166 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
Contents for May, 1868. 
Animals— Giraffe, Mending a Broken Jaw. . .3 lSustr..l"o 
Annuals, About 18™ 
Beans— Culture of Field 182 
Bell-Flowere— Campanulas Illustrated. .1S5 
Boys' and Girls' Columns— The Restless Blue-bottle 
Fly— Tommy's Troubles— The Chin Fever— Potatoes 
a Great Luxury— Answers to Problems and Puzzles- 
New Puzzles to be Answered— A Great Noise in the 
Bam— Only a Little Sunbeam— Poor Taste— What 
it Cost 4 IHusirations . . 191—192 
Cabbages as a Field Crop 182 
Cattle— Native 1S1 
Clover West of the Mississippi 181 
Corn— the Crop 176 
Crotchet! Trees— Treatment of Illustrated. .187 
Currants and their Enemies 1S5 
Eggs— Packing and Keeping 183 
Evergreens— What Shall We Plant ': 1ST 
Farm and Family Gardens ISO 
Farm Work for May 166 
Fish— Facts in Shad Hatching ISO 
Flower Garden and Lawn in May 10S 
Grape Vine— How it Grows and What to Do with 
It 3 Illustrations.. 186 
Grapes— Iiipe for Wine-Making 187 
Green and Hot-houses in May 168 
Herbaceous Plant— Tricyrtis Illustrated.. 183 
Household Department— Moths. Moths, Moths— The 
Big Pickerel, and now it Was Cooked— Keeping a 
Boarding nonse — Home-made Photograph Frames — 
Household Talks by Aunt nattie — Larger Yards 
about the House— now to Put Out Clothes on Fire- 
Dressing for Salads 3 Illustrations. .189—190 
Italian Farm-Yard Scene Illustrated . .165 
Kitchen Garden in May 167 
Market Reports 170 
Meadows— Renovating Old 1S3 
Orchard and Nursery in May 167 
Potatoes — One more Acre of 183 
Poultry— A Summer Fowl-House and Yard. . . . lllustr..\S\ 
Poultry— Pure Water for Illustrated 176 
Premiums 16S — 160 
Root Crops for Feeding 182 
Sheep— Imaginary Diseases and Grub in the Head 179 
Tarragon 187 
Thatching with Straw 2 Illustrations .'.180 
" The Last Shot " Illustrated . .184 
Tools— Home-made 4 Illustrations. .ISO 
Tree— A Variety of Sweet Gum Illustrated. ,188 
Truss Beams over Wide Barn Floors... 4 Illustrations. .18-2 
Varieties and Variations 8 Illustrations . .176 — 177 
Walks and Talks on the Farm— No. 53.— Beef and 
Milk— Cheese and Beef Compared— Grass Culture — 
Hish Farming— Selling Straw— Value of Straw for 
Feeding and Manure— Clover— Rotation of Crops— 
Barley Stubble 178—179 
Weeding and Thinning 188 
Willows and their Uses 188 
INDEX TO ''BASKET" on SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Agricultural Colleg 
ApplyingMa 
Ban 
-TiL'lit 
:-feeth 
Bees in May V, 
Best Machines 1" 
Capons. Largest size. . . .1" 
Cheap Homestead in Mo.l' 
Chimney Tops r 
Corn at the East 1' 
Cows at Calving 1' 
Croquet Arena 1' 
Darwin's Great Work. . . .1" 
False Pretences 1" 
Farming, Co-operative. . .1 
Flowers, Lady's Exp'cc.1* 
Fowls, Dagobert 1' 
Fowls, Disease among. ..1* 
Grass, When to Cut ...... 1' 
Gvpsum or Plaster 1' 
H'andv Garden Trellis.... 1' 
How to Remit 1' 
Efumbug Notice 1' 
Ice Profitable 1' 
Ice, 1,260,000,000 Potinds.r 
Lime in Stables 1' 
Lol's. Loading 1 
Manure from Cellars, .. T 
Manuring in the Hill 1 
Manure Shcd» vs. Cellat>1 
Manure. Stable. Haiilinir.l 
Milch Cows, Corn for.... 1 
Mohr on the Grape Vine.l 
Mulching Apple Trees. ..1 
Plasterin Stables 1 
Piaster or Gypsum 1 
Olive Culture 1 
Peas. Field 1 
Pig Feeding Experiment. 1 
Pigeons Destr'ng Grain..! 
Postage 3 Cts.perQuart'r.l 
Post Office Money Orders.l 
Premiums for Everybody. 1 
Ueu'i-tered Letters *.l 
Salmon Hatching in N.H.I 
Saw-dust as Manure 1 
Saw-dust & Tan-bark. .. .1 
Shenandoah Val 
■ Hi: 
ley. 
: Win-Use Muck 1 
Wliitlock's Hort'l Advert.! 
! Worms on Trees ] 
Back Volumes Supplied.— The back volumes 
of t!:e Agriculturist are very valuable. They contain 
information upon every topic connected, with rural life, 
out-door and In-door, and the last ten volumes make up 
a very complete library. Each volume lias a full index 
for ready reference to any desired topic. We have on 
hand, and print from electrotype plates as wanted, all the 
numbers and volumes for ten years past, beginning with 
1857— that is, Vol. 16 to Vol. 26, inclusive. Any of these 
volumes sent complete (in numbers) at $1.75 each, post- 
paid, (or $1.50 if taken at the office). The volumes, 
neatly bound, are supplied for $2 each, or $2.50 if to be 
sent by mail. Any single numbers of the past ten 
years will be supplied, post-paid, for 15 cents each. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK. MAY. 18C.S. 
The average temperature grows warmer, and our 
cold storms are less cold in May than in April, 
yet they are cold enough. Seeds will rot in the 
ground; the plows will be dragged through the 
pasty soil, and mold it into clods, which will stand 
as mementos of indiscreet haste ; sheep will shiver 
and snuffle, and lambs will die for lack of protec- 
tion. We judge these and other things will hap- 
pen, because it always is so. There is no need of 
of their occurring, or very little, at any rate. May 
is always unreliable, except for storms and showers 
of rain. Sometimes we have many days of fine, 
clear, dry weather, but usually everybody is tired 
of seeing it rain. Proper efforts having been made, 
there need be little delay in the more important la- 
bors. Year by year, one's practices should improve ; 
year by year, the farmer's reasonings should be more 
accurate, and his judgment better. This month, 
the great bulk of the corn crop and more than half 
the potato crop is planted, much wheat is 
sown, as also roots of all sorts, except those 
of the turnip family. There must be hands and 
teams enough to do the work. No more must 
be included in the plan for the summer's cam- 
paign than can be carried out. The plans for daily 
labor must be sufficient to keep the men employed 
all the time. It is very desirable to have men about 
you, who you know will set themselves at work, 
but it is a poor plan to give them a chance. Always 
keep men informed as to what work they are ex- 
pected to do. With the commencement of steady 
hard work, it is most important to start right with 
men aud teams in the field, and scarcely less with 
household arrangements. The meals must be. 
promptly ready, if the hands are boarded at the 
house; if they " find themselves," accuracy of hours 
must be exacted as far as possible. If one man be- 
gins to take liberties, "loafing," coming late, or 
knocking off early, it is well to get rid of him at 
once. Such examples are contagious. In all your 
relations with hired men, "do justly and love 
mercy," be the best employer they ever had, and 
so, attach them to yourself aud to your service. 
Hints about Work. 
Last Year's Mistakes are to be avoided. Take 
time, do all kinds of work thoroughly and well. If 
not present, let everything ordered to be done pass 
under your inspection soon after it is finished. 
A Watch on Vie Markets.— -We have almost always 
either something to sell or something to buy; hence 
it is always well to watch the fluctuation of prices, 
and take advantage of them, if possible. 
Labor will pay. — Hire more labor— take risks of 
this kind. If work is well planued, and judiciously 
carried out, the more there is done, the better off 
you will be. If money at interest pays, that 
spent for labor ought to pay fifty per cent better. 
Working Slock. — Groom horses daily and thor- 
oughly ; rub them dry if they come wet to the 
stable, either from perspiration or rain. Feed reg- 
ularly, and, when cool, give water. It is well to let 
a pail of water stand where the horse can drink dur- 
ing the night if he wishes to. Oxen should be well 
brushed off every day likewise. They are healthier 
for it, and endure more fatigue. If hard worked 
eight hours a day, it is all that should be expected 
of oxeu. Give long noonings and good fodder. 
Cows. — When there is a good strong growth of 
grass, turn the cows to pasture, but not before. 
Calves, wearing muzzles set with nails which are 
well sharpened, hut not slender pointed, may run 
with their dams without danger of their sucking. 
Cows "coming in" on full feed, often make more 
milk than their udders have capacity to retain, if 
milked but twice a day. Neglect to milk oftener 
causes not only the loss of a pint or two which 
leaks out daily, but induces a tendency in the cow 
to secrete less, entailing a loss through the year. 
Bulls.— There are hardly enough good full-blood 
bulls of all kinds for farmers in every part of the 
country to be able to secure their services ; but if 
any State would impose a tax of §50 a year on every 
scrub or grade bull kept within its limits, the im- 
provement in stock would be most rapid and re- 
markable. Never, never send a cow to a grade bull. 
See "Basket" item on keeping good bulls. 
Sheep.— Shearing festivals and matches, and meet- 
ings at which prizes are offered for heaviest and best 
fleeces, are the order of the day, and very useful. 
Sheep breeders should plan to attend some of 
them. It is best for the sheep to shear them un- 
washed, and early in the present month, if the 
weather seems settled. If you arc obliged to wash 
in order to get a fair price for the wool, do so, but 
expose the sheep as little as possible. Farmers 
ought to tub-wash their wool, and save the rich, 
fertilizing liquid. Shelter shorn sheep for a few days, 
both from scorching sun aud from cold. In turning 
sheep to pasture, if the grass is well grown, exercise 
caution with valuable animals, for fresh grass is pur- 
gative, and the sheep often fall off in flesh for a 
few days, if chauged suddenly from hay to grass. 
Spring Grains. — As a rule, it is best to let at least 
oats and barley go, unless they are sowed by or 
before the first week in May. Wheat may be put 
in a little later, on soil very well prepared, but do 
not neglect the preparation, except on rich land; 
apply fine manure, plowed under lightly; harrow 
thoroughly, adding a dressing of guano, super- 
phosphate, fish guano, or bone dust, with the seed. 
The Com Crop. — Be sure of your seed. It should 
be early, uniform, and adapted to your laud. Ma- 
nure heavily ; plant all, except very large kinds, in 
drills, rather than in hills with rows running both 
ways. A heavier stand is thus gained, and the 
ground well filled with roots. Be careful to have 
the rows very straight, and, to thi9 end, use a 
marker. North of lat. 40°, be in no hurry about 
planting— if the crop is in by the 20th or 25th, it is 
early enough, and replanting will not be necessary. 
Broom-corn. — Plant a little earlier than maize, to 
give it the benefit of a long season, should the warm 
weather chance to come early. Plant in drills three 
feet apart, using plenty of seed, and thin out at the 
second hoeing. Lime and salt, applied to the soil 
before or at the time of planting, will check the 
wire-worms, if the crop be put upon a fresh-turned 
sod. There should be at least twice the number of 
stalks to the acre that there would be of corn. The 
culture is very similar, but it requires more care. 
Root crops. — For beets, parsnips, carrots, or man- 
gels, the ground must be deep, rich, and mellow. 
See hints in recent numbers on this subject, and do 
not fail to put in a good "patch" on as well pre- 
pared soil as you have. All the above-named roots 
may be sown in May almost as well as earlier ; car- 
rots and parsnips, particularly, bear late sowing. 
Ibtaioes. — Finish planting before the middle of 
the month; it is unsafe to delay longer, though, if 
the season be a wet one, like the last, June-planted 
potatoes may do tolerably well. Manure at the first 
or second hoeing with ashes and plaster, lime, or 
some concentrated manure, cast in small haudfuls 
upon the plants, if backward, or the soil not rich. 
Flax and Hemp.— Like the spring grains, it is 
hardly worth while to 60W flax in May— it should 
be up aud high enough to weed. This weeding is 
done by barefooted or stocking-footed weeders, 
children being preferred, who go through in pla- 
toons, regularly pulling all foreign plants. See Flax 
Culture in our book list. Hemp may be sown, 
either broadcast or in drills, the latter method being 
preferable. Put hemp always upon good clean land. 
Tobacco. — For minute directions for culture and 
treatment of this plant, see Tobacco Culture of our 
book list. During the month of May. give the seed- 
bed great care, weeding, watering, etc. 
Soiling Crops.— Sow corn for soiling, usiug prefer- 
ably some large-stalked, sweet variety— Stowcll'S 
Evergreen or K. I. Asylum. Sow 12 kernels to the 
foot, in drills about 2}4 feet apart. Continue to 
sow at intervals of about two weeks. No crop is 
so good for cows in summer, and no other is needed 
if there is enough of thickly sown corn provided. 
Grass and Clover may be sown upon winter aud 
