42 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Februart, 
Contents for February, 1868. 
Animals— The Yak Illustrated. . . 53 
Apple Stocks from Cuttings 64 
Barns— Framing to Secure Wide Floors. . .Illustrated. .52 
Bovine Family 53 
Box— Raising from Cuttings 63 
Boys and Girls' Columns— What Little Folks can Do- 
Bread Cast on the Waters — Habits of Sheep, a Man in 
a Ludicrous Position— Tumble Bugs — A Railway In- 
cident—The Tired Match Girl— Seeing the Chips Fly- 
New Puzzles to be Answered — Answers to Problems 
and Puzzles 4 Illustrations.. 67-68 
Broom-corn 55 
Cattle— More Wanted 50 
Cattle of the Channel Islands Illustrated.. 53 
Cellar, Above Ground 5!) 
Cheese Factories vs. Butter Supply 58 
Cherries — Culture and Varieties 61 
Chestnut Grafted on Oak 62 
Climbers—Two Useful 2 Illustrations. .61 
Com Crib — A Kansas Illustrated . .57 
Cows— How Often Should they be Milked ? 50 
Department of Agriculture 52 
Eggs— Soft-shelled 51 
Farm Laborers— Prospects 51 
Farm Work for February 42 
Fish Eggs— Hatching 58 
Flower Garden and Lawn in February 43 
Forage Plant— A New Illustrated . .57 
Forage Plant— Another 53 
Fruit Garden in February 43 
Gates and Fences 2 Illustrations. . 52 
Goats— Angora or Cashmere Illustrated . 60 
Grape-vine-How it Grows and what to Do with it.2 III. . 02 
Green and Hot-houses in February 43 
Horticultural Departments — Work in 43 
Household Department — Do yon Keep a Household 
Journal ?— Household Ornaments— Skating for Girls 
— Economy in Food— To Correspondents— How to 
Entertain Guests— Frost-bitten Feet— To Prevent 
Stoves from Rusting— Recipes for Cooking.. ffi'rf. .05-00 
Jerusalem Artichoke 04 
Kitchen Garden in February 43 
Lespedeza striata lllustrat. d.. 57 
Lophospermum eruhescens Illustrated. .61 
Market Reports 45 
Maurandia Barclayana , . Illustrated. . 01 
Milk Producers' Association 52 
Mule Teams Illustrated . .41 
Orchard and Nursery in February 43 
Pear Scale 63 
Pigs— Care of, in Winter 59 
Plant Lice 03 
Plnm— The Miner 02 
Poultry Manure — How to Save and Use 59 
Premiums — Great Success 44 
Rotation of Crops 57 
Saws— Cross-cut Drag 2 Illustrations. .5S 
Spice Bush 2 Illustration., i i 1 
Turkey — Origin of the Domestic 59 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 50— What Cows to 
Keep — Dairy Matters in England and America — Beef 
and Milk— High and Low Farming— White Clover- 
Mr. Horsfall's Farm— Sheep and Mutton 54-55 
Weed— The Spiny Clotbur Illustrated. . 56 
TNDEX TO "BASKET' 1 Oli SnoRTER ARTICLES. 
Amateur's Qu 
Am. Agricultural Annual. .4S II 
Am. Horticultural Annu 
American Naturalist. . . 
Arch Sleigh Bench ... 11 
Barberry for Hedges. . 
Beans for Name 
Bees in February 
Birch Bark Pots 
Buckthorn Hedge 
Calves, Triplets' 
^"Horticultural Societies.. ..46 
in Europe 50 
listic Changes 47 
"ipe 49 
art.... in.. a 
< Mulch.. ..60 
s. Stable Manure. 50 
BPlasI 
Canada Thistle Is Poppy Culture 
Canker Worms 2 7//. .411 Potato Experience ...47 
Care of Swine IS Potatoes on Broadway . . .48 
Cannot Tell 46|Ponltry in Winter 4S 
Cotton Culture 47|Registered Letters 46 
Cover for Agriculturist 17 Report of Ag'l. Dep't 48 
Death of R. A. Alexander. 48 
Dickens' Works. 
Elm Wood— Uses 
Erratum 49 
Feed for Milch Cows 48 
Rinderpest in Belgi 
Root Grafted Trees 49 
"Rotten Root" 19 
Russian Crab ...49 
Seeds, etc.. Where to Get. 48 
Fertilizers, Prices of 49'Spring Budding the Peach49 
Forcing Vegetables 19 String of Queries 47 
For Sabbath Schools lOSmnlrv Humbugs 40 
Fruit in Nova Scotia 40 
Gardening for Profit 
Girdled Trees 48 
Good for Maine 49 
Good for P. M ITelly 
Grand (Humbug) F.izes..46 
Grasshoppers 50 
Bar 
lose 
16 
Hedge in Maryland 50 
Hop Sets 48 
Tainted Barrels. 47 
Pot-tery 49 
Tribune's Iiili_.iousItems.47 
Verbrnas from Seed 47 
Walter Grape 47 
Weeds 50 
Westchester Co. Ag'l Soc.49 
Whetstone Holder. .2 111. .48 
White Grapes 47 
Wooden Cards 48 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY, 1868. 
Verdant fields, bright with white clover, or fresh 
springing grasses, together with the blossoming 
of shrubs and trees, make many days of the Feb- 
ruary of the Gulf States and the far South among 
of tbe most delightful of the year. Plowing for 
spring wheat ami forother crops gives employment 
to the laborers and teams, and the season of the 
work fairly begins with the warm, drying, weather 
usually occurring at this time of the year. 
The Northern Farmer buffets the Winter usually 
for a good part of this month. He may look for 
(hep snows, powerful rains, ice storms, and bard 
freezing weather, with the thermometer below 
zero, and need not be disappointed if before the 
20th the frost is all out of the ground south of 
latitude 41°, and bluebirds are singing. Never- 
theless it will probably freeze up again, and the 
poor little birds will look blue enough. 
The days are much longer, and they should 
show notably more work done than those of De- 
cember or even January ; nevertheless, there is com- 
parative leisure, and season for reviewing the past 
year's work and laving plans for the coining 
months, when so much hard labor will be demand- 
ed that the mind will not give itself readily to con- 
tinuous thought. Whatever plans are made, on 
this very account, if for no other reason, should be 
put upon paper, so that when the time comes for 
their prompt execution, they shall not be forgot- 
ten. The season of field work, when it does come, 
will be likely to come all at once, and then you 
will feel as if every moment were gold, as if the 
horses and oxen, though doing their utmost, did 
not walk half fast enough. Therefore use the lei- 
sure of this month to get all ready for spring work. 
Hint* Altom Work. 
The farmers of New England, to say nothing of 
our readers in New Seotlaud or even farther north, 
may smile at the idea of our dropping hints about 
spring work for February, and congratulate them- 
selves that they have two months of winter yet; as 
the old salt, in the midst of a roaring north-easter, 
expressed his supreme pity for "them unhappy 
folks a-shore now." Nevertheless, we, of a milder 
climate, can stand it very well not to have the 
thermometer go below zero more than twice a 
week, in December and January, and lo have a 
thaw in February that will give us a chance to do a 
good deal of spring work important to do early. 
Field Work. — If the snow is off from the field-, 
the opportunity is a good one to pick up stones. 
Cart them off from the mowing and grain fields in 
tbe mornings, while thegroundis frozen. The grass 
fields may be gone over with a sharp hoe, and all 
the tussocks of grass or clods that stand up above 
the rest of the field cut off smooth. 
Winter Grains. — If grain does not look well, and 
has been thrown by the frost, apply a light even 
dressing of fine well weathered muck, or soil, and 
roll, or simply roll without the top-dressing. 
Grass and Clover Seeds. — These may be sown to- 
ward the end of the month, if tbe frost is pretty 
well out of the ground and the surface open and 
fissured. The sowing is easiest done on a light 
snow, when the seed may be seen, and an even east 
secured. To this end, it is often well to sow in 
two directions across the field, and sometimes even 
three, as in sowing grass seed upon a lawn. Suit- 
able weather for this frequently does not come 
until March. Avoid sowing where melting snows 
will wash the soil away, or move the seed unevenly. 
Buildings.— TOnitier may be prepared for new 
buildings, or for alterations and repairs of old 
ones, and if the weather favors, the frames may lie 
raised, and tbe building go on. A few handt'uls of 
salt, or a little old brine, put about the posts of 
sheds, corn cribs, gates, etc., which are likely to be 
heaved out of place by the frost, will prevent it, in 
most eases, certainly until the salt washes away. 
The Wood Lot still furnishes work in cutting fire- 
wood and clearing up stuff already down, cutting 
bean poles, splitting rails and posts, dressing and 
hauling them. It is a good season to cut pine and 
hemlock, but hard wood ought to be cut earlier in 
the season for either firewood or durable timber. 
lee. — The provident have probably taken advan- 
tage of the cold weather of December or Jauuary, 
to have their ice all gathered. Still it is not too 
late, though where ice cau be brought to the door, 
twice a week all summer, at a cost of S7 or S10 for 
all that a family needs, it is hardly worth while to 
be at the expense of filling an ice-house. When ice 
is used for a large dairy or other purposes, the case 
is quite different. Many houses in which it has 
been found difficult to make the ice keep, will keep 
it very well if a thick layer of straw or wheat chaff 
is put at tbe bottom, and the house filled with 
pounded ice, thrown in, and beaten to pieces. 
Farm Hands. — February is tbebest month for the 
employer to engage the best bands, and it is the 
best time for the bauds to make the best engage- 
ments. The prices offered to secure a first-rate 
man are usually larger now than later. At present, 
January 15th, labor is very abundant in the vicinity 
of New York City, and it seems likely to remain so. 
Seed. — Look out betimes for all the seed you arc 
likely to want, getting samples to test the vitality, 
and examine the quality before purchasing largely. 
Manure. — Composts may be made with two- 
thirds dry muck, and one-third fermenting stable 
manure, which will be ready for use in six weeks. 
Muck composts, or those made with peaty mate- 
rial or soil, may be hauled and spread at any time. 
It is also an excellent plan to work over all the 
manure in the yard and barn cellars, laying it up in 
compact rectangular heaps, well trodden down. 
Animals, toward the close of the winter, often 
begin to show lack of appetite, staring coats, ver- 
min, etc., and, if these are neglected, more serious 
maladies. This indicates neglect of some kind, 
and the master must look better to his own. 
The Card ami Currycomb can hardly be too fre- 
quently or too thoroughly used. They will often 
exterminate lice from colts and calves in a short 
time, if used two or three times a week upon 
them. The best article we know of for the removal 
of vermin is the carbolic acid soap. Cresylic soap 
is, we believe, simply a trade name for the same 
thing. This is very efficient as a sheep clip, or 
wash, at this season, and may be applied without 
any danger of poisoning or injuring the animals. 
Working stock should not stand idle; find some 
work for them, and, if possible, gradually increase 
it, that they shall not feel plowing and other hard 
work by and by. Both horses and oxen, used on 
the road, must be kept sharp shod, to prevent slip- 
ping and disabling themselves on the ice, and it is 
an excellent plan to feed roots with the grain given 
to both horses and cattle, or any other animals. 
Colts. — Pet and handle constantly, giving sugar 
or bits of root. There is often leisure for breaking 
colts at this season to both saddle and harness. 
There is seldom need of whipping. Coaxing with 
carrots or sugar will go twice as far. The results 
are more lasting and all for good. Whipping may 
produce a beneficial result for the time being, but 
the aftereffect is only evil, except with hard cases 
which nothing else will effect. 
Steers also may be broken to the yoke and to 
labor. This is usually an easy matter, and it is an 
excellent thing to have the sight of the yoke and 
bow in the hands from the first associated with 
salt or a turnip. Yoking will be easy ever after. 
Beeves should be well fed; theirgain in flesh is of 
far less consequence than the gain in the manure 
pile, but both are equally affected by good food. 
The great gain in beef cattle ought to be in the 
autumn. In the winter, if the stables be warm, 
beeves will keep on gaining vety well, as a general 
thing, but in cold stables, the gain will be of an ex- 
pensive kind, food being used as so much fuel only. 
Cows. — Most farmers dry their cows early, in order 
to save the labor of milking. This is poor policy, 
