AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
FOR THK. 
Farm, Gra.rd.en, and Household. 
"AiJKlrll.TI tK 18 THK MONT HKALTIIPUL, HOST USEFUL, AN" MOST NOH1.F. EMPLOYMENT OP M AN." -W.igmm 
0RANO£ .11' ni>, A.M.,) 
PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. *• 
flfllt-v, II Pnrk Row, (Times Buildings.) ) 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
Cli'ctiiuiloti ranges from 00,000 to 100,000. 
J $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE 
SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 
For Content*, Turns, <■(<•., »<•<• pnfji- 'f-0. 
} 
VOLUME XXIII— No. 9. 
NEW- YORK, SEPTEMBER. 1864. 
NEW SERIES— No. 212. 
Entered itooordlng to act of Congress In Hie year isia, by 
Orahoi .1 1- i.i». In. the Clerk's OWce-of the District Court or 
the united States lor tlic Southern Dlstrlot ofNew-Tork. 
Other Jonrunls are Invited to copy desirable arUclcs 
fireoly, lo be credited to American Ayrtcultitrtot. 
Notes and Suggestions for the Month. 
September, standing betwixt the summer and 
the autumn, unites in itself the characters of 
the two seasons. Dry and sweltering heats of 
the first week or two, give place to storms and 
blustering winds, often accompanied by frost. It 
is a month of care and anxiety to the farmer; 
success or failure arc so evenly balanced that 
his good judgment and activity are often sorely 
tested to secure the harvests upon which his 
labor has been expended, and at the same time 
to make the ground read} 7 for next year's crops. 
A Northern September epitomizes the year — 
seed time and harvest, summer and winter, often 
crowded into 30 days. Day and night are even- 
ly balanced in the course of this month, so, with 
a pardonable fertility of imagination the An- 
cients saw a pair of weighing scales among 
Hie stars, and called the constellation, and sign 
of the zodiac in which the sun measures equal 
hours of darkness and light,«£i'&ra. 
Work for tine Farm, Barn, and Stock Vara. 
Agricultural Gatherings. It is the bounden 
duty of every farmer to go himself and uive his 
family and hired hands a holiday at Fair time, 
if possible, and encourage an intelligent interest 
in every thing that bears upon improved farm- 
ing, on the part of his children and employees. 
Buildings. Look out for fire from pipes and 
cigars about the barns and yards. Fire is ter- 
rible at. any season — the more if barns are full. 
Beans. Pull when they turn yellow, make 
small heaps stacked about poles, raised from the 
ground by sticks or stones; green ones will ripen. 
Buckwheat. Cut before frost at any rate, but 
best when it begins to ripen some of the seeds. 
Butler. Put down well for winter and market, 
take great care, in order to realize high prices. 
Cabbages. Give good cultivation, stirring the 
soil and allowing no weeds to trouble them. 
Cattle. Keep them comfortable and well fed ; 
buy beeves for fattening if the market favors. 
Give cows milk and butter-forming food, to make 
the most butter possible, for prices will be high. 
Cheese. Take all pains to improve the quality. 
If possible visit some of the factories, or asso- 
ciated dairies. Cheese is -wanted for export. 
Cisterns often afford the best source of water 
for the stock in winter. If possible have them 
underground, and at a slight elevation above 
the stable floor. Cement cisterns, made by 
plastering directly on hard earth are excellent. 
Com. Cut up at the ground as soon as the 
grain shows a fair glaze. This saves the fodder 
green and sweet, if early husked and well dried. 
Corn Fodder. Cut before the ears fill, when it 
is wilted, set it up against a fence or in small 
stooks; after a few days bind in small bundles ; 
give a day's sunning occasionally, but always 
stook it or set it up at night so as to shed rain. 
It dries slowly. Save all you can, and well. 
Draining. Be always ready for pushing for- 
ward this work, whenever the hands cannot be 
better employed. Do the work in the best man- 
ner, laying the tiles deep, securing tne outlets 
against vermin, and providing silt wells where 
needed, to intercept mud, sand, etc. 
Eggs. If eggs can not be marketed fresh and 
well, pack them for winter food, dipping the 
fresh eggs in melted tallow and packing them 
in dry chaff or sawdust, the ends up, and in 
boxes so that they may be inverted occasional!}'. 
Grain. Thresh as fast as practicable and store 
in vermin proof granaries. Exercise good 
judgment in marketing. It is difficult to pre- 
dict prices. Sell when a^good price is offered. 
Grass. Do not cut the aftermath where land 
has suffered from drouth. Bare spots may be 
manured, scarified with a harrow, and seeded 
down with very few bats. The oats will pro- 
tect the grass, form a mulch for it, and die in 
the winter. The earlier grass land is manured 
in the fall, the better it works among the roots. 
Irrigation. Notice carefully the levels of 
brooks and ponds, and have surveys made to 
know exactly how much land you can conduct 
water fiver ; then plan to use the water as indi- 
cated last month ; there is great profit in it. 
Manure and Muck. Before the rains fill the 
swamps, make sure of a good stock of muck, for 
mixing with dung in winter. Gather diligently 
all poultry droppings, the deposits from house 
drains, scraps of woolen cloth, hair and leather, 
bones, factory wastes, and every thing that 
will decay to add value to the compost heap. 
Pastures. Dress with bone dust and gypsum, 
so'w mixed grass seed where needed, and keep 
the brush cut close. Try seeding down to mixed 
grass, with " rye to be fed off next spring. 
Plowing, at this season is cither for fallowing 
and weed killing, or preparatory to sowing win- 
ter grain. The former should be deep, and is 
as well done later, if intended tor spring crops. 
Potatoes. Keep free from weeds ; dig late if 
they are rotting at all, or else market at once. 
Poultry may be allowed considerable liberty 
if they will not damage vineyards, tomatoos etc. 
They destroy many insects. Begin to feed 
regularly with some grain to fatten for market. 
Hoots. Keep the weeds out, and the soil loose. 
Bye. Prepare ground. Get good seed — New 
Jersey White is excellent ; sow last of month. 
Seed Corn. Select the ears which best repre- 
sent the variety, neither very large nor small, 
but perfect, well tipped out, with small cobs, 
without vacant streaks, with no strange kernels, 
well covered with husks, and wherever possi- 
ble, such as are borne two or more on a stalk. 
Make the selection by feeling the ears before the 
corn is cut up if possible, marking them with a 
dash of paint or tar or other mark, so that in 
the husking they may be thrown aside for sub- 
sequent examination. Selecting seed pays. 
Sheep. Wean lambs, giving them good pas- 
turage, but not clover aftermath, pulling the 
ewes on very dry feed, till the milk dries; then 
feed well. Milk once or twice if their bags are 
vety full, and begin to feed well as soon as dry. 
Sorghum. Cut before any frost, and it is best 
to work it up at once, though it will keep. 
Stone Walls. That time of the year when 
crops are off the land, and when the ground is 
hard, should be embraced to haul stone off the 
fields and to lay, or better to bury stone walls. 
It takes a peculiar knack to make good work 
and do it quickly, and it will pay to give high 
wages and have the work well done. In more 
than half the cases where stone walls are put 
up it would be much better to bury them, form- 
ing ditches. Where a fence is needed there is 
none half so good as a well laid stone wall on 
land that is not heaved too much by frost. 
Swine. Feed with regularity and so that they 
will eat "everything clean. Give young or store 
pigs the range of the orchard. Keep hogs 
clean, and to fatten rapidly they should not be 
allowed to roam much or to squeal for their food. 
Tobacco is ruined by a single severe frost. See 
article on page 237 (August). Air houses well. 
Turnips require to be kept clear of weeds, and 
to be well thinned out where they are too thick. 
Vermin. Expel rats with phosphorus paste. 
Weeds. Burn all that have gone to seed, and 
add the rest to a compost heap, quickened with 
lime, horse dung, castor pomace or the like. 
Wieat. Sow early. It is best to drill it in. A 
top-dressing of fine manure is desirable. Sow 
the timothy seed after the grain is up, if sown 
this month, or it may injure the young wheat. 
