390 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
Contents for November, 1867. 
Agriculturist Building— The New. .2 Illustrations. 396-397 
Ailanthus — Horticulturally and Economically 410 
American Pomological Society 412 
Apples for Vinegar 410 
Barn-room— More Wanted 402 
Bats— The Little Brown Illustrated. .401 
Bees — Apiary in November 391 
Blackberry and Raspberry— Propagation of 411 
Boys— How to Get them to Stay on the Farm 405 
Boys' and Girls' Columns— Which Premium Will you 
Take ?— A Faithful Sentinel— Our Old Boys and Girls 
—A Boy with his Eyes Open— New Puzzles to be 
Answered — Answers to Problems and Puzzles — 
Waiting but not Watching— About Bells— Danger 
of Hasty Words— A Lesson in Politeness. ilUus. 415-416 
Canada Thistles and Railroads 403 
Cattle— Short-horn Bull "Conjurer" Illustrated.. ASS 
Corn— Cultivation of. Illustrated. .405 
Crape Myrtle Illustrated.. 412 
Dog Law— A National 403 
Do you Want Something Valuable ? 392 
Draining Facilitated and Cheapened Illustrated. .404 
Fair— Kentucky State 398 
Fair— Michigan State 39S 
Fair— New Jersey State 397 
Fair— New York State .....397 
Fair — Nijni-Novgorod, Russia 398 
Fair— Ohio State , 398 
Fair — Wisconsin State 398 
Farm Hooks— Convenient 2 Illustrations. . 404 
Farm Work in November 390 
Fences across Streams Illustrated. .404 
Fish Oil and Guano— Manufacture of Illustrated. .400 
Flower Garden and Lawn in November 391 
Fruit Garden in November 391 
Garden— Kitchen, in November 391 
Gates— A Double Entrance Illustrated. .405 
Grafting — A Curious Experiment in 412 
Grape Cuttings in the Open Air 409 
Grapes and Grape Culture— Notes on 411 
Grapery— Cold, in November .' 391 
Green and Hot-houses in November 391 
Green-house Shrubs in Common Culture 413 
Horticultural Society— ALive 400 
Household Department— Household Ornaments— Pa- 
per Card Baskets— Mosaic Straw Work— Diary of a 
Young Housekeeper, No. XI— Sewing Machines- 
Stoves and Open Fires— Thanksgiving— House- 
keeping Proverbs— Results — Leaves from My Jour- 
nal — The Garden — Graham Bread — Composition 
Cake— Raised Cake— Thanksgiving 2 llhis. .413-414 
Manure— What Shall the South Do for It? 402 
Market Reports 393 
Missouri— A Raid into 410 
Narcissus— The Hoop-petticoat Illustrated. .409 
Orchard and Nursery in November 391 
Otter— The American Illustrated. .401 
Oxen— How to Yoke 402 
Peach and its Varieties 411 
Pear — Clapp's Favorite Illustrated. .410 
Plaster — Use of on New Land 399 
Plow— Side-hill or Swivel 400 
Poultry— Fattening for the Table or Market 403 
Premiums for Obtaining Subscribers 392 
Recipes— Graham Bread— Ginger Drops— Poor Man's 
Cake— Old Housekeeper's Advice 414 
Ricinus Sanguineus 412 
Russia— Notes on Ironi Mr. Jndd 399 
Thirteen Months in a Year 393 
Three Members of the Temperance Society Mas. . 3S9 
Trees— What to Plant by the Roadside 409 
Violet— A "New" Old Illustrated. All 
Walks and Talks on the Farm— No. 47— Sheep Rais- 
ing — Raising Grain — Object in Working Land — 
Selling and Buying Farms— The "Stump Lot"— 
Paring and Burning — Value of a good View- Large 
and Small Farms— Treatment of Meadows 406-407 
Wheat and Chess . .403 
INDEX TO " BASKET " OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Am. Poultry Societv 395iOsage Orange Seed 395 
Bones, Value of 394 Partridge. Justice to 397 
Briars, To Get Rid of. ...394|Penn'a. Ag'l. College... .397 
Broom-corn Seed, Value. 394 Personal Inquiries .394 
Bulbs, Fine 395 Pipe, A Safe Water 394 
Chicken Cholera 394 Plants Named 395 
Churnin", Cold Weather.394 Pond Lilies 395 
Coal Ashes 395 Postage 393 
Coal and Gas Tar .394 Post Office Money Orders 393 
Coal Tar lor Posts 393;Qnestions to Readers 394 
Compost or Leaves 395 Rats 395 
Corn. When to Plow for. 394 Registered Letters 393 
Ditching Plows 395 Renew Now.. 393 
Do^s . .' 394lRequest Repeated 395 
Drouth at the West 397!Rook for Insects 394 
Fairs, State and Other. . .393JRye for Spring Feed 397 
Fair, Staten Island . . 397'Sandv Land, Bringing up 394 
Fleeces, Weight of 397 Shade in Pastures 394 
Garden Manure 395 l Sheep in Oregon 397 
Gypsum 395'Short horns 394 
Hop Culture 395jSoap Suds on Vines 395 
Horses, Destruction of... 394 Specimen Numbers 393 
Horse, Foot in Mouth.. .394|Stumps, to Rot 394 
House Drains 395 Subscription Letters 393 
How to Remit 393lToads and Rain 395 
Humbugs. Sundry. 393 Trapper's Guide 395 
IceHoiise, Cheap 393Well in Quicksand 394 
Ice-House in Cellar 395 Wheat on Wet Land. . . .397 
Lime. About 393:Where to Locate 395 
Lobelias, Beautiful 395! 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK, NOVEMBER, 1S67. 
There is a chilly sound in the word November, 
yet -to Americans it is a cheerful month. We read 
Hood's lines, "No sun, no moon, no dawn, no 
noon," and so on, through his description of an 
English fog, to his conclusion, No vember, while we 
rejoice in the bland noons of our ' ' Indian Summer" 
and in the mellow sunlight, dusky and softened by 
the thin smoke which veils the distant hills. The 
brown leaves are in windrows by the fences ; the 
mornings are frosty, but bright and bracing, and the 
sunsets have that ruddy glow which promises other 
days as perfect as the one just passing. So the early 
part of the month goes by, giving time for all nec- 
essary labors before the days and nights are colder, 
and the plastic and crumbly soil becomes stone, 
and the storm clouds give us snow instead of show- 
ers, and the ringing of the skates, and the shouts 
of the skaters, come up from the ponds. 
The labors and pleasures of the month are va- 
rious, being in part a continuation of those of the 
past month, but chiefly those of that preparation 
for winter, which it is dangerous to postpone. 
The harvests are gathered and secured. In part, 
no doubt, they are already marketed, and paid for. 
The country has been doing, of late years, much 
more a " cash business" than used to he the case, 
and it especially behooves producers promptly to 
check the tendency to any other course. "Short 
credits make long friends," and the payment on 
the spot for value received is better still. 
The winter brings with it pleasures to those pre- 
pared for it, but suffering to the improvident, and 
to those who, from sickness or no fault of their own, 
are not provided to meet its rigors. If our hearts 
rise in thankfulness to the All-Father for His mercies 
to us, let our hands and hearts go out to His chil- 
dren, our brethren, who are likely to suffer. He 
trusts us with good things this year, and we should 
I be the almoners of His bounty, good stewards, kincV 
tender, and judicious in sharing our surplus, if we 
would enter into the joy of our Lord, be more wide- 
ly useful, and more trusted by Him in the future. 
Hints About Work, 
Buildings. — It is of prime importance that the fair 
weather of the early part of this month should be 
employed to put the farm buildings and their sur- 
roundings in good order for winter, and it is well 
to be a little ahead with such work. Go carefully 
over old buildings, tightening weather boards, re- 
newing eaves-troughs and spouts. Clear surface 
ditches, to keep water out of the barn-yards, and 
away from the foundations. Roofs may be tem- 
porarily patched without much, if any, nailing, by 
simply driving shingles here and there between the 
courses to carry water over actual holes. Old roofs 
are often more damaged than benefited by mend- 
ing, unless it is very thoroughly done. A little care- 
less hammering and nail driving will split shingles 
and start nails, and open more holes than it closes. 
Roads that are to be used during the winter must 
be put in order before frost; the stones picked off, 
gravel or earth put on where they have washed, 
good side drainage made, — on both sides, if pos- 
sible, — the surface well rounded to turn water, 
and to make easy turn-offs for the wash that fol- 
lows the wheel tracks down the hills. 
Bridges. — If the rains and freshets have moved 
stones in the brooks and runs, and deposited an un- 
usual amount of gravel anywhere, it will most like- 
ly be where they are contracted to pass through 
bridges or culverts. These should be carefully ex- 
amined and cleaned out, for when ice forms, and an 
unusual flow of water comes, serious damage may 
result. It is more important that there should be 
a chance for water to flow off rapidly in passing and 
after passing a bridge, than that it should have easy 
access ; a single stone will dam up a stream greatly. 
Rowing. — Plow lands that will not be subject to 
wash. The more plowing is done in the fall, the 
more will the hurry of spring work be relieved, 
and, as a general rnle, the better will the land be 
prepared for the crops. Fall plowing kills weeds ; 
it kills grubs ; it exposes the soil to the action of 
the frost, and if manure beplowed in, which is best 
if the land is prepared for root crops or corn, it be- 
comes better incorporated with the soil. Clay lands 
and heavy loams are especially benefited by fall 
plowing ; the action of the frost, or rather thawing 
and freezing, benefits such land as much as many 
loads of manure. Plow such land in ridges, turning 
two furrows together. Good loamy soils may be 
plowed with flat or lap furrows. We prefer the 
former, and sandy or light land, or rich and dark 
mould, should be plowed flat. 
Grain, Fields. — In plowing furrows to carry off 
surface water, where this may be necessary, take 
care that their direction is such that they will not 
collect too much, wash deep gullies, and thus do 
more harm than good. 
Draining. — So long as we do not have real winter 
weather, the work of underdraining may be pushed 
forward. It is more important to keep well up 
with the tile laying, for we may be caught by heavy 
freezing rains and snow-storms, and so all work be 
stopped suddenly. 
Manure. — Bring in all muck sods, surface parings, 
forest soil, and leaves, that you can, to be used in 
composts, and lay up good even heaps of these ma- 
terials,alternated with stable manure,in layers, using 
at least twice as much vegetable mould in whatever 
form you have it, as of the stable manure. The 
compost, heaps should be of assorted materials, all, 
of course, vegetable matter, like potato tops and 
swamp grass, or other long litter, put together 
with a sufficiency of manure to make the whole fer- 
ment, or leaving the nitrogenous stable manure out, 
and adding instead freshly dry-slaked lime, or wood 
ashes, at the rate of about one bushel to the cart- 
load. Composts of coarse, porous, materials, not 
made with lime or ashes, should stand over a sunk- 
en hogshead or other vat for containing liquid. 
This should be pumped every few days over the 
heap, and allowed to run back again to the vat, 
which should be supplied with water if there is any 
lack. In all composts, hog manure goes further 
than that of the horse, which is much more pow- 
erful in starting and maintaining fermentation than 
that of milch cows and young cattle, but hardly 
equal to that of fattening cattle or well fed oxen. 
Fences. — We cannot too strongly present the evils 
of bad fences. The freezing and thawing of winter 
will almost surely develop the weak spots in old 
lines of fences, and breachy cattle will be sure to 
find them, if they are allowed either in the highway 
or in the fields. Grain fields are a strong attraction. 
The fences, therefore, should be looked to, weak 
posts staked up or renewed, sound rails or boards 
put in place of failing ones, and all secured against 
cattle, wind, and frost. 
Horses, if well fed, enjoy cold weather. Although 
they show a natural preference for the sheltered 
side of the barn-yard, they seldom manifest auy dis- 
like to exposure to severe cold, unless they have 
been blanketed, and habituated to warm stables. 
When horses are warm, always blanket them, either 
in stables or in the open air; take care that they 
are exposed to no draughts. When cooled off, re- 
move the blanket Carriage horses, which it is de- 
sirable should have a shiny coat, may wear linen 
covers buttoning round the breast, aud having a 
crooper attached. Give good daily grooming, 
plenty to eat, water regularly, provide good ventila- 
tion, and let the sunlight into the stable. 
Beeves, — Feed freely, but uniformly, all they will 
eat with a relish, changing character of the feed 
according to your judgment, if there be any failure 
of appetite. Keep salt always before them or ac- 
cessible. Prepare the feed in another apartment 
from the one in which the cattle stand, and be punc- 
tual to the minute in feeding. In increasing the 
amount of grain or oil-meal, do it gradually, watch 
ing the effect. Use the card and brush frequently, 
and litter freely. Beeves need pure air aud clean 
stables as much as horses; warmth is more im- 
portant than light to them, as to all fattening stock. 
