AMERICAN AGRICULTURISTS 
[January, 
Contents for January, 1871. 
— • — 
Animal Intelligence and Faithfulness Illustrated.. 1 
Bear Grass 19 
Bee Notes 10 
Boys and Girls' Columns. — A New Year's Greeting— 
About Walking— What I Saw from New York— 
An Icicle — Aunt Sue's Puzzle Box— The First 
Smoke— Winter in the Country.. 3 Illustrations. .27-28 
Cattle Disease in Dutchess Co 9 
Cattle Shed at OgdenJFarm 3 Illustrations.. 17 
Cattle Soiling in Illinois 17 
Commission Merchants 23 
Congress and Horticulture 22 
Draining — Important Device. By Geo. E. Waring, Jr. 18 
Education— Shall I Send my Farmer Boy to College... 10 
Emigrant Ship Illustrated.. 20 
Egyptian Farm Operations 2 Illustrations.. 13 
Farm Work for January 2 
Fruit Garden in January 3 
Flower Garden and Lawn in January 4 
Fuchsia, Lilac Colored Illustrated. . 24 
Garden Work for January 3 
Grape-vine Pruning 22 
Green-house and Window Plants in January 4 
Horseback Riding— No. 1 2 Illustrations.. 11 
House Plants 22 
Household Department^-What is a Warroner ?— Bri- 
dal Gifts — System — Use of Apples, with Receipts 
— Brown Bread — Graham Bread and Corn Bread- 
Receipts— St»wed Oysters— Roast Goose— Roast 
Duck— How to Skin and Stew a Rabbit. 3 lllus. .25-26 
Eumbugs 5 
Inventions— Portable Greenhouses 22 
Job's Tears Illustrated . .21 
Kitchen Garden in January 3 
Market Reports 4 
Moon's Influence on the Weather 18 
Manure, Management of Barn-yard 18 
Manure, Spreading from the Cart IS 
Notes from the Pines— Cordon Peach-trees — Spinach 
— Scolymns— Weeds 23 
Orchard and Nursery in January 3 
Oak Gali Illustrated. . 24 
Ogden Farm Papers 11 
Onions, Keeping n. aa 
Patching and Darning Exhibition Put Off. 9 
Peruvian Guano a Lasting Manure 20 
Polymuia, Edible 23 
Potato Grafting. By John Warcup : .. 21 
Poultry Yard Conveniences— Water Fonntams and 
Feeding Boxes 6 Illustrations. . 16 
Primitive Agriculture 2 Illustrations.. 13 
Rhiuocerous Beetle Illustrated. . 24 
Rhubarb, Forcing 24 
Rose of Sharon, Variegated Illustrated. . 21 
Sons — Important Habits for 9 
Special Premiums 9 
Vegetables and Fruits 22 
Walks and Talks on the Farm — No. S5.— Discontent 
— Use of Straw — Fall-fallowing — Missouri Piggery 
— Mixing Manures — Killing Weeds— Manuring on 
the Surface — When to Manure 14-15 
Water on the Stove 10 
Weeds as a Green Crop 18 
Wheat Culture, Common Sense in 19 
Yucca 19 
Calendar for January. 
INDEX TO "BASKET,' 
AFnneral a Day 
Advertising, Cheap 
Advertising in the Agri- 
culturist 
Advertisements, Reliable. 
Agricultural Report 
Bird Dogs— Training 
Black Knot 
Bool*— My Summer in a 
Garden 
Butter — How much Salt ?. 
Caponizlng 
Carcasses for AgasBiz 
Cellar Floors 
Clover for Hogs 
Dairymen's Convention.. 
Feeding Turnips 
Fowls Poisoned 
Fun Ahead. 
Grade Essex Pigs 
Grand Enterprise 
Grass on the Glades 
Gypsum 
Heifer. When to buy 
High Wages— Low "Prices 
Horse's Eye, Film on 
OR SMALLER ARTICLES. 
8|Horees. Pin Worms in 
" Jesse Wright, of Salem, O. 
Kansas Crops 
Manure Recipes 
5 Mechanical Engineering.. 
8 Minerals and Fossils. 
6 Mink Breedkig 
7 N. J. Ag. Society Record. 
Oilcake for Pigs 
Patching Show 
Peddlers a Nuisance 
7 Pheasants and Poultry 
8 Pickles 
6 Poultry Food 
7 [Poidtry Raising 
8 Poultry Society of Del 
8 [Present to Yale College. . . 
6 Publishers' Notices 
8'Pumpkin Seeds for Cows. 
6!8ilver-platiiig Peddlers. . . 
5 Squash, Large 
7 Squash Seeds 
7 Sundry Humbugs 
6 Swivel Plows 
6,Trees on the Prairies 
7 Whiffletree Yoke 
Unanswered Letters. — Just at this sea- 
sou an immense number of letters are arriving along 
with subscription lists. Those on business will, of 
course, be promptly attended to, but many on personal 
matters, soliciting donations, etc., etc., will necessarily 
wait until we have a 1 ittle more leisure, after the holidays. 
It is simply impossible to respond promptly to all, just now. 
Hn^lon.NEng 
land, N. York 
State. Michi- 
gan, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa, and 
Oregon. 
H.M 
7 31 
7 3" 
7 SO 
7 30 
7 30 
7 29 
7 29 
7 59 
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4 3S 
4 39 
4 40 
4 II 
2 31 
3 28 
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5 26 
4 42 rises 
4 43 4 40 
4 441 
4 45 1 
7 29 4 46 
2914 47 
7 29 4 48 1 
7 5 
7 28 
7 28 
7 2T 
7 27 
7 26 
7 2'i 
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7 23 
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7 81 
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7 17 
7 16 
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5 86 
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4 51 i morn 
4 52 1 
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1 59 
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5 13 
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8 11 
9 16 
10 19 
11 19 
morn 
19 
1 19 
2 17 
3 15 
y. r.cun, ct„ 
Pliila delphia, 
yew Jersey, 
Penn., Ohio, 
Indiana, and 
IlUnois. 
c „■ 
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Q. M. 
4 43 
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7 25 
4 44 
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7 25 
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rises 
7 25 
4 43 
4 45 
7 25 
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7 24 
4 50; 6 42 
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4 51 7 46 
7 24 
4 52' 8 51 
7 24 
4 531 9 57 
7 28 1 54 i 11 4 
7 23 4 55 morn 
7 23 4 50! 12 
7 22 4 57 1 22 
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283 
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7 16 5 10 
11 19 
7 15|5 11 
morn 
7 14 5 13 
17 
7 IS S 14 
1 16 
7 12 5 15 
2 13 
7 12 
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3 10 
Washington, 
Maryland, 
Virginia , Ken. 
tuckg, Missou- 
ri, and Cali- 
fornia. 
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H.M n.M 
7 19,4 49 
7 19 4 50 
7 19 4 51 
7 19 4 52 
7 19 4 52 
7 19U 58 
7 1914 54 
7 19 4 55 
7 19| 4 56 
7 19i4 57 
7 19 4 58 
18 4 59 
H. SI. 
2 26 
3 22 
4 50 
5 16 
rises 
4 51 
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6 47 
7 50 
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11 4 
morn 
11 
1 20 
2 30 
3 4.3 
4 53 
6 1 
8 sets 
6 1 
7 10 
8 16 
9 19 
10 20 
11 18 
7 18 5 
7 18 5 
7 1S ! 5 
7 17 3 
7 17 5 
7 16 5 
7 16,5 
7 15 5 
7 15 5 9 
7 145 10 
7 14 5 11 
7 135 12 
7 12 5 13 
7 12|5 15 
7 11 5 16 morn 
7 I0l5 Hi 15 
7 li 3 18 1 13 
7 8 5 1PJ 2 9 
7 S<5 20 S 6 
PHASES OF THE MOON. 
Full 
3d Quart... 
New Moon 
1st Quart. 
BOSTON. N.TORK.IWASH'N. CHA'STON CHICAGO 
7 43 ev 
8 30 m. 
H. M. 
4 27 ev. 
2 1 in. 
7 36 ev. 
8 18 m. 
H. M. 
4 15 ev, 
1 49 mi 
7 24 ev, 
8 6 m. 
4 3ev 
1 3' 
7 12 ev 
7 54 m 
ni. 
6 42 ev. 
7 24 m. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1871. 
"We all cutci ttao Now Ywir oiiperfully and hope- 
fully. It is an excellent thing that ou«e a year at 
least, we bury our disappointments, and gloomy 
feelings, wipe out the old scores and begin afresh 
with a clean slate, and confidence in the future. 
Farmers ns business men should employ the be- 
ginning of the year in making settlements of a bus- 
iness kind. Pay every debt that is on your books, 
collect every one that is due, or settle it in some 
way as soon after the first of January as possible. 
It is a great deal better to come to a direct under- 
standiug about these things, than for both debtor 
and creditor to grow cool and half unfriendly be- 
cause one owes the other a few dollars, or a few 
hundred dollars, and cannot pay. There is no 
friendship lost by coming to a direct and clear un- 
derstanding about debts, and it will oftener than 
not happwn that things may be turned in someway 
to lessen the account, or gradually to cancel it. A 
man who has a practical, common sense turn of 
mind, and has had a little mercantile training, hav- 
ing been a few years in a country store or in busi- 
ness in the city, or in some manufacturing estab- 
lishment, will almost invariably prove a more suc- 
cessful farmer than one who has been trained sole- 
ly upon the farm. We ought to regard farming 
more as a business than as a trade, more as work 
for the head than for the hands and teams only. 
People have so much to do usually iu autumn and 
early winter iu preparing for Christmas, getting 
the pigs and poultry killed and marketed, and do- 
ing other fall work, that that time is not favorable 
for neighborhood gatherings, for forming farmers' 
social clubs and libraries, but after the new year 
begins we have more leisure, and it is not difficult 
to accomplish such organizations. They are very 
useful, and at a very small expense to individual 
members, great enjoyment may be had, and many 
useful and entertaining books obtained for general 
circulation. Every farmer's family should have be- 
sides a regular newspaper, a sound agricultural jour- 
nal. At the club reading-room, if it should be es- 
tablished, a dozen of the better class of the agricul- 
tural periodicals of the country ought to be taken, 
that a just comparison of views and teachings may 
be made. An efficient Secretary, well sustained, 
will make such a club a source of great pleasure 
and improvement iu any tolerably settled district. 
Hints about Work, 
Building, efc.— jTanuary is a very good time to 
work in the wood lot, to haul timber to the saw- 
mill, to prepare for building, to plan and get out 
frames, etc. The men who con swing an ax with 
skill and vigor, are becoming hard to fiud, at least 
in the Eastern States, and it is well'to lookout 
ahead to secure such labor, and when engaged, to 
see that there is no lack of work. 
Frost.— Owe cold weather held off so long that 
doubtless when the cold map came, many were 
unprepared. The winter is the more likely to be 
iuteusely cold for beginring so mild, hence it is 
important to see that stables, cellars, root pits, and 
water pipes, are very thoroughly protected. 
Icy Paths. — The constant danger to man and 
beast from icy pa'.hs about the house and barn, 
must not be overlooked, sawdust, tan-bark, coal 
ashes, etc., offjr easy but, temporary means of se- 
curity. Salt, if used upon steps or any where, 
should be cleaned away, as it is bad for animals to 
step iu the brine and then into the snow, as a tem- 
perature of nearly zero is produced upon the foot. 
Feed for Live-stock. — Many barns will be low in 
fodder before the end of this month. Buy corn- 
meal or corn, and feed that rather than hay at the 
high prices. Corn-meal is cheaper at §2 a hundred 
than hay at $30 a ton. Bran, middlings, and other 
forms of feed, usually bear relatively high or low 
prices, so that we cau have our choice between 
them and vary the feed occasionally. For pigs, 
slightly damaged flour or other feed, may be fed 
without harm, and very economically. It should 
be mixed with mashed boiled potatoes and water, 
and allowed to ferment before feeding. It is a poor 
plan to feed fattening hogs upon too liquid food. 
As a rule, the drier the better, provided it is so 
that thej' can eat it easily. For other stock all 
kinds of grain feed should be sound. The best way 
to use the finer kinds of feed is on cut hay or straw. 
Morses. — Keep all work and road horses sharp 
shod, or if there is no ice, keep them upon strong 
caulks, which may be sharpened at short notice. 
Sharp caulks wear dull very soon on bare grouud, 
and become dangerously smooth. Spavins, splints, 
besides sprains and bruises, capped hocks and 
knees, etc., frequently come from slipping ou the ice. 
Cows in 3Iillc should have succulent food as well 
as oil-meal, bran, or corn-meal, to give quantity as 
well as richness to their milk. There is little dan- 
ger of a milch cow becoming too fat no matter how 
much she is fed, and it pays to feed well. The drib- 
blets of poor milk which most farmers get from 
cows which have nothing but poor hay, and not 
half enough of that, do not pay for keeping the 
cows even ou the poor fare they get. Well fed, 
they would pay iu milk, and besides the calves 
would be larger aud finer, and the milk much more 
abundant when the cows come in. 
Dry Coins should be well fed, and allowed to get 
into good beef condition. Every pound of flesh 
and fat laid on extra will come back in cream. 
Calves. — Keep young cattle, especially calves, 
growing all the time. They should not be exposed 
in bleak yards, but in warm stables, aud be fed 
more or less meal daily. Their growth and thrift 
will be surprising aud effect their whole lives. 
Vermin on Cattle. — A few warm days in January 
will bring the lice to sight, if they are present. A 
strong solution of carbolic soap will check, if not 
destroy them. The use of mercurial ointment 
(" unguentum") is not to be recommended, al- 
though more certain in its effects than any thing 
else. When applied it should be used only in 
small quantities. Say for an ox a mass as big as a 
hazle nut, mixed with a tablespoonful of lard, and 
rubbed in well upon the neck and spine. If ani- 
mals thus treated are exposed to cold and storms, 
they are very apt to be seriously and sometimes 
fatally affected. Lice and poor feed are hardly less 
fatal. 
Sheep ought to have open yards of ^>od size or 
