434: 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
Contents for December, 1868. 
Agricultural Fairs Rim by Stock Companies 443 
Apples— Duchess of Oldenburgh Illustrated. .433 
Birds— The Musk Duck Illustrated. H5-44I; 
Birds— The Wild Goose Illustrated. .4 15 
Boys' and Girls' Columns— A Handful of Dnst— Differ- 
ent Ways of Laughing— Onr Presidents— A Picture 
for Boy— An Amusing Toy— Blowing Bubbles- 
Spots on t ho Snrj — Many Premiums — New Puzzles . 
? Illustmtions..4B®-4fiO 
Clearing Woodland -440 
Climber— The Mannettia Illustrated EG 
Exhausted Lands of the West 443 
Farm Work in December 434 
Fish-Oil and Guano Factory 1 Illustrations. .451-452 
Flower Garden and Lawn in-Deceniber 435 
Forcing Rhubarb 455 
Fowl without a Head 3 Illustrations. .MS 
Fruit Garden in December 435 
Grapes— Native under Glass 454 
Green and Ilot-linuses in December 435 
Harrow— A Good Wooden-toothed Illustrated. . 45(1 
Hickory Nuts and Timber 2 Illustrations. .44!) 
Honey Locust— A Chapter on — 455 
Household Department — Sea-side Fare— The Mussel 
—Household Talks by Aunt Hattii — Straw and other 
Fancy Frames— i orn-Starch Pudding— Eice Pudding 
—Keeping a Family Record— P. ri|,es and Household 
Hints— Cleansing Tainti 1 Barrels— A Dish i f Chest- 
nuts—Pickled Artichokes— Keeping Sausage Meat- 
Breakfast Puffs — Bay-Leaves— Folding Napkins— 
The Proprieties of the Table. . . .0 Illustrations. -157-45S 
Honse-Plants— Treatment of 455 
Kit. lien Garden in December 435 
Leaves for Bedding 2 Illustrations— 449 
.Male Breeding-Animals 44S 
Ma 
Rep, 
n Lands Illustrated . .444 
Monkshoods Aconites Illustrated:. 456 
Moi La tot Wonted on tie- Faun 443 
M ,•,. •>!,').■ Wanted by Planters 453 
Orchard and Nursery in December .435 
Pear— The Pratt Wiistmh d 453 
Pigeons— A Group of Fancy Illustrated . .433 
Pig Nature 443 
Potato Excitement 451 
Potato Grown from Cuttings 2 illustrations. .451 
Potatoes on Clover Sod 450 
Premiums 430-437 
River and Pond Mud as Top-dressing 444 
Rotations for New England and the East 450 
Seeds -Look ont for your 155 
Silk Culture in California. 144 
Stone-boats 3 Illustraf/ons . 44s 
Tim Bunker on the Ilav Tedder 431 
Walks and Talks on "the Farm. No. CO— Getting Out 
Stones— Breeding Short-horns — Seeding Land to 
Grass— Sheep— Four Horses abreast— Pigs-Pork and 
other Meats Must rated . . 44fi-447 
Wheat in England 451 
INDEX TO "BASKET" OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
About Evergreens 438 Leaven Manure Hunibug.443 
Apple Melon 443 Men and Fruits 443 
Aquarium 4:i!l Mill: Experiments 441 
Bones and Wood Ashes.. 442 Milking Slock for South. 442 
Book to Make a Farmer.. l:a Moles Again 442 
Breachy Cows 441 Muck Mining 441 
Brewers' Grains 441 Onions 411 
Buttons on Horns 441 Pepper Tree 443 
Cattle Diseases 4-i'l Planting Hickory Nuts. .43!) 
Cement Pipe Drains 442 Plant Parasite !:;s 
Christinas Poultry Show. 43(1 Potatoes on Soil Ill 
Clinton Grape Blighting 130 Portable Fences Ill 
Concord Grape in Mo 43(1 Potomac Fruit Growers' 
Cranberry Queries 443] Association 4311 
Death on' Humbugs 14(1 Profitable Use of Land... 443 
Express Charges 112 Salsify ami Parsnips. .. .43(1 
Farmers' Club 441 Seeds 430 
Ferment, of Apple Juice. 412 Sell an Acre of Land. .441 
Florida Farming 112 Sod Fences 413 
Flower Seed- 443 Soft Water Turn'g Hard.. +12 
Foul i '-tern- 442 Special Request 4411 
Fie.- Martin- \gaiu. ..Ill Steaming Cattle Food. . .43!) 
Gaol.-, in ' f"f the South I til stone rs. Tile Drains ...441 
■ Hi] 
ud Cobs 
Grinding Co 
Grinding Limestone 1 12 Tile, for Roofs 
Harness Clippings 112 Tomatoes in Mi 
Henderson's New Work 13- Tree and Shrub I'.., ok 
House Plans. .• 43s Trotting Horsi of Ant 
Hunter and Trapper l40;Tyrolese Larch ...... 
it will Pay II" Polnntoi r tfotbei 
Injuring a Vineyard.. 113 What Mi-oiiri Wants 
Increasing Flow. Spring. 112 We-tern Beauty Apple 
Inspecting Wells... . 412 Woodrhueks, to Kill 
Labor Exchange 441 Work on the Horse. . . 
.443 
Back Volumes Supplied.— The hack volumes 
of the Agriculturist aie vary valuable. They contain 
information upon every topic connected with rural life, 
out-door and indoor, and the last ten volumes make up 
a very complete library; Each volume ha? 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 pasl, 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 offieel. Tiie volumes, 
neatly hound, are supplied for $2 each, or $2.50 if to be 
sent by mail. Any single numbers of the past ten 
years will be suppKed, post-paid, for 15 cents each. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK, DECEMBER, 1868. 
Winter is here ! short days grow shorter, cold 
ones colder. Wc seek our pleasures indoors, as a 
rule, and our labors, as farmers, are chiefly those 
incident to the season, and wherever performed, 
have only an indirect reference to the soil. Long 
evenings invite to reading and study ; to the laying 
out maps of the farm, and plans of the labors to be 
undertaken next summer ; of improvements to be set 
on foot upon the homestead, or for benefiting; the 
public. They offer also an invaluable opportunity 
for looking over the labors of the past year, going 
over the accounts, taking an inventory of stock 
and property of all sorts. The farmer has a multi- 
tude of subjects to interest himself in, and it is 
worth a great deal to any young farmer to take up 
some one specialty, and devote himself so thor- 
oughly to it that his knowledge upon it will be far 
in advance of his neighbors*. For instance a young 
man may take up sheep and woo], and find in them 
material for a lifetime of study and experiment, 
and the more he knows of what other people have 
done and thought, the more profitable will he be 
able to make his own knowledge. Almost every 
department of farming offers similar subjects. 
Breeding, and feeding for milk, swine, poultry of va- 
rious kinds, fish culture, and forest tree culture, are 
some very attractive objects of study, and a score 
might easily be named. There is no surer or pleas- 
antcr road to fume, and to the real respect and 
honor of the best men in the country than' that 
by which a man becomes an "authority" ou any 
important subject connected with Agriculture. 
Farmers Clubs. — If one is not in active operation 
in the neighborhood, it will pay to start one in 
most genuine farming communities. One good 
in live young man, who knows what he wants, will 
generally do the work, and the whole burden of 
keeping up the interest will have to be sustained 
by half a dozen people. Hence such an undertaking 
goes easier and takes better if connected with some 
social entertainment at which the wives and daugh- 
ters of the farmers maybe present, or if coupled 
with a circulating library of books and periodicals, 
and with a system of exchange and distribution of 
choice seeds, that more may take a personal inter- 
est in it, and in having the meetings well attended. 
The year now drawing to a close has been re- 
markable for unusually prolonged and severe cold, 
extending far to the southward, and doing consid- 
erable damage to some fruits, especially to the 
peach, blackberry, and raspberry crops, now of so 
much importance; for an exceedingly late and cold 
spring especially delaying farm work, which is usu- 
ally done in May and pushing it into June; for a 
lite, but, on the whole, propitious summer, causing 
crops to mature in a very short time, and giving us 
fair harvests of the great staple crops, and a very 
large yield of grass and hay. The prevalent charac- 
ter of the summer was, however, cold and wet over 
a large portion of the Union, and it has been the 
almost universal observation that so many weeds 
were never seen before. This entails additional 
labor upon all tillers of the soil for the coming 
year. The time of ripening for our cereal, Indian 
corn, was by the. nature of the season very short, 
and though the summer was cold, frosts came so 
early as to seriously damage the crop of both grain 
and fodder in numerous districts. The same cause, 
early frosts, also blasted the prospects of an unusu- 
ally favorable grape crop. The prices of agricul- 
tural produce have ruled very high, as indeed they 
have for several years past, and we may rejoice (not 
without the fear that this favorable state of things 
will not last.) that the farmers are about as well paid 
as other classes of producers. The partial failure 
of the hay and root crops of Europe has led to the 
exportation, to some extent, of these articles. A 
remarkable aud fatal murrain has been observed 
among our market cattle, originating among Texas 
droves, but affecting those chiefly which follow or 
associate with them. 
The agriculture of the Southern States is gradu- 
ally improving, and the great labor problem is un- 
dergoing solution. A condition of political anar- 
chy is uot favorable to agricultural development ; 
nevertheless, men must be fed and clothed, and as 
both food and clothing are derived directly or in- 
directly from the field, man's necessities force up- 
on him attention to the farming interests. We 
may continue to hope, therefore, that the magnifi- 
cent resources of this section of the Union will be- 
fore long be thoroughly developed. 
Hints nltont ^IVork. 
Buildings. — Protect cellars against the frost, by 
banking up earth against exposed and thin founda- 
tion walls. Stop windows, except well-glazed 
ones, with strawy litter, protected by stakes on 
the outside, to prevent hens scratching it all about. 
Pumps, cisterns, hydrants, and water-pipes need 
similar protection if exposed. Horse manure and 
litter is better than any other packing we know of 
to keep frost out of water-pipes. It is a good 
thing to line stables which are against the sides of 
old buildings, with strips of board tacked on so 
that swamp hay or straw can be stuffed in between 
them and the weather-boarding. It makes them 
much warmer, and saves fodder in proportion. 
Ventilation.— Close stables maybe warm, but with- 
out ample provision for ventilation they will be un- 
healthy. The stock will be found " off their feed," 
and ailing in various ways. With sufficient ventila- 
tion, which is easily secured, warmth aud health- 
fuluess are entirely compatible. 
C/iaffinq, Soaking, Steaming Fodder.— The econo- 
my of the cutting-box is very generally admitted 
nowadays, and with chaffing hay, and straw, and 
stalks, comes soaking as a matter of course. The 
expense of steaming fodder leads many of us who 
do not feel as if we could afford a Prindlc's steam 
boiler, to devise sour-grape reasons why we and out- 
cattle are just as well off without, while, neverthe- 
less, all who do use steam are loud in praise of its 
economy. Wc have not come to grinding hay yet, 
but that will be the next step, in all probability, 
for its advantages have been asserted in Europe. 
Hoots. — Feed sliced, chopped, or mashed, in such 
pieces that a cow or "young critter" will not 
choke itself. It is rarely best to feed more than 4 
quarts of carrots a day. Their highest effect is ob- 
served when fed with other roots, grain, etc. 
Common turnips are the first roots to be fed, as 
they soon grow pithy and lose much in value. 
Foddering. — If any reader of the AgricidtuHst con- 
tinues the wasteful practice of foddering upon the 
ground around stacks or in the barn-yard, we en- 
treat him to stop it. Put up temporary racks, un- 
der cover if possible, and check this great waste. 
Lire Stock of all kinds should be looked to daily ; 
they should be fed and watered with the regularity 
of clock-work. The card, brush, and curry-comb 
will, if frequently used, not only promote health 
and cleanliness, but effect a great saving of fodder, 
while at the same time the paradox of sharpened ap- 
petites will be observed. A well-cleaned ox, whose 
skin has its pores thoroughly opened twice a week 
by the friction of the brush and card, feels well, and 
will eat coarser fodder with a better relish than 
an uncleaned one, aud cat it cleaner, and it will do 
him more good. All kinds of stock should have 
salt before them, so that their natural craving may 
be satisfied. Salt and ashes is a good mixture, and a 
few sods, thrown where animals can work them 
over, will be mumbled and chewed often with 
a relish which makes it evident that it is no un- 
natural appetite, but that they get something 
which the pastures would supply in summer, and 
which their systems need equally in the winter. 
Cows.— Do not dry off for the mere sake of saving- 
labor. It is injurious to the milking qualities of 
both the cows and their female offspring. The 
milk-giving tendency should be encouraged to the 
utmost if milk is an object with the breeder. Feed 
well, whether cows are in milk or dry. 
Oxen, if worked, should be kept sharp-shod, and 
Tonng Stock should be maintained constantly 
growing, and not exposed to the weather, if simply 
