2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Januaby, 
" or harness if he is taken where he will not slip. 
Always be gentle with colts and get them accus- 
tomed to be handled and to like your preseuce. 
A few carrots fed daily are very valuable for horses 
at this season and through the Winter. 
Ice. — Fill the house early. See another page. 
Liquid Manure—is one of the most valuable pro- 
ducts of most farms, and it is too often entirely 
lost. Use absorbents freely, straw, muck, etc., 
with the addition of gypsum in case of heating. 
Manure.— Heaps of rapidly fermenting manure 
(as horse dung) will fire-fang even in mid-winter. 
Work it all over, adding muck, soil, loam or even 
sand, and mix well. Sprinkle gyp6um or a solution 
of green vitriol where strong fermentation occurs. 
■ Markets. — Few farmers can afford to hold their 
produce for a higher market after a good price is 
offered. Prices are usually higher in Spring, but 
corn and all grain shrinks from loss of water, from 
the ravages of vermin, and from actual waste, 
enough to make the gain very little. 
Oxen, like horses, should be kept sharp-shod. 
They ought to be stabled, well fed, and not over- 
worked. Letting cattle get "spring poor" just 
before spring plowing is bad for them and the farm. 
Plowing. — It is worth while to plow whenever 
the ground is open enough, and it not unfrequently 
happens that it is so in January, especially below 
lat. 41°. Spring work is advauced by just so much. 
Poultry. — See article on page 22. 
Poads and Paths. — It is for the interest of the 
whole community that after snow storms the roads 
be promptly opened. Every good citizen will vol- 
unteer to do his part with shovels, snow-plows, etc., 
to break paths and establish neighborly intercourse. 
Moots should not be carelessly fed out ; they are 
so excellent a corrective that carrots, wurzels and 
rutabagas should be kept through till grass. All 
pregnant animals, and all with constipated bowels 
should receive a daily allowance. 
Seeds of all kindB should be free from dampness, 
and have more or less change of air. An old rat trap, 
or a box made of wire cloth, or an old tin pan or pail 
covered with the same are adapted to the purpose. 
Sheep. — Shelter from rains and storms, but do not 
confine them to close sheds unless fattening. 
Steers. — Look out and get good mates for your 
steers, if your herd does not supply them ; spend 
some time daily, not breaking, but training them. 
Suiine — Should have a place under cover, where 
by working over the litter and manure of the sta- 
bles, or muck and straw thrown to them, they 
will be preparing a good supply of manure for use. 
Timber Land. — Winter is the time to cut fire- 
wood, and this should be done, where timber has 
. considerable value> by selecting the crooked, hol- 
low trees, haviug reference to giving young trees 
and those valuable for sawing, etc., more room. 
Tools and Imjilements.— Discuss new and im- 
proved kinds in the club aud with your neighbors. 
Water. — See article on another page. 
Workshop. — Any farmer not having a well stocked 
workshop should at once provide it. See "Basket." 
Orchard and Nursery. 
In this, as in the other horticultural parts of the 
Calendar, we might refer to the notes of last 
month, were it not for the great number of readers 
who will look over these pages for the first time. 
It is expedient to have the Calendar for the year 
complete in itself, and we therefore suggest what 
few things are to be done during the present month. 
The orchard should be visited occasionally to see 
that all is going on well. A defective fence, or a 
gate carelessly left opeu, may be the cause of seri- 
ous injury to young trees. All kinds of stock will 
browse on the young shoots or gnaw the bark of 
trees, and they are to be carefully excluded. 
Tramp down the snow around young trees to 
keep off mice, and set traps for rabbits. In the 
basket columns a note will be found upon a com- 
position said to be useful to girdled trees. 
If limbs are broken down by the wind or by an 
accumulation of ice and snow, pare the wound 
smooth and cover it with waxed cloth (described on 
page 20) to exclude the weather. ■ 
Water should not be allowed to stand around the 
trees ; open surface drains whenever it can be done. 
Cions may be cut at any time during mild days. 
Label every variety with great care, and preserve 
them from drying by burying in earfh in the cellar. 
If it is intended to plant trees in the Spring, send 
to the most reliable nursery within reach for cata- 
logues, and send in orders to be filled at the proper 
season, or, what is vastly better, go in person if 
possible to do so, and select the trees. Consult 
freely with fruit growers in the neighborhood, 
and find what has been their experience with the 
different varieties. Avoid novelties, or at most 
touch them cautiously. Give irresponsible tree 
peddlers a wide berth. When the condition of 
the soil will permit, it is well to open the holes for 
trees to. he planted next Spring, as the action of 
frosts will ameliorate and improve the soil. The 
nurseryman will probably be unusually busy 
next Spring, and he should have an ample supply 
of labels, packing materials, and every thing that 
will facilitate his operations. 
Let every farmer follow our repeated advice to 
make a permanent map of his orchard aud mark 
the place of every variety. Labels soon perish. 
Manures should be procured and hauled to places 
where they will be needed for use in the Spring. 
Root grafting may be done. See plain direc- 
tions for the operation on page 20, of this paper. 
Kitchen Oardcn. 
A gardener's immediate work is always done with 
a view to future results. He plants and sows, and 
then awaits the returns. Give the comparative 
leisure of the present season to thinking and plan- 
ning to be realized at a future day. Everything 
that can done now to save a day's or an hour's 
work in the busy spring months should be done. 
In market gardens especially, a few days earlier or 
later often decide the success of a particular crop. 
Now is the time to determine what to sow and 
where to sow it, as well as to provide seed in sea- 
son. The new stock of the seedsmen is usually 
ready by February, and it is well to get a supply at 
once, as desirable kinds are often soon exhausted. 
Cold Frames, will need care, giving air when- 
ever the weather is mild, and extra protection 
when it is severe. Have shutters, straw mats, 
or even old blankets and comforters at hand, to 
throw over during a very cold spell. Bank up the 
frames as another security against cold. 
Hot Bed Frames and Sashes. — Make all ready in 
time ; strengthen old frames ; glaze and paint 
sash, and if new ones are required, have them made 
in season. If a stock of fine rich mould is not 
ready, secure it at the first opportunity and keep 
under cover, otherwise when wanted for the beds 
it may be frozen or too wet. 
Manure.— Abundant manuring is the secret of 
good gardening. " Get all you can and save all you 
get" should be the rule; add muck to the barn-yard, 
privies and piggeries, and thus increase the supply. 
Manure may be drawn to where it will be needed. 
PoUs for beans, brush for peas, and stakes of all 
kinds should be cut while the swamps are frozeu. 
It is poor management to wait till they are needed. 
Seeds. — See that no mice have access to them. 
Keep none of doubtful quality. 
Tools. — Make all needed repairs, and if you have 
never enjoyed the comfort of a tool house, arrange 
a place where every implement shall have its assign- 
ed place, and keep it there when not in use. It 
will save a deal of vexation. 
Fruit Garden. 
It is presumed that all required winter protection 
has been givou. If the grape vines have not been 
laid down, remove them from the trellises and 
cover, the tender kinds at least, with earth. The 
perfectly hardy sorts will be more fruitful if simp- 
ly laid upon the ground without covering, than 
if they are left upon the trellis and exposed to the 
action of the cold winds. See that the covering of 
earth given to raspberries is not washed away by 
heavy rains. Manure may be put around the roots 
of trees when the ground is not frozen. Make 
plans for new plantings, and consult catalogues and 
6end in orders to nurserymen as soon as the selec- 
tion of varieties is determined upon. 
Flower Garden and Lawn. 
The work here is mainly in-doors, and the brain 
rather than the hands are engaged. The winter 
months are the time in which to project improve- 
ments. We have so frequently suggested the ne- 
cessity for working from well matured plans drawn 
on an accurate scale, that it must be well impressed 
upon all our old readers. To new ones we say, 
if you design auy improvements, make them first 
on paper, where they can be more easily altered 
than when done hap-hazard upon the ground. 
Shrubbery which is too thick can. be thinned, and 
where trees are so crowded as to interfere with the 
development of one another, the least valuable 
should be removed. In favorable seasons some 
work can be done at making walks and drives. 
For a thoroughly made walk or road way, the 
earth should be removed to the depth of two feet 
and a foundation made of large stones, filling up 
with small ones, and finishing off with gravel, 
which is to be well rolled. Have a supply of stakes 
and labels ready for spring use. Jar the evergreens 
after a heavy fall of snow, and free the lower 
branches from snow drifts. 
Green and Hot-Houses. 
In the green-house, where plants are kept in a 
state of rest only, the temperature should be as even 
as possible. It should never get higher than 50° or 
55°, nor lower than 35°. Plants kept here will re- 
quire ventilation whenever the weather is mild, 
and but little water. Cleanliness should bo ob- 
served, and all decaying leaves removed. In houses 
where growing plants are kept, the temperature 
should be regulated according to the nature of the 
collection— 65° to 75° being that which suits the 
majority of plants. The heat may be allowed to 
fall somewhat at night, but sudden changes and 
extremes are to be avoided, 
Bulbs. — Hyacinths, etc., should be brought from 
a cooler to a warmer place, a few at a time, in order 
to keep up a succession. 
Camellias. — Syringe the foliage and give more 
water to those commencing to grow. They require 
plenty of ventilation, as they are apt to drop 
their buds in a confined atmosphere. 
Cactuses. — During winter these require but very 
little water; keep in a dry part of the house. 
Calceolarius.— These are among the chief orna- 
ments of the house at this season. To get a good 
bloom the drainage should be perfect. Shift grow- 
ing plants to larger pots as soon as they need it. 
Carnations. — Start cuttings for plants for summer 
blooming. They strike best hi a rather cool place. 
Fuchsias. — Cut back old plants to a good shape 
and re-pot them in good, fresh soil. 
Insects. — These are now propagating rapidly, and 
the aphides, mealy bug, and red Epider — the gar- 
dener's particular annoyances — demand attention. 
Thorough syringing will destroy many, but it may 
be necessary to persuade some of them to leave 
with tobacco smoke, whale oil soap, and the like. 
Oranges and Lemons. — Give water sparingly and 
keep them in a cool but light part of the house. If 
affected with scale washthe trunk with soap suds. 
Petunias and Verbenas. — Encourage them by shift- 
