/ 
9, 
AMERICAS AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Contents of this Number. 
[Articles marked with a star (*) are illustrated: the fig¬ 
ure with the star indicates the number of illustrations.] 
Agriculturist in the West. 6 
Apple, “ Grimes’ Golden’’ .21 
Bee Notes for January. 5 
Birds and Canker Worms .18 
Bos, A Bushel.*.. 9 
Box, A Plant, with Divisions. *..20 
Boss and Girls’ Columns \~The Doctor's Talks: 
Pop Corn, Hygrometers, Frost and Snow—Our Puz¬ 
zle Box—The Fox and the Bear—A Plug Puzzle— 
Illustrated Rebus — Oysters and Oyster Farm¬ 
ing. 10*..26-28 
Burning Bush, The Broad-Leaved. *..21 
Cattle, The, of Holland.2*.. 13 
Cherry, For One—The “ Kentish ”.*. .23 
Coop, A Feed for Chickens.2*.. 11 
Corn, Green, in England.23 
Crops, Rotation of, and Manures.10 
Cut-Worms in the Garden.20 
Dahlias, The Single.*..21 
Door, Barn, Fastenings.2*..20 
Emigrants and Land Seekers. 7 
Farming as an Occupation—II.17 
Fences, Portable Iron. 2*.. 16 
Field, An Improved.*..15 
Gate, A Double Spring Latch.2*.. 14 
Gate, A Sliding.*. 20 
Globule, The Butter.14 
Henderson, Peter, Speaks out in Meeting . 6 
Holder, A Pig “Trap,” or.*..18 
Holder for Corn Fodder.*. .20 
Horse Shoe and Its Application.11 
Household :—Household Plants—Why not a Palm. 
Our Graham Flour. Consider the Children. A Pop 
Corn Picture Frame. Frost Bites and Chilblains. 
Ventilating a Cellar.3*. .24-25 
Humbugs, Sundry.5-6 
Ice, Provide for Next Summer’s. *.. 6 
Incubation, Artificial.16 
Information About Southern States. 7 
Lectures, Agricultural in Illinois.6 
Markets .35 
Museum of Natural History. 19 
Nitrogen, Something About. 9 
Notes from the Pines. 22 
Notes on Orchard and Garden Work.2-3 
Orchard, My First Peach.22-34 
Osage Orange from Cuttings. 8 
Panic-Grass, The Variegated.*..23 
Pen, A Nursing, for Sheep.*.. 9 
Peppermint, The Cultivation of.23 
Plow, Snow, A One-sided.*,.18 
Pulper, A Home-Made Apple.2*.. 19 
Back, A Large Feed.*. 15 
Rosa rugosa as a Standard. 8 
Saw-Mill, The Old, and its Water-Wheel.*.. 1 
Science, Popular—Keeping Warm.3-4 
Scraper, A Texas Road.*..14 
Scraper and Mud Mat. 8 
Shaft, A Broken, for Grindstone.2*..18 
Suggestions of and for the Season.2 
Teat, Remedy for Hole in. 8 
Thistle, The Canada.*..17 
Tie, An Improved, for Cattle.*..19 
Tobacco as a Window Plant . 8 
Tree, The Mammoth, in England .34 
White Grub aud Strawberry Borer.20 
Wood as Fuel. 7 
W T orm, The Army.3*.. 12 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” AND OTHER SHOUT ARTICLES. 
Apples, American Abroad.34 Japan and Japanning 36 
Artichokes for Swine.34, Kerosene and Canada 
Birds aud Grapes.34; Thistles ..34 
Bugs, Mealy.36 Lambs. Fatality Among.. 8 
Bugs, Squash.34 Law, The Beauties of tue.16 
Celery, Nice Cooked.34 Omelette, A Recipe for... 8 
Cherry, Wild, for Stocks.34 Peaches, Thinning.21 
Chestnuts, Spanish.34 Pecan Sprouts.15 
Conventions, Beekeeper’s |Poultry to Market.36 
and Others.34 Prophet Without Honor.. 8 
Crops in Washington Ter- [Pruning the Peach.36 
ritory.34 Pruning the Spruce . ..36 
Earwigs.36 Railway Building. 6 
Eggs, Preserving .36 Rain Gauge. 8 
Farm, The Echo.34 Roots in a Drain. 8 
Fence, Barbed Wire.36 Salt on Wheat.36 
Four Bovine Scourges... 8 Societies.Reportsof Hort.36 
Gray. Prof. Asa.34: Soldering Brass.36 
Gypsum, Plaster of Paris.34 Stamps, Old Postage.34 
liens, Feed for Laying... S Weeds. 7 
Hops and Manures in I Wheat, a Change in. 8 
England.34: Worms, Cabbage, Once 
Incubation, Success in.. .36 ! More. ..34 
Irrigation. 8 Year, Beginning of the..34 
IS* Subscrlptioii Terms on page 42. 
Bee specially now page 35. 
AIIERICAN AGRK I 1/ITRIST. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1882. 
Suggestions of and for the Season. 
The beginning of the year should be a time for 
the balancing of the farm accounts. New books 
are opened, and with the inventory taken, as sug¬ 
gested last month, the farmer knows ho w he stands. 
The first of January usually brings an end to the 
paper subscriptions, and if not already attended to 
the renewals should be made at once. It may be 
that some farm journal or family paper has come 
to sight that will need to be added to the list 
of those already counted as necessary. Farmers 
as a class are yearly reading more and more, and 
for a number of very good reasons. The improve¬ 
ments of farm machinery allow of more time for 
mental culture; and not the least of the reasons 
for an increased reading among farmers is the bet¬ 
ter quality of the matter provided for them by the 
agricultural press.—It may be that the insurance 
policy runs out with the old year, and this impor¬ 
tant safeguard against distress should be looked 
to. Only the best companies should be patronized ; 
the rates for ordinary farm buildings should be 
comparatively low. A co-operative system of in¬ 
surance has worked admirably in some localities. 
It is now midwinter, and much of the farmer’s 
labor is to keep himself aud family, and the farm 
stock, warm and comfortable. For the household 
there will be a good supply of fuel needed. This 
does not mean that a sizable pile of green wood just 
from the living tree, and full of water, is adequate. 
Dry, well seasoned wood is the only kind that is 
either pleasant or economical to use, especially in 
the stove in early morning. The man who, with a 
large wood lot on his farm, does not provide a good 
supply of dry wood for the household, is not doing 
his duty. The slip-shod method of chopping the 
daily wood on the day it is to be used, though it 
may give a freshness to the product, is a fruitful 
source of bad breakfasts and bad tempers, and it 
may be in extreme cases leads to harsh words and 
disgraceful actions. All this can be avoided by 
cutting a year’s supply of wood during the win¬ 
ter, and giving it the whole of the following sum¬ 
mer to become thoroughly dried. In this way the 
cutting and splitting of the year’s fire wood be¬ 
comes a part of the regular winter work on the 
farm. The methods to be observed in harvesting 
this crop should be as systematic and economical as 
any other. Unless the laud is to be cleared, the 
trees that are old and dying should be cut first, 
thus preserving the wood lot in good condition. 
Live Stock Notes. 
The cow stable should be kept neat and clean. 
Unless this is done the milk cannot be perfectly 
pure. The air of a filthy stable will taint milk that is 
drawn in it, and when the air is foul, the cows un¬ 
der such lack of care will be more or less dirty, and 
some of this filth will find its way into the pail. A 
careful milker will remove by brushing all such 
matter that might, in part, otherwise reach the 
dairy room or the consumer of the milk. Milk is 
a valuable product, and the satisfaction of produc¬ 
ing it as well as the pleasure of using in the house¬ 
hold economy, depend upon its purity. At no time 
in the year is it more valuable or more difficult to 
have it pure than in the winter, therefore the one 
who does, by proper care, produce it now, gains in 
more ways than one. The cows should not only be 
kept clean, but well sheltered, fed, aud water¬ 
ed. Unless these things are observed, dairying in 
winter must be a source of loss. Just what the 
Shelter shall be, must be determined somewhat by 
circumstances, and the daily rations will vary with 
the crops grown, and the system of management. 
Whatever the feed may be—hay, cut straw, corn- 
fodder, each with a quantity of ground feed, or a 
combination of them all, it should be given with 
great regularity. An hour before the time one day, 
and an equal period after on the following day, is 
an irregularity in which the farmer who looks to 
a profit from his stock, cannot afford to indulge. 
The horses will generally have an easier time 
during winter than in the busy months of spring 
and summer. They should not therefore receive 
a light food and less care, but be so kept that they 
will be in excellent trim when the spring opens. 
Horses that come to the heavy work of spring 
without an accumulation of flesh, or stored up 
force, are unfit for the work, and have not been 
properly and therefore profitably wintered. The 
remarks under cattle, as to neatness in the stable, 
a plenty of feed, and pure water apply with great 
force in the case of horses. Serious injury is done 
to many horses, by being exposed to cold winds 
after a hard drive, and when they have become 
much heated. All drafts of cold air should be 
avoided at such times, and the body of the horse 
covered with a blanket. Sweaty horses that are 
taken at once to a warm stable, seldom need the 
protection of blankets, and if they are used it 
makes the animals more susceptible to chills when 
hitched out of doors. 
The very early lambs are dropped during this 
month, and if mild weather favors them they may 
be made very profitable for the early market. 
Should the weather be severe, the lambs must be 
kept from being chilled through ; this may be done 
by wrapping them in blankets and administering a 
little hot ginger tea. The ewes should have the 
warmest pens in the stable, and may need to be 
nursed with warm gruel for a few days. 
Pork, of late years, has been a profitable crop 
only when grown according to thp best methods. 
This includes the keeping of the best breed for the 
kind of pork desired. Small breeds that fatten 
from birth and yield a good carcass within a year 
are suited to small farms near market, while a pig 
with a larger frame, a slower growth, aud maturing 
later may suit the larger farms of the West. It not 
only does not pay to keep poor breeds, hut a good 
breed must not be kept poorly. A pig is a machine 
for flesh making, and it must not expend its forces 
in other directions. A pig is an unprofitable ani¬ 
mal to turn the compost heap—other forms of labor 
are cheaper. Cleanness is another essential in profit¬ 
able pork growing. The pigs should be killed early 
in the winter, as later keeping is expensive; be¬ 
sides it gives more room for the few that are re¬ 
served for breeding. There have been many 
thorough experiments made to test the value of 
winter shelter for swine, and they all show that 
pigs to winter well must have a warm place with a 
clean bed, and feed enough to be comfortable. 
They are not to be fattened, but simply kept in 
good condition. Brood sows coupled now, bring 
pigs in May, an excellent season, as the weather is 
warm and settled, and the young pigs will make a 
rapid growth. 
If eggs are desired in winter—and they always 
are in demand—the fowls will require a warm place 
and a plenty of food and water. Lime in 6ome 
form, as powdered oyster shells, old plastering, 
etc., will be needed to furnish material for shells. 
Notes on Orchard and Garden Work. 
Note—Work! The first and last words in the 
title of our monthly remarks in this department, 
demand a passing word. It is assumed that work 
is one of the first principles of success in the 
orchard and garden. Without work, hard work, 
and an abundance of it, the growing of vegetables, 
and the raising of fruit must prove a failure. An 
orchard will not run itself with profit any more 
than a steam plow or a saw mill; and to keep a 
vegetable garden in proper order is often more of a 
tax upon the muscle than the steering of a ship. 
Along with this labor of the hand must go an 
activity of the mind. The seed drill and the prun¬ 
ing knife, as well as all other orchard aud garden 
implements need to be used intelligently. Let no 
one believe that he can succeed in this department 
without thinking—gardening is not a mere pastime, 
and fruit growing is far from being an occupation 
for a man who will not work his brains. 
With this view of labor it is evident that there 
are two sets or classes of implements to be used by 
the gardener and horticulturist in the performance 
