
idea that science could do anything for the farm, 
was scouted by the great majority of them. But 
what has been done is too plainly seen, and it is too 
clearly understood now, how much remains to be 
done before the farmer can say that he is satisfied. 
We are just beginning to know how to learn. This 
is the first step iu all education, and it is pretty 
certain that, in the nest few years, we shall see a 
great advance in our system of agriculture and iu 
its profitable operation. Now is the time of our 
necessity, and necessity being the mother of inven- 
tion, a way to arrive at the needed end will be soon 
reached. And the end we need to reach, is simply 
to bring the jiroductive capacity of the farm to an 
equality with that of other industries which have, 
for years past, shot ahead of agriculture. 
Hints for Work. 
Preparations for Somng Wheat should be made at 
once. There was formerly more difference of 
opinion as 1o the time of sowing wheat than there 
is now. The majority of fanners favor early sow- 
ing, and if the seed is well in the ground late in 
August, the chances are more favorable than if it 
is sown later. Where wheat follows oats, the oat 
stubble should be plowed immediately after the 
crop ie taken from the field. If the weather is dry, 
the greater wUl be the necessity for repeated plow- 
ing and rolling, to prevent the soil from baking. 
A Mellow Soil, weU rolled and packed, is what 
the seed requires to germinate in. If the soil is 
cloddy, the young roots are exposed to the action 
of air in the open spaces, and dried and killed. 
This is the secret of many failures of what were at 
first promising seedings. Repeated harrowings and 
rolling's are needed to produce the proper condition 
of the soil. No matter if the surface is somewhat 
rough, if the soil beneath is mellow and fine. In- 
deed, we would rather have the top a little rough. 
Drilling is by far the best method of seeding. It 
costs 50 cents an acre if the drill is hired, and less 
if it is purchased. Five pecks of seed per acre, or 
six at the most, is enough, so that at least half a 
bushel of seed per acre is saved, and here is the 
cost returned at once. But the diflference in the 
harvest is, many times its cost, in favor of the drill. 
Every winter we hear and read, on every hand, 
" drill sown wheat looks well, but broadcast wheat 
is injured and looks badly." There is much in 
placing the seed exactly right in the ground. If 
the plant has no depth of root, it is weak, and can 
not stand the rigors of winter or spring, and it will 
not tiUer out as will that more deeply sown. 
Seed and Seediiii/.—lt hardly need be said that, if 
the seed is not good, no good crop can be hoped 
for. The necessity for selecting seed with care has 
been a maxim of agriculture for thousands of years. 
The oldest books tell of it. And yet the success of 
persons, who make a business of doing this, is now 
made a "nine days wonder." Unfortunately it is 
forgotten again in nine days, and we go on sowing 
the seed just as it comes from the sheaf. It is a 
good plan to sow, at least a small strip in the field, 
with the best seed to be procured, upon ground 
prepared in the liest way, and cut this by itself at 
harvest, and thrash it at once for seed. But if this 
pays, why not grow the whole crop iu the same 
way ? A good farmer should have no grain that he 
cannot use for seed ; none that is poor, li.ght, 
shrunken, or mixed with cockle and garlic. 
Rye. — A very general opinion is held in some 
places, that wheat can no longer be grown ; that 
the climate has changed, or something else has oc- 
curred that makes it hopeless, and that rye needs 
to be sown in place of it. Nothing could be more 
erroneous. If the ground is well fitted, the seed 
well selected, and sown in a proper «ianner, wheat 
can be grown as easily as ever. We have seen so 
many examples of this, in different places, that we 
advise every farmer who has this mistaken opinion, 
to try at least an acre or two in the manner pro- 
posed, in place of rye, which is a much less valua- 
ble grain than wheat. When rye is sown, it Is 
worth while to put it in with as much care as 
wheat ; but it is time enough to sow it next month. 
Fertilizers. — Some experiments we have made the 
pa.st season iu using artificial fertilizers, have large- 
ly increased our confidence in them. Used in place 
of stable manure upon potatoes, corn, and grass, 
the crops are quite equal to those grown with the 
manure. The complete manure, prepared by Ghas. 
V. Mapes, from Prof. Ville's formula, has been re- 
markably effective with the writer the past season 
upon all these crops. Where manure is scarce, a 
dressing of this upon fall sown crops would be 
beneficial. The use of artificial fertilizers must be 
increased if we would enlarge our crops. 
Tlic Ibtato Beetle. — It is a short-sighted business 
to leave the last broods to breed and increase, be- 
cause the potatoes are past harm. This is seeding 
for a crop twxt year, which wiU perpetuate the ver- 
min and make work for another season. If the 
late arrivals are destroyed, there will be very few 
another year. If a thorough work were made of 
this pest for one season by every one who grows 
potatoes, a very quick end could be made of it. 
Potatoes.— ¥,Sir\y potatoes should be harvested as 
soon as ripe. Else, if wet weather occurs, the 
tubers may sprout and be injured. Rue's Potato- 
Digger is an effective implement, designed express- 
ly for this work, and where the crop is a larga 
