282 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
Contents for August, 1874. 
Barn for Sheep 4 Illustrations . .297 
Bcc Notes 290 
Birds— Osprey or Fish-Hawk Illustrated.. 283, 291 
Boys and Girls' Columns— Boys' Pigeon House— 
Antit Sue's Chats— What six pecks of Potatoes 
did— Puzzle-Box, Answers to Puzzles— The New 
Comers 3 Illustrations. 307, 308 
California Tobacco 299 
Cattle, Animals for Exhibition and for use 2 2B..293 
Clearing Stubble 290 
Edam Cheese 5 Illustrations . .295, 290 
Farm Work for August 3S2 
Flower Garden and Lawn in Augnst 2S3 
Flowers, Preserving— Winter Bouquets 303 
Flowers, The Japanese Primrose 304 
Flowers, The Mnnihot Hibiscus Illustrated.. .304 
Fruit Garden in August 883 
Greenhouse and Window Planls in Angtlet 284 
Household Department— Comfortable Country Chairs 
—Pudding — Sponge Cake — Catsup — Home Topics — 
Berrying— That Frying Pan— Small Waists— Bread 
Crackers — Apple Pies for Lunches— A Mother on 
Bathing 2 Illustrations . .305, 306 
Hurdles, How to Arrange .Illustrated . . 299 
Kitchen Garden in August 3S3 
Machine-Made Ox Shoe Illustrated. .296 
Market Reports 281 
Notes from the Pines — American Wistaria — Base- 
Burner water-heater — Robbery of Shrubs — Insects 
and Horticulture — Flowering • Shrubs — Straw- 
berries 302, 303 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 54— A Tasting Chemist — 
Jersey Crosses — Mr. Hand's Herd — Water and Wind 
Mills— Sales of Cattle 291, 292 
Orchard and Nursery in August 283 
Outlet to a Swamp Illustrated . .293 
Ox Bow, now to Bend.. Illustrated . .297 
Patents and Patent Departments 290 
Potato Bug in the West 290 
Poultry, Cramming 299 
Rat-trap, a Permanent 2 Illustrations. .300 
Shrub, The Tree-flowering Andromeda. . . Illustrated. .301 
Siphons and Wutor Pipes Illustrated. .293 
Sour-Fodder Making in Hungary Illustrated. .297 
Strawberries, Some new Varieties 303 
Succulents as Decorative Plants 4 Illustrations.. 301 
Swindling by Mail 290 
Transportation Problem— Steam on Canals. .III.. 299, 300 
Walks and Talks Correspondence 2S9 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 123— Harrowing 
Wheat— Red Root— Weight of Lambs— Mr. Croziers' 
Farm and Fanning 294, 295 
Wild Mustard, To Kill 291 
INDEX TO "BASKET," OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Acrobats 285 Lands in E. Va 288 
Ammonia in Peat. 289 Learning Farming 288 
Blight— Tiles 287 Leaves, Value of 313 
Bloody Urine 313 Lock Nut & Bolt Co 287 
Bones, Use for 287 Losing the Hair 313 
Butler Convention 287 Manuscripts 285 
Carp'ter's&B'ld'r'sGnide288 Mnpes' Superphosphate. 2S7 
Cattle Trade in N. Y 289 Merino Ram 288 
C'lav Pasture 313 Mule with Colt 287 
Clover, Effect 28S Nameless People 285 
Colorado Sheep Farm.... 287 Onion Grub 288 
Colt, Lame 288 Parrot* 288 
Cmi ii. Board of Agri 2S7 Patrons of Husbandry. ..287 
I irnCohs 313 Pea-Bug 287 
Cotton— Improvements. .289 Plaster, Price and Value. 313 
Cribbing Horse 2S8,Ponds, Artificial 287 
Crop for Wet Soil 313 Potato-Rot 289 
CropEeports 2S7 Poultry Dealers 887 
l'i ryinf* Question 313 Practical Farmer.. .... SS6 
Death of a Duchess 287 Preserving Eugs 287 
Death of Mr. Olm 286 Preserving Posts 2S7 
Devon Herd Book 2^8 Propensity in Sheep .. .313 
Dick's Success 313 Railway Horse-Powers. ..287 
Doubtful Case 288 Restoring Butter 313 
DrainineSandy Soil .. .313 R. I. Society 288 
Drains. How they Act.. S89 Rye for Pasture 2S8 
E"gs for Hatching 2S7:St. Joseph & Denver R.R.2S7 
Erniirration to Va 288 Sawdust 287 
Epilepsy in Pigs 313 Selmstopol Geese 288 
Farm Students 2S8 Sheep, Best 288 
Flatulence in Horses 287 Sheep Books 288 
Flax Crop 2S7jSheep f r Ohio 313 
Fowls, Protrusion in 313 Sheep in Nebraska 284 
Fruit and Vegetables 2ss Spasmodic Colic 313 
Furnace for Wood 288 Stable Floors 28S 
Gas-lime, Value 313 State Fairs 289 
Grain Weevils... 287 Steamed Food 313 
Grasshoppers in Minn ..235,Stone Drains 288 
Ground Bones 288,81 reet Manure 287 
Gypsum in Va 28.'-, Sundry Humbugs 285 
Hill and Horticulture.... 287 Swiss Colony 287 
Hair. Stimulating 313 Tan for Stables 287 
Harrowing Question 313 Tile Drains 2S9 
Hawks, to Catch 313 Vitality of Eggs 288 
Hollyhock Disease 287 Warts on Horse 313 
Horse Books 289 West, What Part 289 
How Books Sow Seeds. . 288 Wild Onion 313 
Indefinite 287 Wis. R. R. Decision 286 
Inflamed Hook 318 Wool Waste Manure 286 
Irish Farming 888 Yield of Roots 887 
Calendar for August. 
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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1874. 
The American Agriculturist is for the whole coun- 
try. It is devoted, not to one section alone, but to 
East and West, South and North alike, and it aims 
to give such information as shall be useful and 
practical everywhere. In our wide country with a 
great diversity of climate, the ways and needs of 
farmers differ somewhat. The principles upon 
which they work, however, are the same every- 
where ; good cultivation, killing weeds, gathering 
manure, sowing good seed, making the most of the 
crops grown, treating the farm stock in the best 
manner, and practising economy, all bring about 
the eame profitable results everywhere. We 
endeavor to teach principles, and to show our read- 
ers how they may adapt their practices to them. 
Just now is an excellent time to study a few of the 
first principles of good farming. There is as 
much leisure iu this month as a farmer usually 
enjoys. He should use this to take a rest. Haying 
is over, and fall wheat is harvested. Corn is laid 
by, and by the middle of the month oats and 
spring wheat will be cut. There is plenty of work 
to be done, but it can lie over a few days without 
damage, or those who must stay at home to take 
care of things can aitend to them. Every farmer 
who can, should go from home with his wife, and 
visit some other locality. The Western farmer 
should go East, and the Eastern one should go 
West, and both should exchange places for a few 
days with the Southern planter. By doing this, 
much valuable knowledge will be gained, aud new 
ideas gathered. When he comes back, he will 
probably think his own place the best he has seen, 
or will have found out how he can make it so. 
There will be less local jealousy, and each will 
learn that his brother farmers have all something 
to contend with. If there is the grasshopper or 
the chinch bug in one place, there is the Hessian 
fly or the army worm in another, and there is in 
each locality some drawback. The farmer who 
travels will soon learn that it is in ourselves and 
not in our fortune that we are thus or thus. He 
will come back more contented with his lot, more 
determined to make the most of the advantages 
he enjoys, and better able to do it than before. 
Hints nhout Work. 
Oats, although the season is backward, will soon 
be ready to harvest. They should be cut before 
they are dead ripe. When ripe they shell badly and 
many are lost. The straw is also better for feed 
when cut early. The use of damp rye straw for 
bands in binding, will 6ave time as well as oats. 
Buckwheat may be sown the first week in this 
month, and yet escape frost. It is a crop which 
costs little to put in, and pays well for the cost. If 
injured by an early frost it is worth all the expense 
for plowing under. 
Corn should not be laid by while a horse can pass 
through the rows. A muzzle will prevent him from 
biting the stalks. The soil should be kept stirred, 
and not allowed to bake after a shower. Late 
weeds rob the crop as much as early ones. If they 
are allowed to ripen their seeds, they will do a vast 
amount of mischief. These should be removed by 
hand. No plow should be used to work corn at 
this late season. The roots now occupy the whole 
ground. Two inches of mellow 60il on the surface, 
will keep the soil moist, and no deeper cultivation 
should be given. In rich prairie soils, and where 
fall pasture is scarce, rye may be sown in the rows 
at the last working. This will give valuable late 
pasture or early spring feed. But generally such 
stolen crops are better avoided. Pumpkins grown 
amongst corn are as bad as weeds. Better have a 
portion of the ground prepared for such crops. 
Soot crops must not be neglected. They must be 
kept clean, and thinned out severely. Strap-leaf 
turnips may be sown early this month. Use plenty 
of seed, two pounds per acre, sown in drills 24 to 
28 inches apart, will not be too much for safety. 
150 lbs. of superphosphate, fine bone flour, or 
Peruvian guano near the seed, will greatly help 
the crop. With roots the start is the great point. 
Thin out to 12 inches apart in the row, when the 
plants are well established, and keep tho ground 
free from weeds. Home grown seed is better 
than imported. 
Grass fields will be greatly benefitted by a top 
dressing of fine manure. If nothing better can be 
had, a few loads of rich soil from roadsides or 
scrapings of the barnyard may be spread. It is 
poor economy to pasture meadows or young clover, 
good care at this season will strengthen the roots, 
and give a heavy aftermath which may be pastured 
by and by. 
Pastures need looking after. Bare and mossy 
spots should be harrowed, sowed with fresh seed, 
and a dressing of lime and ashes or plaster, may 
be given. A bushel of salt per acre is often very 
useful. Weeds should be cut with the mowing 
machine, and gathered aud burued. Brush should 
be cut close to the ground, with a short stiff scythe 
or a brush hook. 
Weeds should be kept down everywhere. Thistles, 
wild parsnips and carrots, mulleins and burdocks, 
in neglected corners and fence rows, should be cut 
up by the root, and the tops gathered and burned. 
Many weeds arc now ripening their seeds, and if 
neglected will make work for many years to come. 
Draining may now be laid out for future comple- 
tion. Springy places should be staked, and the 
course of a drain that will cany off the water, 
should also be staked out. Swamps are now dryer 
than usual, and ditches may be dug comfortably. 
Throw out the muck on one side of the ditch only. 
Put it in heaps, and not iu a continuous row, which 
would prevent surface water flowing into the ditch 
by and by. The muck will be dry before winter, 
and so will the ground. The muck can then be 
easily hauled at any time to the barnyard. Read 
Ogden Farm papers for last mouth once more. 
Sating Seed.— A large quantity of grass seed may 
be saved, by cutting the ripe bunches from clean 
fence rows, or patches which may have been left 
for this purpose in the meadows. Where any 
variety of grass grows unmixed with others, it 
should be left in this way. The grass may be cut 
with a grass hook, tied in bunches and thrashed or 
rubbed out, and the seed saved in gram bags. This 
is a little thing, but hundreds of such little things 
