AMERICAN AamCULTURIST. 
[Jajtuaky, 
Contents for January, 1875. 
AgficuHiai-'if, Who Writes for the 
A^rricuItiirL', Southern 
Apple, Mystic "H Illustrations . . 
Bee Ilive, Voices from 
Botatjical Instruction at Hanard 
Boys and Girls' Columus — About Ball Coverinj;; — 
Aunt Sue's Chats— Aunt Sue's Puzzle-Box— Blowing 
Soap Bubbles— Learning xo^^vi ..% Illustrations.. ^1^ 
Breeding, In-and-in 
Catalogues Received 
Cold Wntcr Dressing for Spavin ^ lUuslrotions . . 
Cow, Victoria Victris Illustrated . . 
Draining Ilollows Illustrated.. 
Flower Garden and Lawn in January 
Fruit G;u-dL-n in January 
Fruit, Is it Clianged by Foreign Pollen 
Greenhouse and Window Plants in January 
Grindstone, How to Hang a JUiistrated. . 
Hoop-Poles and IIoops 5 Illustrations. . 
Horse St.abics Z lUustrations . . 
Horses in tjic West, Heavy 
Household Doparhnont — Speaking-Tiibo Call— I'ses 
forOldFrull Cans — Homo To'^Xc^..!^ lUiistratioiu. .^^ 
Humbugs, Sundry 
Ice Harvest Illustrated. . 
Kitchen Garden in January 
Kum-Quat Illustrated. . 
Land, Clearing by Blasting 2 Illustrations.. 
"Malt-Combs?" What are 
Manure Pit, Italian Illustrated. . 
Market Gardeners. Subsoil ing Illustrated.. 
Market Report in January 
Mice ts. Fruit Trees 
Mystic Apple 2 Illustrations.. 
New Uses of Old Tools Illustrated. . 
Notes from the Pines— Enlarging Greenhouse — Japan 
Quince— Cultivation of Native Plants 111.. 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 59— Deep Cans for Milk — 
Dry Earth in SUablcs— Cooking Food for Cows — 
Feeding a Family Cow— Great Yield of Mangolds, 11, 
Orchard and Nursery in January 
. Peach Trees, Ornamental 
Plants, Cuphea Hyssop-leaved lUuslrated.. 
Plants, Native Canna lUttsirated . . 
Plows, Double Furrow Illustrated.. 
Ram, Southdown Illustrated.. 
Roof, To Clear of Snow Elustrated.. 
Science Applied to Farming 
Sheep, Roots for 
Tools, New Uses for Old Illustrated.. 
Walks and Talks Correspondence 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 133— Fall Work—' 
Summer Fallow— Barley and Wheat— Plowing— 
Lirao—Farm Labor 14, 
Water and Ice 
Work, Hints About. 
Who Write for the Agriculturist 
IHDBX TO "BASEKT." OH SnORTER ARTICLK8. 
23 
Calendar for January. 
Advertisements, Reading. 
Agricultural Colleges 
Affricnltnre, Report of the 
Department of 
AgricuUuiist, Oej-man — 
Bacon, To Prepare 
Bed Covering 
Boidn 
Botanic Garden, Edin- 
burgh 
Bulletin of the Bussey In- 
alitutlon 
Charlock 
CliessA Wheat 
Christian Advocate 
Clubs, Enlarging 
Coffee, New Species of.. . 
Dairymen's Association, 
New York 
Death of Ezra Cornell 
Destitnlion in Nebraska 
and Knnsas 
Diseases of Horses and 
Callle 
Enterprises, Outside 
Sxhibition in the Inland 
of Java 
Flattering if not Fair 5 
Florida, Good News from 8 
G.'unes of American His- 
tory and Biography 8 
Horticultural Soci ety, 
Ohio State 8 
Humbugs, Sundry 6 
Kitchen (JardeninginN.E. 7 
Letters we Cannot Answer 8 
Manure, Bomraer's 7 
Medical Record 8 
Parrots. How to Feed 8 
Planet Junior 7 
Please Notice 7 
Poultry Shows, Western.. 5 
Shorthorn Convention .. 7 
Shorthorns, Large Pur- 
chase of 8 
Strawberries, Barren 8 
Sumach 8 
|Tan for Mulching ...12 
jTiles and Brick 8 
iVignes Americaines 8 
.Wasted Half-Hours. 7 
|Wheat, North Western 
I Spring 7 
Witness, The 7 
dcrinnii Ivy. — "A. G. R." Of course 
Germ;ui Ivy is not Mlicania scandens, as that is a native 
l)lant, but Se'JiCio scandens, or as some have it, S. inilcan- 
oides. Y«u will notice that the article in the Gardener's 
Montljly is a contribution. Of course the editor knows 
better, and he could not have carefully examined tlie 
article, or he would not have let this pass, or allow the 
pretty little Olhonna to be called " bag-wort." 
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I'HASES OF THE MOON. 
New M'n 
Ist Qu;iit 
Full M'n 
3cl Quart. 
BOSTON. 
N. TORK. 
WAsn'N. 
CnA'STON CUICAGO. 
H. sr. 
n. M. 
n. M. 
rr. M. IT. >r. 
24 ev. 
12 ev. 
12 mo 
11 43 mo. 11 18mo. 
4SR ev. 
4 26 ev. 
4 11 ev. 
4 2 cv. 1 3 :r3 ev. 
r>7 ev. 
4-, ev. 
a;i ev. 
21 ev. ,11 r.lmo. 
7 50 mo. 
7 38 mo. 
7 2G mo 
7 14 mo.l ti 44nio. 
AMERICAN AGRirULTURIST. 
NEW TORK, JANTJAET, 1875. 
The commencement of a new year is the most 
appropriate lime to open a day-book, and begin to 
keep not only accounts, hut a record of events. 
The farmer or the mechanic who neglects this, is 
not a business man. Thorough business habits are 
as needful to the success of a farmer, as for that 
of any other manufacturer or dealer — for a farmer 
is both of these. He manufactures, buys, and sells. 
If he docs not know the cost of his wares, whether 
they be wheat or pork, he can never be sure if he 
is doing business at a loss or a profit. No elaborate 
system of book-keeping is needed. A plain daily 
record or diary of occurrences is first needed. From 
this, once a week, can be posted into a simple ac- 
count book, everything that relates to purchases, 
sales, payments, contracts, and work done upon 
each crop, in such a way that nothing will be trust- 
ed to memory. A daily journal will bo a valuable 
record of facts and experiences, of great use in the 
future. Such a record for the past year would be 
profitable reading now, and many hints for one's 
guidance would be always at hand. What a man 
knows is but little compared with what he has 
forgotten. When the year's experiences are writ- 
ten down and indexed at the end of each year, the 
needed information is ready at a moment's notice. 
This is the appropriate season for laying out plans 
for the new year. To have a well-digested plan is 
the best preparation for a successful year's work. 
A methodical man, whether farmer or not, is a man 
of comparative leisure, and yet he accomplishes 
much more work thau the one who is without plan 
or system. He is rarely the victim of accident, and 
if one occurs, there is leisure to repair damages 
before mischief is done. This is a time also to 
clear off old scores, to pay debts, and settle accounts. 
Business men complain of the wunt of money, 
and look to the farmers for relief. The farmer who 
owes a hundred dollars in a Western village, has it 
in his power to set in action an impulse that will 
be felt through a hundred distinct points, until it 
reaches one of the great Eastern cities. By paying 
his debts, he enables another to be paid, and so this 
goes on, and thousands of such collections gather 
and swell into a stream, which overaows at the 
money centers, and straightway we heir of active 
trade, money in plenty going weet ajjain, to pur- 
chase grain or pork, and thus the money finds its 
way back again to the pockets whence it started. 
Hints about 'Work. 
Marketing Cmps has goue on but slowly this sea- 
son. Prices are low, not only here, "jut in aU parts 
of the world. The promise of higher prices is un- 
certain. The newly sown crops are in splendid 
condition, and there must be some unusually bad 
weather for the markets to be affected from this 
cause. It is a serious question how far it is profit- 
able to hold produce. The farmer has an un- 
questionable right to hold or sell his grain, as he 
pleases, but it is well to consider the wisdom of 
holding it in a spirit of opposition to the absurd 
demands of those, who question this right. There 
is a more sensible way of looking at this matter 
thau that, which is to regard the simple profit or 
loss in holding or selling, in view of the condition 
and prospects of the markets. 
M-onomij, in everything, upon the farm and in the 
household, will be needed. Wc are passing out of 
a cycle of high prices, and probably entering one of 
low prices. If profits are to be kept up, expenses 
liiust be reduced. Tools must be carefully used 
and preserved. Little things must be watched as 
carefully as large ones. The boys and girls must 
not be ashamed to ride in the farm wagon rather 
than go in debt for a carriage. Debt must in most 
cases be religiously avoided. A year or two of 
hard times may prove a blessing, if they lead to a 
system of buying only for cash. 
Look out for Fire, — At this season much work is 
done in the bam by the light of a lantern, and the 
greatest caution should be observed. The lamp 
should not be trimmed, or flUed, or lighted, in the 
bam or stables, nor near them ; do not keep matches 
in any of the farm buildings, and take every 
precaution to prevent fires. K there is an in- 
surance upon the buildings, it should not bo al- 
lowed to expire without renewal, and if there is 
none, procure one without delay. 
Snow should be removed from weak or flat roofs 
after every storm, lest the weight should be too 
much for them. It should be also removed frora 
doorways and yards as soon as it stops snowing. 
Soads and Ihths, — Clear after every snow-fall. 
Cows and ewes may be seriously injured by wading 
through deep snow or mud, and heavy in-lamb 
ewes, falling in the deep snow, are sometimes un- 
able to extricate themselves. It is well to throw 
down some of the fences, or open g.ites, in places 
where drifts may gather, to save tlie labor of re- 
moving the snow, which would accumulate. 
Care of Stock, — Liberal feeding will be found of 
benefit to all kinds of stock. Observe caution with 
cows in high condition ; as they near the period of 
calving, let their feed be gently laxative, and not 
stimulating. No corn-meal should be given to such 
cows. Bran is safe feed, and it there is any sign of 
fever, a pint of linseed oil, or a dose of salts, should 
be given, as a precaution against milk-fever. Pure 
air is of vital consequence to stock confined in 
stables. Animals wUl maintain their natural heat 
better in pure cold air, than in a wai-m foul one. 
Feeding Straip. — Straw is too valuable to be used 
for bedding, whenever other absorbents, such as 
sand, swamp muck, leaves, or sawdust can be pro- 
cured. Horses working moderately may bo kept in 
good condition upon clean, bright straw, cut and 
mixed with six quarts of meal daily. A feed of 
long hay and oats may be given on Sundays, to save 
labor, and as a welcome change. Common sheep 
will do well fed on straw, with a pint of corn, or a 
quart of bran daily ; the heavier bodied breeds will 
require a pound of oil-cake meal, or some roots, 
and at least one feed of hay daily in addition. 
Sheep are not early feeders, and love to lie late. 
They need not be fed until after breakfast. Other 
stock should be fed before breakfast. For cows 
straw is very poor feed. 
Corn Sialics. — Cows will thrive upon well-cured 
corn stalks. As good butter, both in color and 
flavor, has been made in winter from cows fed 
wholly upon cut stalks, with bran and meal, as 
