AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
fou the 
Farm, GrarcLen, and Household! 
'AGKICULTCKE IS TJUE MOST nEALTIIFUL, MOST USEFUL, AN1I MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OP MAN/'-W. 
ORAJVOE IIIDD, A.M., 
EDITOR AND PKOPKIETOR. 
Office, 41 Park Row, (Times Building: 
1 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
Published both in English ami German. 
$1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE 
SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 
For Contents, Terms, etc., sec jiagc 352. 
VOLUME XXII— No. 11. 
NEW-YORK, NOVEMBER, 1863. 
NEAV SERIES— No. 203. 
Entered according to act of Congress in the year ISttj, liy 
OxtAMfiK .1udi>, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of 
the united Stales for the Southern District of New-York. 
S3f~ Otliei Journals are invited to copy desirable articles 
freely, (/"each article be credited to American Agriculturist. 
Suggestions and Notes for the Month. 
November with its sounding blasts gives 
wanting of the advancing march of Winter, 
and the prudent man will heed .the signal. 
Every where may be noticed the care with which 
Nature protects her children. The summer 
glory of the trees has departed, but the fallen 
leaves spread thickly about the roots, prepare 
them to withstand the benumbing frosts; and 
many a bulb and tender sprig and waiting 
seed, lie snugly nestled within the folds of the 
kindly shelter. No woven blanket could better 
protect the pastures and meadows, than does 
the downy mat formed of the withered blades 
of grass. Here, too, are safely kept the myriad 
seeds of. flowers that will gladden the fields 
when Spring shall waken them to life. Nor are 
the countless tribes of animated creatures for- 
gotten. Warned by unerring instinct, the bee 
has filled its cells with abundant stores, and 
fears neither cold nor famine; flies and their 
congeners have sought sheltering crevices ; 
many insects have burrowed iu the earth, and 
for others, a special form of life has been de- 
vised, and their chrysalides hang from fence 
and bush ; the squirrels are gathering nuts and 
acorns with which to regale themselves in the 
intervals of their long winter nap ; in the wilder 
regions the bear is looking out his hollow tree, 
and each animal is rejoicing in the thickened 
coat which shall shield him from coming 
storms. Let the husbandman note these kindly 
provisions, and be equally provident for the 
creatures entrusted to his care. There may be 
danger that some domestic animals will be in- 
jured by excess of kindness. They should be 
protected, but not pampered. A horse confined 
in a close shelter, kept warmly blanketed, fed 
with unsparing hand, and but little exercised, 
will Jm J«*Uale to inflammatory diseases from 
every slight exposure. Sheep huddled together 
in warm pens, kept iuactive and supplied with 
abundant food, will be enfeebled themselves, 
and in the case of breeding ewes, their progeny 
will also sutter. As with human beings, the 
first requisite for withstanding severity of 
weather is robust health and vigor of consti- 
tution. With these and plenty of food, animals 
entirely unsheltered will successfully resist al- 
most any inclemency of the season. But it is 
both humane and economical to give that 
amount of shelter which will not interfere with 
hardiness. A creature exposed to the full force 
of a winter nor'wester, will shiver off a sur- 
prising amount of fodder, and usually of fat also. 
The importance of this leads us to repeat what 
we have often said in the American Agri- 
culturist, that a large part of the food consum- 
ed is used up in the system, actually burned, 
to furnish animal heat. The need of this repe- 
tition is seen in the absence of shelter for stock 
on hundreds of farms, particularly at the West. 
We believe it would not be saying too much to 
assert that the hay and grain annually wasted — 
burned up for want of protection to animals — 
would keep twenty-five per cent, more cattle 
and sheep than are now raised in this country. 
If any whose animals are unsheltered, are yet 
doubtful on this point, let them commence ex- 
perimenting. Build stables or rough sheds for 
part of the stock, and keep an exact account of 
the feed consumed by them, in comparison 
with an equal number allowed to run at large : 
we have no doubt as to the result. In addition 
to considerations of profit, there is no little sat- 
isfaction in the merciful treatment of dependent 
creatures. The lowing of unsheltered cows and 
bleating of neglected sheep are anything but 
soothing music, while the grateful pleasure 
which even dumb animals can express in re- 
turn for proper care, will add not a little to the 
enjoyments and the attractions of farm life. 
Work for the Farm, Household, etc. 
Animals. — Keep them always improving. 
Comfort for the animal is money in the purse 
of the proprietor. Take them up early for the 
animals' sake, for the pastures' sake, and for 
their manure. Provide warm sunny sheds for 
young cattle, close sheds or boxes for colts, 
open but warm sheds for sheep, where they can 
have the range of a dry yard. 
Barns and Stables. — A clapboard loose or 
gone, or a great crack under the door, lets in the 
cold, and the horse or cow must have more 
fuel for the fire within the body to counteract 
the cold from without. Pure air is essential, 
but let it not come in chilling currents upon 
man or beast. With ventilators above for the 
escape of bad air, there will generally be 
cirough good air stealing in almost insensibly 
through the seams and crevices; if not, admit 
it from some point where it will not blow di- 
rectly upon the animals. Every stable should 
have one glazed window, and better several. 
Butter may be made almost as well at this 
season as in June, if the feed of the cows is 
good enough. Sugar-beets and carrots, with 
plenty of sweet hay and corn-stalks cut up and 
flavored with bran, corn meal, or cotton seed 
or other oil-cake with salt as a condiment, will 
secure the cream which will make yellow but- 
ter without annotto, and plenty of it. 
Cellars. — The fetid air from decaying veget- 
ables is as bad as the malaria from a swamp; 
hence be very careful in storing vegetables and 
in frequently examining those already in the 
cellar, to remove all roots and leaves beginning 
to decay. Thorough draining, ventilation, and 
plenty of lime whitewash, are good, both for 
the things kept in the cellar, and for those liv- 
ing above it. A little hydraulic lime mortar, 
with bits of stone and broken glass, are good 
stoppers for rat-holes. The best cellar tempera- 
ture is one as low and equable as possible above 
freezing. In fact a little frost is better for tip- 
ples than too much warmth. Potatoes en- 
dure rather more warmth than apples and other 
fruits ; these must be kept cool, but sweet po- 
tatoes will bear quite a high temperature, and 
should be put in the dryest and warmest part 
of the cellar. Sashes with double glass and an 
intervening thin space of confined air, are 
nearly equal to stone walls, in shutting out 
cold. Protect the exposed walls with a bank 
of earth outside, or what is neater and better 
spent tan-bark, if it be conveniently accessible. 
Cisterns.— Pure clean rain water is belter for 
man and beast than well or spring water medi- 
cated with lime and other salines dissolved out 
from the soil. If not already done, empty and 
clean foul cisterns early, when rains may be 
depended upon to fill them again. (See note on 
examining cisterns and wells, elsewhere.) 
Com.— Dampness and frost combined, injure 
it for food, and especially for seed. Much of 
the corn brought to this market is sold as " un- 
sound." The sooner it can be husked and 
placed in dry cribs, the better. The crib should 
never be more than 3 or 4 feet wide, and let 
abundant openings be left, by slats at the sides. 
The eaves should project far over the sides of 
the corn-house, to prevent storms beating in 
upon the sides. A rat-terrier dog chained un- 
der or in the corn-house, is the best rat-trap. 
Corn Rusks.— There is a ready sale for this 
article at about $10 per ton at the farm in 
many sections. It is not worth this for fodder 
and the difference, if it be cash, will pay for 
saving them. Tom into fine shreds on a 
hatchel, they are better than straw to fill beds. 
Draining. — There is hardly a farm in America 
on which some work at surface or under-drains 
may not be done to advantage this month. So 
long as the ground is unfrozen, this important 
