548 
[December, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
-exhaust his soil. The renovation of the land will 
be the first, desideratum. To that end, and the 
consequent production of remunerative crops, the 
plowing under of green manures, application of 
fertilizers, proper preparation and careful tillage 
and deep plowing will be necessary. The practice 
of deep plowing will depend upon circumstances ; 
a good, though shallow mould, or other soil, rest¬ 
ing upon a sticky clay subsoil would not be bene¬ 
fited by being at once broken up deeply, bringing 
large, hard lumps of unfertile clay to the surface, 
and deteriorating the physical quality of the top¬ 
soil. Drainage, especially under-drainage, renders 
a clay subsoil, when moved by the plow, more sus¬ 
ceptible to pulverization; and in such case, a 
thorough drainage should precede deep plowing. 
Drainage, Its Advantages. 
Under-drainage prevents the drowning out of 
crops after heavy rainfalls. It increases the fer¬ 
tility and pulverization of the soil by admitting air. 
It keeps the ground moister in a dry season. It 
prevents the washing away of the soil and its fer¬ 
tilizing materials. It permits the farmer to work 
liis land sooner after a heavy rain, and earlier in 
the spring, and prevents the land from becoming 
sour in wet seasons. The total absence of water 
would be destructive to vegetation, for it is itself 
necessary to plant life, but undrained land is not 
merely wet, it becomes water-logged, and through 
absence of air, drowns out the plants. When, 
however, water passes through and away from the 
land, air takes its place, and also passes through 
the drains and finds its way into the overlying soil, 
increasing its fertility, and pulverizing it. The rea¬ 
son why drained land gains heat, and the tempera¬ 
ture of water-logged land decreases is the lack of 
heat-conducting power of water; heat cannot be 
transmitted downwards through water. Efficient 
drainage being provided, the land should be broken 
up and pulverized as deeply as possible. 
Plowing and Stirring the Soil. 
Owing to the absence of a covering of snow and 
of successive freezings and thawings, fall plowing, 
so useful at the North, is destructive of fertility at 
the South and not advisable. 
The land having undergone proper preparation, 
having been sufficiently manured, and the crop 
having been planted with special regard to the ca¬ 
pacity of the soil, the most important matter is, 
thorough culture or keeping the earth fine and mel¬ 
low among the plants. Stirring the soil can scarcely 
be repeated too often during the earlier periods of 
growth, or until there is danger of injury to the 
roots or to the tops of growing plants by the culti¬ 
vator. The ground may be too wet, but never too 
dry, for stirring; because the more frequently it is 
broken up, fined, and aerated, the more moisture 
will the soil absorb from the atmosphere. Stir¬ 
ring is an operation that should be performed 
after every rain sufficient to cause incrustation or 
baking, which would prevent a free admission of 
air into the soil. The most obvious benefit of 
stirring the soil is, the destruction of weeds; for 
no crop can become remunerative, if crowded by 
weeds which deprive it of air, light, moisture, and 
use up a part of the fertility of the soil. 
The plow, horse-hoe and cultivator are to be 
used, whenever available; but the hand-hoe must 
always be relied on for the finer and more careful 
work, when, particularly in the later stages of the 
crop, only superficial stirring is advisable. When 
plants are grown in a crowded state, darkness and 
■want of air elongate the etems and leaves at the 
expense of the roots and of a general healthy con¬ 
dition. The operations of thinning and hand-weed¬ 
ing are performed in connection with hoeing to 
admit a free circulation of air around the remain¬ 
ing plants, and the sun is permitted to have an 
Immediate influence upon each, developing the de¬ 
sired form, bulk, and other qualities. 
Poinsettia.-The florists’ windows about the holi¬ 
days, are all aflame with the intense scarlet of Poin- 
seltia, of which the plant growers manage to produce 
an immense stock, especially for New Year’s decora¬ 
tions. Many are surprised to learn that the flowers 
of this plant are so unattractive that it would not 
be grown for its true flowers. These are green 
and yellow, but the cluster is surrounded by bracts, 
or floral leaves, of the most intense Vermillion. The 
proper name of the plant is not Pbinsettia, but 
Euphorbia pulcherrima. As it is likely to be called 
Poinsettia for a long time to come, and it answers 
well enough as a common name, let us have it cor¬ 
rectly written. The daily papers are eloquent over 
its beauty, but almost invariably call it “Poin- 
setta” ; indeed, we once heard a lady speak of it 
as “Ponsetter.” The plant is a native of Mexico, 
and was named by an English botanist in honor of 
the Hon. J. R. Poinsett, thenU. S. Ministerto that 
country. Botanically it is not distinct from Eu¬ 
phorbia. The daily papers are also very apt to get the 
brilliant rose, General Jacqueminot, as “Jacques 
Minot,” and one had it as “Jack Miner.” 
Holiday Gifts. 
By the time this paper reaches our subscribers, 
they will be thinking about the pleasant Holiday 
Gifts they wish to give to relatives, friends, and 
neighbors. They can find no prettier, or more ap¬ 
propriate articles, than are offered in our Attractive 
44-page Premium List, issued in October ; and what 
is especially worthy of consideration, they can 
secure one or more of these articles without money, 
and with very little labor, by procuring subscrib¬ 
ers to the American Agriculturist. With such'an 
opportunity as is here presented for obtaining 
them, every man, woman and child in the land 
ought to have a pleasant souvenir on Christmas 
of some kind. Parents, what shall we send you for 
your children ? Children, what will you order for 
your parents, and for one another? Elsewhere in 
this paper is a Table of the Premiums offered. 
What is a Breed? 
When any kind of farm animals has acquired 
certain characteristics through a series of genera¬ 
tions, and they have become so firmly fixed as to 
be transmitted to the offspring, with a great degree 
of certainty, such animals taken collectively con¬ 
stitute a breed. The time that it has taken to de¬ 
velop and impress these breed characteristics have 
been very long in some instances, while other 
breeds have sprung up in a few generations. The 
work of establishing a good breed is a difficult one, 
and demands several sterling qualities in the 
breeder. He needs to have an ideal animal in his 
mind toward which all his efforts tend. In other 
words, he must have a clear conception of all the 
good points desired in his animals, and also must be 
keen to see any bad ones that are to be eliminated. 
He needs not only to be able to see desirable quali¬ 
ties, but be able to develop them, and this calls for 
a knowledge that is peculiar, and a judgment that 
is uncommon. Without these qualities a breeder 
may be carried away by beauty of form or a charm¬ 
ing color, to the neglect of deeper-seated and vastly 
more important qualities. The breeder who hopes to 
produce an animal that is the best for everything, 
has started on the wrong track, and will come out 
at the end, a most disappointed man. The qualities 
that aid a horse in winning a hurdle race are not in 
combination with those that make an animal of the 
greatest service before a heavy cart. The breed 
whose animals makes the largest amount of the best 
beef at three years is not one that will sweep the 
prizes for dairy products. “Jersey Queen,” with her 
leading record of 851 pounds of choice butter in a 
year, would not grace the shambles when dressed 
for the market. 
By a wise selection of animals for some particu¬ 
lar points, it may be at the expense of others, with 
great care in getting offspring, and the use of 
abundant good food, excellent specimens of any 
kind of stock may be produced. The breeder 
must remember that one of his fundamental princi¬ 
ples is, “like produces like,” but as there is some 
variation, even among well-bred animals, he must 
follow a second rule in breeding, and “always 
select the best.” In answer to the question put at 
the heading : A breed is an assemblage of animals 
possessing certain characters in common, which 
are different from those of any other groups, and 
able to retain those points when bred together. 
IUustard as a Weed.— “T. G. B.,” Monterey, 
N. Y., wishes to know how to eradicate “ Yellow Mus¬ 
tard." He does not send a specimen, nor does he say 
whether it is the wild mustard (Charlock), or one of the 
cultivated mustards that has become a weed. Practi¬ 
cally it makes little difference which it may be. The 
> seeds of all retain their vitality for many years when 
buried deeply in the ground, and whenever, in plowing, 
the seeds are brought near the surface, they will germi¬ 
nate. If circumstances allow, the converting of the field 
into a sheep pasture for a season, the weed will be de¬ 
stroyed, and the sheep benefited. If “ T. G. B." does 
not keep sheep, the best of all remedies, he should make 
sure that the mustard crop does not ripen its seeds, 
which he can do by mowing, or otherwise cutting it 
down in season. 
Asparagus Seeds.— “ T. B.” asks us: “As the 
ripening of seed is exhausting to plants, would it not 
be well to strip the seed balls from the asparagus as soon 
as they are formed, unless seed were wanted f No 
doubt seed-bearing exhausts the asparagus plants, but 
only a portion of the plants are fertile, the others being 
staminate. The fruit, or seed balls, are small and much 
scattered, and it would be much labor to remove them, 
and we doubt if the operation would pay. Still, it is a 
fair subject for experiment. 
Nameless Inquiries come so frequently that 
they are very annoying. As examples of many, we cite 
only two. One comes from a friend in Bosque Co., 
Tex. As he signed his letter only “ Respectfully 
Yours,” we were unable to inform him that we had not 
published a description of the fence about which he in¬ 
quired. The other letter comes from “ An Inquirer ’’ in 
Nepang, no state is given, and the post-mark, as usual, 
is quite blind. The lack of name and proper address 
prevented a reply to his inquiries about Rose-bugs, 
which would have quite disappeared by the time we 
could have answered through the American Agricultur¬ 
ist. It is quite inexplicable to us why persons will go to 
the trouble of writing a letter, often a long one, about 
some matter upon which they need a prompt answer, 
and throw away their trouble in writing, their paper, 
envelope, and postage stamp, and cut off all chance of 
a reply, by failing to give their names. There is noth¬ 
ing disgraceful in making an inquiry. We never pub¬ 
lish names if we see the slightest indication of a desire 
that we should not do so. John Smith has only to 
write his name (John Smith), and we understand that 
he does not wish his name to be given. 
Ijong Pruning the Grape.- “T. & B.” when 
Downing says that a variety should be “long pruned,” 
we take it that he intends that the vine should be al¬ 
lowed to bear more shoots, and canes, than usual. The 
usual pruning is to shorten the canes to two eyes, and 
this would give two shoots the next year. If, instead of 
two eyes, four, or six, were left, more shoots would 
grow. It means, in short, that some varieties should not 
be greatly restricted in their growth. 
In the Meadow. 
We are fairly besieged with applications from 
subscribers, and those who are not subscribers, 
for our beautiful Premium Plate Picture, described 
elsewhere. We have to say now, once for all, 
that it is supplied only to subscribers to the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist, and they receive it free. A private 
letter to a friend in the country from Mr. F. S. 
Church, the eminent artist, contains this sentence : 
“I was delighted this morning (October 27), in 
passing by the window of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist, to see offered as a Premium, a reproduction of a 
very beautiful picture, ‘In the Meadow,’ by Dupro. 
This picture is an educator, and I am glad to see the 
American Agriculturist the first to take hold of it.” 
