358 
AMKRK IAN A( rlU ( ' I I I/TU 1UST. 
[October, 
Contents for October, 1869. 
Barn at Ogdcn Farm 6 Illustrations . .373 
Bee Note*., by Quinby 3SG 
Boys" ami Girls' Columns— The Doctor's Talks— How 
toMake a Fire—" The 0'ie thai Watches the Sheep 
will Win 'he Wool''— Ways of Getting a Living- 
Street Beggars — Defiance — Del. and Se.— Only a 
Pebble— $Tew Puzzles to be Answered. 12 igv«. 3 
CornSalad 379 
Cribbing Horses '3 Ilhistratim 
Digging Potatoes 375 
Fairs to be Held in October 360 
Farm Work for October. . 358 
Fence. New and Excellent Illustrated. .314 
Flower Garden and Lawn in October 353 
Flowers— The Blazing Stars 3 Illustrations. . 377 
Frnit Garden in October 353 
Getting Wild Flowering Shrubs .179 
Green -honse and Window Plants in October 360 
Guessing at the Weight Illitslretf, d 376 
Hamper for Poultry Illustrated. "7.". 
Handling a Bull 2 Illustrations 374 
Horticultural Skirmishing '1T0 
Household Department— Feather Fashions— TheTable 
—Order and Ornament— An Overworked Fanner's 
Wife— Bills of Fare for Autumn— Cleaning Coat Col- 
lars— Vinegar— Acetic Acid— The Pickle Question- 
How to rjse Sour Bread— Hints on Cooking— Car- 
rot Pie — Onions and Tomatoes — Soda Sponge 
Cake 1 Illustration t . 381-382 
Insecticide— A New 879 
Keeping Winter Pears 37'.i 
Kitchen Garden in October 358 
Land Drainage, Details of Work (1 Illustrations 31 1 
Lemon Verbena 3S0 
Marigolds lUustraU d. . 380 
Market Reports 360 
Marks and Numbers 3S0 
Narcissus Illustrated. .380 
Notes from " The Pines," No. 5— Walks and Talks' 
Views of Gardening— Working the Garden— Trum- 
pet Creeper— Trees Poisoning the Ground 878 
Notes of Travel in the West 387 
Orchard and Nursery in October 358 
Petroleum as Paint.' 363 
Premium List and Descriptions 364 367 
Planting Bulhs 377 
Products of the Pine Forests 10 Illustrations. 86!) 370 
Raising Potatoes from the Seed 378 
Rakinir Sea-weed with a Horse-Rake , 37.'! 
Sheep— The Cotswolde IUustratt d 357 
Taking np Plants for Winter 379 
Tim Bunker on Ashes 387 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 70— Petroleum on 
Wagon Wheels— Improvement in Harrows— Horse- 
Power — Weight of Loads — Barley — Summer Fallow- 
ing— Building Stone Walls— Timothy Seed . , 371-872 
Well-curbs and Well Covers 3 Illustrations 372 
TNDEX TO "basket" or. SHORTER AI'.TtCLKs. 
Apple Butter 362 Ivv Does not Cling 386 
Apple on a Vine 386 Keeping Plants 386 
Are Hickory Nuts Seeds ?366 Lima Beans 386 
Barley, to Clean 361 Mabbett's Egg-saving 
Basket Pushed Along. . .3111 Nest JS.362 
Beet Sugar 386 Machine for Pruning. 362 
Bermuda 386 Name, Town, etc ..... .362 
Bulhs 362 Norway Oats 362 
Bushberg Catalogue 363 One Man and -.'nil Acres 
Cabbages 386 Osage Orange in Iowa. .386 
California Butter 386 Peach Tree Diseased . 3S6 
California Fruit 361 Pear Tree Trouble. . . 362 
Corn Sheller 362 Pecan Docs not Bear 3S6 
Early Mohawk Potato. . .862 Plants Named 362 
Fairs 361 Potatoes for Seed 362 
Fall Planting 386 Premiums 361 
Farm Wanted. ..386' Sap Spouts... 886 
Fine Tomatoes 362 Sheep Labels Wanted 362 
Graham Meal 386 Sundry Humbugs 362 
Grain in Kansas. 386 Vegetable Farm'g inS.C.386 
Grasses Named 386 Water tor Cheese Fact's. 3s6 
Hale's Early Peach ...361 Wild Potato Vine.. 386 
Horse-hook 386 Wright's Poultry-book. 362 
Take Notice. 
2 Months Subscription for $0.00. 
Every Fie'W Subscriber t>> the American Agri- 
culturist /'"' IStO, whose subscription comes .'<» 
hand during October, wiU be presented with the pa- 
per the rest of this year without charge, 
if thi name I": marked new when sent in. 
Take Notice, Had this offer extends <■■ All 
^ie« Subscribers, whether coming singly, or in J're- 
mium Cttibs, or otherwise, {This will help thost who 
now begin to make up lists for Premiwns, for they 
can off ' t 'each i i ubsci iber a bonus of two months 
.' i in i ItiH count these names i,i Pe 
A M E It I ( \ \ AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1S69. 
What a line thins; it would be if every farmer in 
the United States were aide to attend a good agri- 
cultural lair and cattle show every year! There 
are few counties in the older States where a Society 
might not be maintained and good paving fail's 
held, which would not only afford agreeable holi- 
days, but lie of great benefit to the agriculture of 
the. district. Any effort to combine the sale of 
stock or produce with the shows, and to make this 
a marked feature, has utterly failed wherever it has 
been attempted. It seems essentially foreign to the 
genius of our people. However, sales of stock 
and of seed grain, potatoes, etc., are made to a con- 
siderable extent, and it seems as if, were we to let 
this sort of thing work awhile, the problem would 
be solved in an American way, and we should 
finally see these meetings not only all that they 
are now, and more too, hut regular marts for the 
sale of certain classes of live-stock, implements, 
plants, seeds, etc. A few stirring men will start a 
Farmers' Club or an Agricultural Society in almost 
any community and keep it up with unflagging 
interest. If such a thing is undertaken, be sure to 
get active men of both or all political parties to 
unite in it, and, beyond this, never think of politics 
for a moment in connection with the Society. Too 
many once useful organizations are now dead or in 
a state of suspended animation, simply because 
they were made use of by shrewd politicians as 
stepping-stones to office in the State. 
As we approach the winter, the labor of different 
sections varies essentially, and our hints about 
work must be taken with reasonable allowances for 
differences of latitude. 
Hints Altottt Work. 
Farm Buildings. — Look to the foundations, and re- 
pair where necessary before cold weather; hank up 
the earth to prevent water settling near or work- 
ing through them. See that good channels exist 
to carry surface water away from. (not out of i barn- 
yards, and away from all buildings. See that no 
sills rest upon the ground, and that no manure or 
litter has accumulated under the floors or sills. 
Fare-troughs should be put upon every roof from 
which the water might run into the barn-yard; 
carry all rain water into cisterns or well away. 
The water supply for the stock-yard is very im- 
portant. Bring it, if possible, in pipes (lead en- 
cased block tin, which is best, wood or iron); 
otherwise, if a well and pump cannot be conven- 
iently located in the barn or yard, consider the 
feasibility oi storing water in underground cisterns. 
These maybe made at this season of the year very 
well. They are of simple construction, all that is 
necessary being to dig a pit of proper size — round, 
flat, or bowl shaped, on the bottom — ami to plaster 
it on the bottom and sides with the best cement and 
sand, working round and round, so as to have the 
narrow strip setting all the time, yet not hard, be- 
forc the next course is applied. Such a cistern may 
be arched over by laving a thick cement dome over 
a rough structure of boards, a man-hole being left 
in the apex ; or it may be covered with planks and 
earth. In either case it must be below frost. 
Water near a barn is a great convenience. 
Ice-houses may be built entirely above ground, and 
of cheap, rough materials, and will answer an ex- 
cellent purpose, provided only the essential condi- 
tions are observed. There must be no free circula- 
tion of air beneath nor against the ice. Xo water 
may stand in contact with tlie ice. The channel 
through which water flows off should not admit a 
draft of air. The ice must lie upon a mass of some 
non-conducting material — straw, wheat chaff, etc. 
The sides should be of wood, double, and packed 
with some non-conductor, as dry sawdust, shav- 
ings, spent tan hark, etc. There should be some 
free communication with the air through the roof 
above the ice (not a drift). If in small masses, a ly 
13x12 feet square, the mass should be surrounded 
and also covered with straw, chaff, or sawdust. 
Henneries for securing eggs in winter may have 
their floors three feet below the surface of the 
ground, well cemented, to prevent water coining 
in. The earth coming out of the pit, if banked up 
against the walls, will make them very warm, while 
green house sashes will admit light and the heat >■:' 
I he nil to such a degree that fowls in sueh quar- 
ters, well fed, will usually lay all winter. The 
whole structure should not be over 5 feel high, 
in front, from the floor, and 8 feet at the rear. Fowls 
may also be accommodated in other warm, light 
quarters with the same results, lie sure to ventilate. 
Beeves. — Push forward such as arc to be marketed 
soon with the most fattening food — old corn meal, 
if you have it, and linseed-meal, with occasional or 
regular feeds of pumpkins and turnips ; keep them 
in the pasture by day if the grass is good. 
Fattening Sheep require similar feeding. Give 
them about as much oil-cake as they will eat, but 
be careful not to cloy them with too much corn 
meal, corn, or other grain ; for if they get off their 
feed they pick up slowly. Give sheep some range 
when first taken up, but where they will be quiet. 
Swine should have the soft corn as fast as it is 
husked, and be fed with cooked feed, corn soaked 
and boiled being nearly as good as cooked meal, 
and saving miller's tolls. Feeding corn on the car is 
very wasteful. It is a mistake to keep breeding- 
sows very thin before they farrow. Feed with roots 
rather than grain, keep them in good flesh, and their 
bowels in good order. A few handfuls of powdered 
charcoal once or twice a week is of marked benefit. 
Breeding Sheep. — March lambs are " spoken for" 
in October, and in our climate this is early enough 
for the majority of early lambs to be yeaned; ear- 
lier ones require a good deal of care, and without 
it never pay so well. The choice of rams for early 
lambs lies between Sonthdowns and Cotswolds. 
The former give the better, the latter the larger 
lambs and often those which bring the highest 
price. In point of quality, Cotswold grade lambs 
are so good that few can tell the difference. 
Fatten Poultry on scalded com meal, keeping them 
yarded, and feeding them four times a day. Give 
wheat screenings or whole corn for the night, and 
soft feed by day. Each time give all they will eat, 
and no more, but keep freshgrass sods and pork 
scrap cake before them to pick at. 
Potatoes must be dug at once. This is now Hie 
most pressing farm work, if the corn is cut up, and 
until this crop is secure undertake nothing else. 
Boots may stand as long as they grow well, but 
harvest them as the advancing season indicate- the 
freezing of the ground. Carrots and beets bear a 
Utile freezing, turnips still more, and parsnips stand 
the winter and may be dug in the spring. 
Corn. — When the grain is cured, that is, when the 
kernels are hard, the ears stiff and solid, husk in 
the field, binding the stalks in small bundles to 
cure for winter fodder. If you would save the 
husks, pick the ears off and bring them to the barn 
to lie husked at odd spells, or break off the ears, 
saving the husks in tli£ field. Look out for the 
new corn buskers at the fairs. They take the car 
from the stalk and husk it as fast as the stalks can 
be fed into a sort of cutting-box arrangement. 
Sorghum. — Secure before hurt by hard frosts. 
Slight frosts area warning and stop the growth. If 
the stalks are stripped, and bound in convenient 
bundles with two bands, they will keep some time, 
but ought to be worked up without needless delay. 
Winter drain. — Few crops respond more prompt- 
ly to a thorough preparation of the soil than winter 
grain and especially wheat. Late sown wheat 
especially should have a fine rich mellow seed bed. 
Do not risk it on heavy laud, unless it has time 
enough to cover the ground well before winter. 
The first of October is late for wheat, though just 
light for rye, which indeed may be sown any time 
during the month; but north of latitude 42 = late 
sowing is usually attended by too much risk. If 
grain does not start well, and owing to cold 
weather fails to tiller and coverthe ground, a dress- 
