122 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Antix, 
Contents for April, 1867. 
Adobe and Concrete Buildings — : 137 
Apiary for April 124 
Atragene Americana Illustrated. . 141 
Baskets— Home Made 4 Illustrations. . 137 
Boys' and Girls Columns— The "Doctor's" Talk- 
New and Useful Toy— Plant Something— The Boy 
Who Kept Blowing — Xew Puzzles — Answers to 
Problems and Puzzles — Great Excitement in the 
Monkey Family — I Wasn't Watching — A Home-Lov- 
ing Cat — A Novel Bird Catcher — How to "Finish" 
a Boy 10 Illustrations. .147— 148 
Carrot Culture 134 
Cheddar Cheese— How Made 10 Illustrations.. 132 
Cob — Smallness Desirable 135 
Cold Grapery in April 124 
Cotton Culture 133 
Design in Feeding Stock 136 
Driving Horses at Plowing 134 
Evergreens — To Help their Growth 144 
Farm Work in April 122 
Flower Garden and Lawn in April 124 
For and Against Dogs Illustrated. . 139 
Fruit Garden in April 123 
Garden— Kitchen in April 123 
Grape Culture and Vine Training 2 Illustrations. .143 
Green and Hot-Houses in April 124 
Green Turtle Illustrated. . 133 
Hay Barracks 3 Illustrations.. 136 
Horse Radish— How Grown 3 Illustrations. .141 
Household Ornaments 3 Illustrations . .145 
Housekeepers' Diary 2 Illustrations . .145 
Housekeepers' Journal 146 
How the Women can Help 146 
Investing in the Farm 138 
Judas Tf ce Illustrated. . 144 
Lime Soap 146 
Mangel Wurtzels for Sheep 13S 
Markets 125 
Measurement of Lnhusked Corn 131 
Notes on Grapes and Grape Culture 142 
Nut-Bearing Trees — Grafting 144 
Opossum Illustrated.. 133 
Orchard and Nurservin April 123 
Pine Barrens of the"South 130 
Premiums 125 
Preparing Trees for Removal 142 
Salt Water Terrapin Illustrated.. 133 
Sheep's Foot— Biflex Canal 3 Illustrations.. 136 
Sheep— Southdown Earn Illustrated. .121 
Screens for Shelter Illustrated. .134 
Stone Fences 13S 
Sweet Potato Culture Illustrated . .1:59 
Sweet Potato Plants— Starting 143 
Ventilator— A Simple Illustrated . . 137 
Walks and Talks on the Farm No. -40 — Diseases in 
Cows — Draining — Ripening of Grain — Potatoes 131 
Window Gardening Illustrated. .141 
INDEX TO "BASKET," OK SHORTER ARTICLES. 
American Naturalist 127 
American Pomology 126 
Apples for Wisconsin 129 
Black Spanish 129 
Cabbage, Cooking 12S 
Catalogues 127 
Coal Ashes 129 
Corn Biscuit 12S 
Corn Blight 129 
Com Cobs... 12S 
Commeal Pudding 12S 
Corn Muffins 128 
Cribbing Horses 129 
Draining Marshes 129 
Eggs for Setting 128 
Farming by Prof J Men. .129 
Feeding Turnips 130 
Flat orXap Furrows 129 
Frothy Cream 128 
Grapes. Correction 12S 
Grape Cnlturist 12C 
Hay Fork Trial 127 
Hens, to Make Lav 129 
Hoe Cake 12S 
Hort'l Gift Enterprise.... 126 
How it Sells 127 
Humbu g Plants 126 
King Philip Corn 129 
Louisiana State Fair 129 
Maryland Hams 1£ 
Mice 12S 
Miner Plum 128 
Moon on Meat 1-28 
Newport Cake 12S 
N. T. State Ag"l Society 
No Plants for Sale 
Patent Office Reports 
Peat as Fuel 
Personal 
Pickles in Salt 
Poor Mau"s Pudding 
Prescribing at a distance 
Prize Essays 
Pump for Well 
Pumpkin Jolrnny Cake.. 
Racing at Fairs 
Report. Dep'tof Agl'ture 
Rye Bread 
Salt in Whitewash 
Scalding Peas 
Selling Quarries 
Slaughter-House Bones 
Slow Torture at Stack. 
Smoked Meat. Keeping 
Sorghum Skimmings . . 
Sorghum Vinegar 
Special to Advertisers. . 
S. S. Question Books.. 
Stale Fish Manure 
Sundry Humbugs 
Threshing 
Threshing Machines ... 
Two Eggs a Day 
Ventilation 
Wet Cellars 
Wheat Failure 
Why it Pays? 
Works in "Preparation. . 
128 
126 
12S 
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127 
128 
12S 
128 
127 
129 
128 
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12S 
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s^>5». 1 ■ 
Back Volumes Supplied.— The back volumes 
of the Agriculturist are very valuable. They contain 
information upon every topic connected with rural life, 
out-door and in-door, and the last ten volumes make up 
a very complete library. Each volume lias a full index 
for ready reference to any desired topic. We have on 
hand, and print from stereotype plates as wanted, all the 
numbers and volumes for ten years past, beginning with 
1857— that is. Vol. 16 to Vol. 25, inclusive. Any of these 
volumes sent complete (in numbers) at $1.75 each, post- 
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neatly bound, are supplied for $2 each, or $2.50 if to be 
sent by mail. Any single numbers of the past ten 
years will be supplied, post-paid, for 15 cents each. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK, APRIL, 1S67. 
Extreme views and practices are held and follow- 
ed with small profit to any one, and least of all to 
him who suddenly adopts them. However at vari- 
ance any man's By stem of farming is with sound 
philosophy, if he has hitherto met with any sort of 
success, and is not absolutely running backward, 
we would surely not advise him to cast loose from 
his moorings and adopt all new practices, to accord 
with the views of a sounder agricultural faith, to 
which he may have become a convert. Rashness is 
the usual precursor of failure, but progressive con- 
servatism uniformly leads to success. Deep plow- 
ing is an excellent practice, but only when there is 
a soil to plow. He who lifts several inches of un- 
tempered subsoil and mingles it with a shallow 
surface soil, will repent his deed when the sickly, 
yellow grain testifies to the poison presented to the 
plants with their food, or to the difficulty they have 
in picking up a living among the mass of rubbish. 
In the spring, especially, the soil should not be 
plowed much deeper thau heretofore. In the 
autumn the plow may very well be put down quite 
deeply, provided there is enough plant food in the 
soil, or added to it, to warrant it ; for the freezing 
and thawing of winter, and the action of the at- 
mosphere will essentially modify its character. 
These influences are wanting at this season, and 
deeper plowing than usual must either be accom- 
panied with thorough liming or the use of unleaeh- 
ed ashes, or very heavy manuring ; and even then it 
is not to be recommended for small grains. It is 
well, however, at every plowing to run the plow a 
little deeper than before ; and if the soil is neither 
water soaked nor leachy, even quite shallow sub- 
soiling will prove of great benefit. We advocate 
most earnestly deepening of the soil, but not rash- 
ly, nor too much in spring plowing. 
The failures of certain crops year after year ad- 
monish us not to put our trust too much iu any 
single staple. Influences, which are injurious to 
one class of crops, benefit others, and so, judicious- 
ly dividing our interests, we are surer of success. 
Double cropping of the land is one of the essen- 
tial features of "high" or "intensive" farming. 
It is equivalent to getting double interest for the 
money invested in the land, and in the labor of 
weeding and clearing the same, and for the build- 
ings, fences, roads and superintendence of the farm, 
it gives quicker returns for the investment iu ma- 
nure, and in all points is a great gain. It requires 
that the land should be rich and in good tilth, 
reasonably free from weeds, and that there should 
be a proper rotation of crops followed, and labor 
enough at command. It affords also a means of 
profitably employing man}' hands the season 
through, for whom there would otherwise be little 
to do most of the time. The practice should be 
commenced in the garden and extended to the 
field, when familiarity has given confidence in it. 
We entreat farmers not to neglect their gardens. 
Many are too apt to read the hints about farm work 
and slight the other columns. The kitchen garden, 
if well cultivated, better rewards labor than any 
portion of the farm of five times its extent. 
Hints About Work. 
Review the hints for last month ; many of them 
will be found equally applicable to this, especially 
if the season be backward. Besides, the weather 
of March, in the latitude of Philadelphia and St. 
Louis, is that of April near Boston or St. Paul. 
Tillage. — The preparation of the soil for the seed 
is the important work of this mouth. Manure is 
to be hauled and spread, and the ground is to he 
plowed. The waste of manure which occurs after 
it is spread is very little in weather which will not 
allow plowing, and not very great in full, hot sun- 
shine, if it does not lie long. It is much worse to 
dump the manure iu small heaps and leave it for 
some* time exposed to the action of rains, for the 
goodness washes out into the soil and enriches it in 
spots, to the 6erious damage of the crop. 
Plowing and any other working of the soil should 
never be done when the clods will not crumble. 
Dryness is essential to useful tillage. It is much 
better to delay work thau to leave the land lumpy 
and hard. There are many spots on which 
Draining may be done in the spring — especially 
where there is a good fall, and work may progress 
from the outlet. The necessity for drainage is 
now obvious, and though partial drainage is never 
to be recommended where thorough work will be 
undertaken, yet as a demonstration of the fact that 
"burying crockery" will pay, it is worth while 
often to tr} r the experiment "just to see." Re- 
member that the full effects of draining are often 
not witnessed until the third or fourth season. 
Spring Grains. — Prepare seed by selecting with 
the fan-mill the heaviest grain — the more times it 
is fanned, the better will he the seed ; then, when 
the soil is nearly or quite ready, .prepare the seed 
\>y pickling to destroy the seed of smut, which may 
be attached to it. This is useful for barley, and 
imperatively necessary for wheat. Add to a strong 
brine pulverized "blue stone," (sulphate of cop- 
per,) until no more is" dissolved ; into this throw 
the grain, stir thoroughly, and after five minutes 
scoop it out, throw into a basket, let it drip back 
into the tub of pickle, then put in a heap upon a 
floor; after 24 hours shovel it over, sprinkling 
on dry slaked lime, thus dr\-ing it. Sow 5 to 7 
pecks of wheat, 2 bushels to 2>| of barley, Z}4 of 
oats. The ground should have been plowed in the 
fall for wheat and barley. Oats do tolerably well 
on a sward plowed iu spring. For all either very 
fine compost or some concentrated fertilizer, such 
as a mixture of superphosphate of lime and Peru- 
vian guano — say 100 lbs. of each — should be used. 
Sow, as a rule, those kinds of grain which avo 
in highest repute in your own neighborhoods. 
Root Crops. — Prepare the soil for sowing carrots, 
beets and mangels, and onions, the earlierthe better. 
It should be deep and rich, plowed in the fall and 
as free from weeds as possible, especially for onions, 
which require the finest and mellowest soil, en- 
riched with good, fine compost. The other root 
crops need also rich soil, deeper than onion soil, 
but not less rich, though the enrichment need not 
be of so fine a quality. These crops can not be 
sown too early, after danger for hard freezing is 
passed and the soil is warm and dry enough. Beet 
seed ought to be soaked 24 hours. 
Potatoes. — At least a portion of the crop should 
be planted very early for security against the 
rot. The Early Cottage, White Peaehblow, 
Cuzeo and Fluke are commendable kinds. Plant 
deep, in drills 1M to 3 feet apart, cover with the 
plow. Harrow as often as weeds appear, until the 
tops show very plainly, and once after that, driving 
with the rows. It is sometimes well to turn fur- 
rows upon the rows to cover them a few days after 
this, and when a new crop of weeds appears to har- 
row again. Superphosphate, castor pomace, leach- 
ed or unleached ashes are good used in the drill. 
It is usually poor practice to plant in hills. 
Peas. — See notes for last month. 
Pea Nuts or Ground Nuts, for profitable culture, 
require a rather long season. Sow in rows three 
to four feet apart in deep, mellow, rather sandy 
soil, in a good condition ; drop two shelled kernels 
in a lull, and put the hills one foot apart. Plant as 
early as there is a chance for the young plants to 
escape frosts, to which they are as sensitive as 
beans — cover two inches deep. Use horse hoes at 
first, and hand hoes after they begin to run. At all 
events keep the weeds down. After first hoeing, 
thin to one plant in each hill. Crop, in the warmer 
States, 50 to 150 bushels per acre. 
Flax. — See pamphlet "Flax Culture." Sowon very 
mellow soil, free from weeds, one and a half bushels 
per acre, (for seed and lint both.) as evenly as pos- 
sible. Selecting the heaviest seed, soak in warm 
water two or three hours, roll in gypsum and sow 
two ways. Cover with a brush or light harrow. 
Manure makes fast ill compost heaps, if oc- 
