AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Contents for February, 1873. 
Apple, Shockley Illustrated. .62 
Bee Notes for February 49 
Boys and Girls' Columns— Prizes for 1873— Doctor's 
Talk about a Candle— Something to Try at— Aunt 
Sue's Puzzle-Box— Tying Grandpa's Shoes. 
1 1llustrations.. 61, 68 
Canker- Worms and Printer's Ink t?3 
Capsicums, Ornamental Illustrated. . 01 
Carbolic Acid, Using Crude 51 
Cattle, Chillingham Illustrated. . 51 
Cattle Market for 1S72 59 
Cattle, Winter Management at a Prize Farm 59 
Cottcn, New Variety of 50 
Cows, Profit from Dairy 58 
Crawfish and Cranberries 62 
Crops that require Rich Land 59 
Farming, How to Learn 58 
Ferns, Some Evergreen Native 3 Illustrations. 63 
Flax, New Zealand Illustrated. .61 
Flower Garden and Lawn for February 44 
Fruit Garden for February 43 
Fruit in Nebraska 02 
Greenhouse and Window Plants for February 44 
Hints about Work 42 
Horses' Feet and Legs, Diseases in Illustrated . .53 
Horse, The Percheron 58 
Household Department— Coal and Wood Boxes— Shel- 
lac Varnish— Scuttle for Base-burning Stoves — Home 
Topics— Neighborly Kindness — Sausage-Making and 
Keeping 5 Illustrations.. 65, 66 
Ice Houses, Company 59 
Kitchen Garden for February 44 
Libel Case, English Agricultural BO 
Manures, Artificial BO 
Market Reports — 44 
Mulberries 63 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 36— European Agriculture— 
Economy— Value of Laud— Cattle in Europe— Irriga- 
tion in Italy ..52 
Orchard and Nursery for February 44 
Ox-Yoke, How to Make 3 Illustrations . . 56 
Pea-Straw, Is it Good for Fodder f 51 
Pigs, Importing Prize 58 
Pot-Plants, Supports for 63 
Roses— The ClasB to Plant 62 
Salmon Spawn on the Penobscot 50 
Seeds and Plants by Mail 63 
Sheep on the Plains 4 Illustrations . .57 
Squash, Marblehead Illustrated.. 64 
Stock Ponds 3 Illustrations. . 56 
Stock. Watering, in Winter Illustrated. .53 
Sugar-Beets, Culture of BO 
Trotting Stallion, Fearful 60 
Turkeys for Breeders, Selection of B8 
Vegetables— A Few Select Kinds 62 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 110— Farming and 
Farmers — Principles in Agriculture — Fanning in 
Iowa— Farm Work— Essex Pigs 54, 65 
INDEX TO "BASKET," OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Apple-Trees, Flowerless. .45jLime and Manure 47 
Artichoke, Jerusalem 47 1 Liver, Enlarged 47 
Australian Blue Gum 47;Lolliugof the Tongue 47 
Bacon. English Breakfast. 47, Magnolia 49 
Burn Plan 46 Mummy- Wheat 48 
Beans and Pod for Name. .48 Night-Soil, Utilizing 47 
Bee Journal, American 49;Oil-Cake 45 
Bee-Keepers' Association, jOrchard 48 
North-eastern 49 ( Painting in Winter 46 
Bee Keepers' Soc, North. (Parsnips, Stringy 47 
American 49, Peach-Orchard 49 
Book on Market-Garden- IPigs Losing their Tails.,. .43 
ing 46 Pigs, Small Breed Wanted.48 
Brood-Mare, Feed for 46 Pigs. Weight of Essex 46 
Broom-Sedge 47 Pipe for a Ram, Proper 47 
Carbon -Paper 47j Plowing in Winter 46 
Cattle, Rape for 491 Potash, Weight of a Barrel 
Cheese Factory 47 of 45 
Colorado ..4S ; Potatocs. Mixing 47 
Complimentary •*. .47, Potatoes, Questions about. 47 
Condensed Milk . .49 Rape for Sheep 48 
Cones of Spruce Pine 40 : Sawdust for Bedding 48 
Contributor 471 Sheep and Where to Raise 
Corn, Drilling in Straight I Them 48 
Rows 49,Sheep, Sickness among. . .47 
Cranberries 49, Sheep, Treatment of. .. ..48 
Dairy Matters 49 Snakes. Do they Swallow 
Devon Herd-Book, Am — 48 their Young? 48 
Dog Laws in Ohio 49 Stable Fittings, Dimen- 
Draining.. 47j sions of 46 
Drive- Well 47, Stagger* 47 
Drones and Swarming 50 Stock for the South 48 
Eye-Stones 48.Stock for Mountain Pas- 
Farmers' Club 45 turcs, Best 47 
Farming without Hard |Stra\vberries 48 
Work 491 Sundry HumbugB 45 
Fish-Culture 49|Tanner's Waste, Value of. 47 
Goats, Cashmere 47;Tiles, Hints about Laying.47 
Grape- Vines, Injured 47jTo Nurserymen. Florists, 
Greenhouse Construction. 49; etc 48 
Hay-Press, Hand 46'Trophy Tomato 49 
Ho"s, Weight of Thorough- Washing Machine 48 
bred 46j Water-Wbeels 46 
Horses, Catarrh In 47)Wells or Springs 47 
Horses, Doctoring 46[Will Plaster Fix Ammo- 
Ice-IIouse 47, nia? 48 
L'»bor _ 49 Yachts and Scows 48 
Calendar for February. 
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PHASES OF THE MOON. 
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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 1873. 
This is the last month of winter. Spring will 
soon be here, and it is well to think about and pre- 
pare for its labors. We do not mean by this that 
our winter's work will booh be ended. AVe, at the 
North at least, shall be obliged to feed our stock 
for at least three months longer. There will also 
be many days and weeks in which nothing can be 
done except what we call winter's work. It is 
nevertheless true that spring is approaching. The 
fact is that the seasons run into or overlap each 
other, and if wc are wise we shall be fully prepared 
at any time to do spring work in winter and winter 
work in spring. We know not when one ends and 
the other commences. It is this uncertainty in 
regard to the season that forms one of the marked 
peculiarities of farm work. Some people tell us 
that farm life is made up of a dull round of mono- 
tonous duties. They know nothing about it. Our 
labors are not half so monotonous as those of the 
factory, the shop, the store, or the office. There 
are certain things that must be done every day, but 
is not this true of all occupations ? The philosopher 
who figured up how many times he would have to 
dress and undress himself if he lived to be three- 
score years and ten, and was so overwhelmed at 
the thought of having to do such an enormous task 
that he committed suicide, was a philosopher only 
in name. We have heard a farmer complain of 
how many times he had to carry a pailful of feed 
to his pig. He said he did not. think it paid. Wc 
have not much sympathy with the men who are 
forever asking, "Does farming pay?" or "Does 
life pay?" Such men will find little pleasure or 
profit in any occupation. Farm life is dull only to 
the dullard. The fault is in the man, not in the 
work. We find that the duties and labors of modern 
agriculture require the exercise of all the talents 
that we possess— and more, too. Lonely farm life 
may he — though we do not find it so — dull and 
mouotouous it never need be. If you find it so, 
wake up, stir yourself, think, study, work. What- 
ever your hands find to do, do it with your might. 
We never knew a day on a farm when there was 
not something to do. We have rarely known a 
night set in when there was not something left 
uudone that ought to be done. Again we say, Wake 
up, arouse your faculties, see how quick and how 
well you can do your this or that particular work, 
aud with the least expenditure of force. Then, 
when it is done, go at something else. Try and get 
the work done— everything— and then, wheu you 
can not think of another single thing that ought to 
be done, take a good rest, enjoy yourself, visit your 
friends and neighbors, and have a good lime gene- 
rally. One who does thus will never find farm life 
dull. 
If you find that you have more energy than your 
present farming operations call into exercise, en- 
large them. Wc do not mean by this, necessarily, 
that yon had better get a larger farm. This may or 
may not be wise. But there arc many other ways 
of increasing the demand on your time, thought, 
and energy, such as adopting a higher system of 
fanning, raising thorough-bred stock to sell for 
breeding purposes ; or you may go more exten- 
sively into fruit culture, seed-growing, or market- 
gardening. In this country there is no lack of 
profitable work for any man capable of doing it. 
Hints about Work. 
We have said there is no lack of profitable work 
for any man capable of doing it. But there are 
different degrees of capacity. We have to compete 
with each other, and the man that can accomplish 
a given amount of work at the least cost makes the 
most money. 
Farmers must Study Economy. — We do not mean 
by this that they must live cheaply. Farmers are 
not often extravagant in their style of dress and 
manner of living. It is the very best of economy 
to dress warm, and comfortable, aud appropriately 
to the work. It is good economy to make the 
house as pleasant as possible. It is good economy 
to eat well, sleep well, and work hard. 
Working Hard is not always working to the best 
advantage. A man may work very hard chopping 
wood with a dull axe, or pumping water with a 
pump that " sucks air," but hv io not woi-Uinjr with 
economy. A man gets pay, or ought to get it, not 
for " working," but for what he accomplishes. This 
is as true of the farmer as of his hired men, though 
we do not feel its force so fully in the one case as 
in the other. We do not like to pay a man for 
carrying one pail of water wheu he might ju-t n* 
well carry two, or for plowing or harrowing with 
one horse when he might just as well drive three. 
But farmers themselves often do things equally 
wasteful of time and labor. Do we never take a 
load to the cily and come back empty, aud then go 
empty to the city to bring back a load, and thus 
lose half our own time and that of the team, and 
pay double toll into the bargain ? 
True Scientific Farming consists largely of the ex- 
ercise of common-sense. No amount of mere 
knowledge will enable us to dispense with system, 
order, judicious planning, and economical work. 
Live-Stock. — Much of the success of a farmer de- 
pends on the proper and economical management 
of his live-stock. We should never forget, that it 
i> live stock. AVe can paint an implement and 
stow it away until required, but our animals must 
have food to eat every day. They must have food 
enough to keep them warm and sustain the vital 
functions. If you do not give them enough they 
must live on their own fat and flesh. 
Turning Animals to a Straw-Stack, and letting 
them help themselves, seems an ccouomical way 
of wintering stock, bur it is fearfully extravagant. 
AVe do not mean merely that they waste the straw, 
but it is compelling them to cat their own bodies 
— it is feeding them on beef, mutton, butter, and 
fat! Can you afford to do so ? 
Horses. — With us, timothy hay 6ells for as much 
per ton as we cau.buy corn-meal for. In such cir- 
cumstances, where a farmer has plenty of good 
bright oat or wheat straw, it is poor economy to 
feed timothy hay to farm horses. Cut up the straw 
into chaff. A bushel of it will weigh about 8 lbs. 
If the horses are not working, mix two quarts of 
corn-meal with a bushel of the chaff, and let them 
