42 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Contents for February, 1872. 
• — ■ 
Amaranth, Willow-leaved Illustrated. . 60 
Boys and Girls' Columns— Those Map Prizes— Agricul- 
turist and Hearth and Hume— Tricks of Parlor Magic 
— Aunt Sue's Puzzle-Box— The Eagles aud the Teal. 
31Uwtrat&ma..ei,6S 
Brick-Makiug 2 Illustrations. . 65, 56 
*attle, Prize Devon Illustrated.. 41 
Cherry-Tree, The Dyehousc Illustrated. 03, 64 
Creamery— Cheap Deep Can 3 Illustrations . .57, 58 
Curb for Digging Wells through Quicksand 111. .59 
Department of Agriculture — Report for 1871 49 
Drains, Making Stone 3 Illustrations. . 57 
Egg Farm 3 Illustrations. . 51, 52 
Farm Work in February 42, 43 
Farming, Can it Pay Such Taxes? 59 
Fence-Wires, Tigkteners for Illustrated. .56, 57 
Flower Garden and Lawn in February 44 
Fruit Garden in February 43 
Greenhouse and Window Plants in February 44 
Greenhouses attached to Dwellings Illustrated.. 62 
Hop-Tree Illustrated. . 64 
Horses' Shoes, Calks on 59 
Household Department — Home Topics— Support for 
Qiilting Frame— About Suspenders— Letter from a 
Housekeeper— How Wo Live at Our House. 
3 Illustrations. 65, 66 
Ice-Boat Regatta Illustrated. . 60 
Kitchen Garden in February 44 
Lambs, Feeding Illustrated. .56 
"Late Roses" 62 
Level, Drain Illustrated. .58 
Manure, Spreading in Winter 59 
Maple-Sugar Item 49 
Market Reports 44 
Mignonette, Parson's White 62, 63 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 25 — Colonial Agriculture- 
Curing Corn Fodder 50, 51 
Orchard and Nursery in February 43 
Pear, The Quinn Illustrated. .63 
Poppies, Horned Illustrated. . 60 
Poultry, Sending to Exhibition 7 Illustrations.. 49, 50 
Rabbits and Snares 3 Illustrations.. 63 
Shelters, Wattle ; Illustrated. .59 
Sqnillas or Mantis Crabs Illustrated . .53 
Streams, Protecting Banks or a mwtr<ui&*>a..&r: 
Sugar Beets for Cattle Feeding 53 
Varieties, How Improved 60 
Venus's Flower-Basket Illustrated.. 53 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 98— Taking Care 
of Manure— Winter Wheat— The "Dog Law"— 
Grain Mill— Essex Swine— Improvement of Stock- 
Raising White Mustard 54, 55 
INDEX TO "BASKET," OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Agave Virginica 48] Labels 45 
Animals, Stnfflng 48,Lilac Bushes 46 
Apples and Pears on Wet Lime-Spreaders 46 
Lands 48:Liquid Manure, Compost- 
Apple Orchard 46| ing with Leaves, etc 48 
Ashes, Coal 46iMilk, Large Crocks for 
Basket, a Bara. Ill 57) Setting 47 
Beans 45 Minn, and its Productions 48 
Bee Notes 48 Mistletoe 46 
Black Leg 47!Newspaper Recommcnda- 
Bob-Sleds 461 tione 45 
Books Noticed ... 49:North Pacific Railroad. . .48 
Brahmas, Do they Mature | Peach Grubs 45 
Harly 45; Peach-Trees and Canker- 
Breeding from Young | Worms -16 
Sows 46 Peanuts (8 
Butter, Mr. Sargent's 45 Peas, How to Use Profit- 
Cabbages after Potatoes. . . 46| ably 46 
Cabbage, Club-Root in 45jPig, What to do with a 
Cancer — the Latest Cure.. 45i Scabby 4s 
Cattle, Disease in 43i Plants, Frozen 63 
Charcoal Dust, Value of... 4sj Plants Named 47 
Cious— Grafting 48| Post-Hole Digger 46 
Citron 481 Poul try Books 48 
Clover into a Poor Soil 
How to Get 47 
Clover Seed, Sowing on 
Wheat 48 
Copper-Strip Hay-Cutter. .46 
Cows, Drying Up 47 
Drain Land, Borrowing 
Money to 45 
Ducks, How to Raise 48 
Eaut Tennessee as a Sheep 
gonntry 47 
Pleas 47 
Forest-Tree Seeds 46 
Fortllizer.Graftou Mineral 48 
Fonl in the Foot 47. 
Frost, Degrees of 48 
Golden Rod 45 
Grafting. 48 
Grass, Bermuda 45 
Hedge, China-Trees for a..4S 
Heifer. How to Fat a 47 
Hen Lice 47 
Hens, Will they Lay naif 
the Year 48 
Hogs, Temperature for 
Scalding 4S 
HooBier School-Master.. .45 
"House and Garden" 46 
Incubation, Period of 4S 
"'Insects Sent " 46 
Knot, Halter El.. 5$ 
Potato-Bug, Colorado 43 
Poultry World 45 
Pump foraDeep Well 45 
RainatWill 46 
Raisins 48 
RedRoot 48 
Ring Bone 46 
Roots, Comparative Value 47 
Rural Alabamian 45 
Seeds, Mailing ..48 
Size of Ox-Yokes 46 
Skippers in Hams, To Pre- 
vent 46 
Small Fruit Notes 46 
"Smilax" 46 
Stable-Floor, Best 47 
Steaming Food with Hot 
Water 46 
Strawberry, Mexican Ever- 
Bearing 48 
Sundry Humbugs 45 
Swine, Suffolk 47 
The" World" Agricultur- 
ally Considered 47 
Thrashing-Machine, Hand47 
Washing-Machines 46 
Watches. Cheap 45 
Water - Rams, Do they 
Waste Water? 46 
What we Sleep on 47 
Wheat and Chess 48 
Calendar for February. 
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morn 
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6 14 
rises 
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7 4 
8 9 
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10 22 
11 34 
jy. r. ati/. a. 
Philadelphia, 
yew Jersey, 
Penn., Ohio. 
Indiana, and 
Illinois. 
n.M n.w 
7 ids 18 
7 9 5 19 
7 7 5 20 
7 6 5 22 
7 5 5 23 
7 4 5 24 
7 3 5 25 
2 5 26 
6 59 
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fi 37 
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5 28 
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10 20 
11 31 
Wushington, 
Maryland, 
Virginia .Ken- 
tucky, Missou- 
ri, and Cali- 
fornia. 
n.M n.M 
7 6 5 22 
7 5,5 23 
7 4.5 24 
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7 2|5 26 
7 15 27 
7 0:5 28 
6 59|5 ?9 
6 58 5 31 
6 57 5 32 
6 56 5 S3 
6 55 5 34 
6 34I5 35 
6 53;5 Sfi 
6 52 5 38 
6 50 5 39 
5 40 
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5 42 
5 43 
5 45 
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6 48 
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6 46 
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6 40 
6 38 
6 37 
6 35 
r, 34 
6 33 
FT. M. 
morn 
26 
1 34 
2 46 
3 58 
5 8 
6 9 
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sets 
7 34 
8 44 
9 48 
10 53 
11 55 
mora 
55 
1 55 
2 52 
3 46 
4 37 
5 23 
6 3 
rises 
6 5 
7 7 
8 9 
9 12 
10 17 
11 27 
PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
WASH'N. 
CHA'STON 
CHICAGO. 
ID. 
H. X. 
n. M. 
H. K. 
3d Quart.. 2 
5 26 m. 
5 14 m. 
5 2 m. 
4 50 m. 
4 20 m. 
New Moon 8 
9 8 ev. 
8 56 ev. 
8 44 ev. 
8 32 ev. 
8 2 ev. 
1st Quart.. 16 
1 40 m. 
1 28 m. 
1 16 m. 
Full 124 
6 13 m. 
6 m. 
5 43 m. 
5 36 m. 
5 6 m. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 18753. 
"As the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins 
to strengthen." With us, February is usually one 
nf the ooldest months in the year. Some people 
think that they can stand cold better towards tne 
conclusion of winter than at the beginning — that 
they get " hardened." The facts all point the other 
way. An Englishman stands the heat and cold of 
our climate far better the first year than the second. 
The thermometer often falls lower with us than in 
Russia, but there the cold weather lasts longer, and 
is steadier and more continuous. And the inhabit- 
ants feel it more and make greater preparations to 
guard against it than we do. The last half-hour of 
a cold ride is far more trying than the first half- 
hour. It is continuous cold that tests our strength. 
It is said that our climate is changing. Cutting 
down forests undoubtedly increases the severity of 
the wind. But otherwise there is no evidence of a 
chauge of climate. Our winters are no colder; our 
summers no hotter. By setting out evergreens and 
other trees for screens, and otherwise providing 
shelter, we can make the climate on any particular 
farm, garden, homestead, or barnyard justas favor- 
able for grain, fruit, animals, or man, as it ever was. 
No change has taken place that man can not ob- 
viate. When the country wa6 first cleared, the 
roots in the soil, probably, to 6omc extent provided 
drainage, while the accumulated organic matter 
from centuries of fallen leaves, furnished plant- 
food, and rendered the soil rich and porous. Such 
soils are now in many instances wet, compact, and 
poor. We have the power to restore its original 
condition by underdraining, good tillage, and man- 
uring. We can raise ju6t as good wheat as we ever 
could, and more of it to the acre, because our land is 
free from 6tumps. Aud 60 of all other crops. Shame 
to the man that can not beat Nature ! We highly 
venerate the great and good men of the past, but 
we have great faith in the men of the future, and 
are not wanting in respect for those of the present. 
We like to hear the fathers talk of the good old 
times; but depend upon it, times are no harder and 
the world no worse than in former days. We re- 
joice to believe that they are better. 
It may be said that we could grow fruit easier 
when the country was new than we can now. Better 
shelter, richer land, and fewer insects and diseases 
sufficiently explain this fact, without attributing it 
to a change of climate. And it may be that the 
varieties of fruit were not as good as those we now 
cultivate. Our common seedling-apple trees, choke- 
pears, aud frost-peaches still bear abundantly. We 
have a peach-tree that bears bushels of fruit every 
year, and the tree isas vigorous and healthy as any 
peach-tree could have been a hundred years ago. But 
the labors ofourpomologists have given us such de- 
licious peaches that no one ever thinks of touching 
the fruit of this tree whenever the other trees in 
the orchard bear a crop. 
It is quite possible that it is our taste and not 
the climate that has changed. We demand better 
articles, and we must pay a better price. No good 
thing can be had without care and labor. 
On the other hand, if we will bestow the neces- 
sary attention, the choicest varieties of grain, vege- 
tables, and fruit and the best breeds of animals 
always afford the greatest profit to the producci- 
and the greatest satisfaction to the consumers. 
Every intelligent farmer and fruit grower, there- 
fore, should aim to produce the be6t. It is the 
constant aim of the Agriculturist to teach and en- 
force this truth. 
Hints about Work. 
We have thousands of readers in the Southern 
States who will be busy thi6 month preparing tbeir 
land for spring crops, hut with us in the North 
nothing can be done in the fields, except during a 
temporary thaw. Then we must be careful that 
no water is allowed to remain on the land. The 
outlets of underdrains should be looked to, and 
watercourses cleaned of any impediments. Few 
farmers seem to have any idea of how mnch water 
they can remove from their land by a little well- 
directed labor. Wherever you see water on the 
surface, no matter whether the field is occupied 
by a crop or not, get rid of it at once. It may be 
doing no harm now, but it will soak into the soil 
and keep the land cold and wet, or delay the opera- 
tions of tillage several days or perhaps weeks in 
tlio cprlng. W*c aic aiTftpo that wlion the ground 
is frozen underneath, it is not always easy to let 
off Ihe water, but this should be no excuse for ne- 
glecting the matter altogether. Every gallon let 
off and thus prevented from soaking into an 
undrained soil, saves all the heat that would 
be required to evaporate it in the spring. Recol- 
lect that the sun mu6t first evaporate the surplus 
water before it warms the soil. 
Winter Wheat. — When the soil is frozen and com- 
paratively free from snow, a little manure, or straw 
even, may be spread out on the wheat with advan- 
tage. As a rule, the prospects for winter wheat are 
not favorable. The ground was very dry last fall, 
and the growth small, and the winter, so far, has 
been very severe, with little snow. If March and 
April are unfavorable, much wheat will be damaged. 
Good Prices for Wheat next Fall are highly prob- 
able. Everything points this way. Anything wa 
can do in the way of top-dressing our winter wheat, 
will pay better than usual. Well-rotted manure, or 
200 lbs. of guano and nitrate of soda, applied very 
early in the spring, will help the crop of wheat, 
and benefit the clover afterwards. The artificial 
manures can be sown broadcast and need not be har- 
rowed in. The barn-yard manure should be spread 
evenly and then harrowed with Thomas's smoothing 
harrow. If it pulls any of the manure into small 
heaps, spread them out again. We would go over 
the field with the harrow two or three times in op- 
posite directions. The harrow will not injure the 
wheat— quite otherwise. 
Spring Wheat. — We think farmers will do well, in 
6pring-wheat sections, to sow largely this year. 
But do not sow uuless the land can be got into good 
condition. We expect good prices; but a large 
crop at a moderate price pays far better than a poor 
crop at high prices. We allude to this matter now, 
in hopes of inducing the readers of the American 
Agriculturist to get ready for putting in a good area 
of spring wheat, and of putting it in well. 
Manure. — We should be glad to know that thou- 
sands of our readers have adopted our plan of piling 
manure as fast as it was made, aud not allowed It to> 
