8-4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
Contents of this Number. 
Calendar for March, 1880. 
Amongthe Farmers, No. 50: Grease in Horses, Road 
Taxes, Farmers Marketing Produce, Drainage at 
Houghton Farm.6 Illustrations.. 96-97 
Animals, Our Domestic. 101 
Bee Notes for March. .2 Illustrations.. 90 
Boys’ and Girls’ Columns :—The Doctor's Talks: 
Centrifugal Force. A Whirling Puzzle. Our Puzzle- 
Box. Illustrated Rebus. This is Leap Year- 
Why? Coasting.22 Illustrations.. 107-110 
Catalogues..117 
Cellar, Draining a Wet. Illustrated.. 100 
Churns, Swedish, Stiernward’s.2 Illustrations . .100 
Compost, Materials for. 94 
Coverer, A Handy Corn.. Illustrated . .100 
Dairying, Swiss, The Simmenthal Cow.2 Illustrations. 95 
Drags, Smoothing and Pulverizers_2 Illustrations.. 96 
Experiments, The American Agriculturist . .... S8 
Fences and Fencing.10 Illustrations.. 92-93 
Fraxinella, The. Illustrated.. 103 
Fruit-Growing in Texas.2 Illustrations.. 103 
Garden, Flower and Lawn.^86 
Garden, Kitchen and Market. . 85 
Garden, The Fruit. 85 
Greenhouse and Window Plants..86 
Greens for Everybody. 104 
Hedge, The Honey Locust.105 
Hints and Helps for Fai'mers: Draining Sloughs, 
To Cure Smoke Meat, To Tar a Rope, Harness 
Bench.5 Illustrations.. 100 
Hints for Farm Work. 84 
House Plan, Costing $1,200. 4 Illustrations.. 94 
Household: Monograms for Needle-Work, A Bur¬ 
lesque Art Gallery, Household Notes and Queries, 
The Use of Apples, A Slipper-Case, Selecting Wall- 
Paper ..5 Illustrations.. 106-107 
Humbugs, Sundry.. Illustrated.. 89 
Ice-Pond, An Artificial.3 Illustrations. .100 
Markets for March...... . 87 
Milk, What is It?. 96 
Nuts and Nubbins.116 
Orchard and Nursery.85 
Pans, Washing Dairy.4 Illustrations. .101 
Parent Upon Offspring, Influence of. 99 
Peas in Plenty.105 
Pheasant, The Ringed. Illustrated.. 83 
Plumbing.. Illustrated.. 93 
Pop-Corn and Its Varieties.4 Illustrations. .105 
Science Applied to Farming, LV. 91 
Smut, The Onion .3 Illustrations. .104 
Sorghum in America—Its Introduction.116 
Strawberry, The Sharpless. Illustrated. .103 
Sugar, Manufacture of Amber Cane...7 Ills. 101-102 
Vegetables, Trials of, in 1879. 86 
Ventilation of Barns and Stables.5 Illustrations.. 96 
Weevil, The White Pine. 93 
Wind-Engines, Improvements in.. 10 Illustrations.. 98-99 
Yeast as an Insect Destroyer. 99 
INDEX TO “ BASKET,” AND OTHER SnOT.T ARTICLES. 
Alkali Soils.1161011 Stones in N. Carolina. 90 
Apples, Assorting.OO^ages Worth Reading... 88 
Artichokes, Jerusalem. , .115 Paints, Asbestos Liquid.. 89 
Ashes, Leached.90,Peddlers, Tree, Again. ..116 
Bees By Mail. 90 Plant,What to. in Garden. 88 
Cholera, Chicken. 84 Pleuro-PneumoniainPenn90 
Churning, Trouble in_ 89 Poultry Feeding.115 
Color. Off. 89 Seeds, Honey Locust 115 
Corn in Illinois. 90 Shaker Village Notes. . 90 
Edition, The German_115 Society, Mich. Agricult’l. 90 
Farming, Mixed .116 Society, TheN. Y. Hort.. 90 
Fish as Fertilizer.115 Soda, Nitrate of.. 88 
Gray, Alfred, Death of...116 Subscriptions, Pleasant... flO 
Hedge. Making a. 90 Terms to Australia, etc..115 
Insect Work. 84 Toads. 88 
Knife, A Good.116 Trees. Young Forest 116 
Letter, An Unanswerable. 89, Widows and Orphans_ 88 
Chicken Cholera.--' 1 J. R. S.,” Buffalo, N. Y..” 
who makes a specialty of Plymouth Rock chickens and 
Bronze Turkeys, writes : “ The cholera has been in the 
neighborhood for the last three or four months, and 
some six weeks ago I discovered it in iny flock of Plym¬ 
outh Rocks. On its very first showing, I made up a 
strong ooze or decoction of White Oak bark, by boiling 
about a peck of the inside bark, cut fine, in water enough 
to cover it; corn or meal was soaked in this liquid, and 
fed to the whole flock, both turkeys and chickens, and 
to both sick and well, twice a day for some four days. 
The sick recovered in about two days. No more were 
taken sick, and all are as well as ever. I did not wait for 
the disease to kill off any, but took it in it first stages. 
Insect Work.— “D. L. P.” sends from Little 
Rock, Ark., a piece of stem of a pear tree, which has a 
dear groove all the way around it, cut half way through 
the wood, as neatly as if it had been put in a lathe and 
turned. Mr. P. is desirous of knowing what does the 
work. It is done by an insect called “ The Girdler,” of 
which we hope to give an engraving at another time. 
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PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
WASIl’N. 
ciia’ston 
CHICAGO. 
3d Quart. 
New M’n 
1st Quart 
Full M’n 
D. 
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10 
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26 
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C 23 ev. 
8 3 ev. 
7 52 ev. 
8 39 mo. 
rr. m. 
6 11 ev. 
7 51 ev. 
7 40 ev. 
8 27 mo. 
n. m. 
5 59 ev. 
7 39 ev. 
7 28 ev. 
8 15 mo 
n. m. 
5 47 ev. 
7 27 ev. 
7 16 ev. 
8 3 mo. 
H. M. 
5 17 ev. 
6 57 ev. 
6 46 ev. 
7 33 mo. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, MARCH, 1880. 
Hints for the Work of the Month. 
[The Hints and Suggestions in these columns are 
never copied from previous years, but are freshly pre¬ 
pared for every month , from the latest experience and 
observations, by practical men in each depart>nent.~\ 
Spring Work .—The spring of the Almanac now 
begins ; but the spring-like weather during a large 
portion of this winter, has allowed the spring work 
of the Middle, Southern, and Western States, to be 
greatly forwarded. For the first time in many 
years, the writer has been plowing through nearly 
the whole of January, and hundreds of other farm¬ 
ers have done the same. Fencing, ditching, clearing 
wood-land, and even sowing grass-seed, has been 
extensively done, as though spring had already 
come. Sometimes, “the most haste is the worst 
speed,” and it remains to be seen, if, after all, the 
season’s work will be benefited. It is a peculiar 
time, in which caution should be exercised, lest 
work done too soon, may need to be clone over again. 
Spring Wheat .—Spasmodic efforts are made now 
and then, to grow spring wheat in localities where 
fall wheat only should be sown. Spring wheat re¬ 
quires a cool climate, and the hot and early sum¬ 
mers of the Middle States, are not favorable to it. 
Nevertheless, many farmers have “ tried once 
more,” and have failed, as might have been ex¬ 
pected, and as we have often given warning would 
be the result of attempts to grow this class of 
wheat too far South. Southern New York, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, are out of the spring 
wheat latitude, and a line west from Central New 
York, will as nearly as possible separate the fall 
wheat and spring wheat districts. Where spring 
wheat is sown, the seed should be in the ground as 
early as the soil can be fitted for it. 
Oats follow spring wheat, being somewhat less 
hardy. It is thought by some, that oats will take 
no harm from careless seeding. But this is a mis¬ 
take, for a good crop, deep covering in a well pre¬ 
pared soil is needed ; shallow sown seed does not 
tiller; while that sown deep will tiller about as 
much as wheat; with good covering, the seed may 
be sown much earlier, and will be safe against 
changes of the weather, while seed near or on the 
surface, will be destroyed either by frost, or by dry 
weather, ss soon as it sprouts. 
Covering fed.—Experience will satisfy any one, 
that drill-seeding is far better than broadcast sow¬ 
ing ; there is a saving of' seed, every good seed 
grows, and none is wasted, and the plants having 
a better root, are hardier and more vigorous. But 
a drill costs a large sum, is used but twice a year, 
and for a short time, and for a single purpose only. 
An implement that will serve more than one pur¬ 
pose is economical. For instance the Acme Pul¬ 
verizer, described on page 96, not only breaks up, 
mellows, and levels the ground, but it covers seed 
as well, and evenly, as a drill, leaving similar 
ridges and furrows. With such a machine, all the 
work subsequent to the plowing, may be done, and 
well done; for, by a little ingenuity, a broadcast 
sower may be attached to it. Inventors will, no- 
doubt, in time furnish us with a machine that will 
plow several furrows, mellow the ground, and sow 
and cover the seed, at one operation. 
Fertilizers for Spring Crops. —Top-dressing fall- 
sown crops, should he done this month if at all.. 
The returning warmth first affects the roots, and 
they start to grow before the leaves. The stimu¬ 
lant is thus needed for the roots, before the upper 
portion has appeared to grow. A dressing of 150 or 
200 pounds per acre, of any good artificial fertilizer, 
can be used with profit on any crop, if applied-at 
the proper time, when the growth begins to start. 
The present Necessity of American agricult fire, is 
larger crops at the same cost, or a less proportion¬ 
ate cost, than our present small ones. This result 
can only be secured by additional fertilizing. Tho 
present average of our crops is not more than one- 
fourth of that which the soil is capable of produc¬ 
ing, and this extra three-fourths may be produced 
without any more labor by the use of fertilizers- 
or additional manures; but fertilizers chiefly. 
Artificial Fertilizers add to the soil certain elements 
in a condition in which they are immediately active, 
and force a strong, vigorous, early growth, and so en¬ 
able the plants to push out a large number of feeding 
roots, which find out, and appropriate the manure 
later, when it is in the best condition for plant food. 
A Strong Plant Digests its Food better than a. 
weak one, and its appetite, so to speak, is more- 
vigorous, precisely as is that of a strong, healthy 
young animal. It is with the plant as with the ani¬ 
mal ; early feeding, and vigor of growth, bring 
early and vigorous maturity. The farmer should 
study to get early a strong and healthy growth. 
There is no Fear of a Surplus .—The world’s markets- 
are at our feet. The fear that we may produce more 
than can be disposed of, is a bug-bear and a phan¬ 
tom. It has been conclusively shown, that at a 
certain price, we can control all the European mar¬ 
kets, and that this price, while it pays us fairly, is 
too small fora profit to the European farmers, who 
have to pay large rents, heavy taxes, employ ex¬ 
pensive labor, and use costly fertilizers. 
Think, for a Moment !—There are seven millions 
of soldiers in Europe, who are nou-producers, qnd 
expensive consumers ; two or three million of army- 
horses, all eating, and not working; emperors, 
kings, princes, and titled persons of all kinds, who 
are supported in the greatest luxury out of the 
public revenues; and “the farmer pays for all.” 
We Need not Fear to Compete with farmers so bur¬ 
dened ; our prosperity consists in lessening the 
cost of our produce, and selling it to those nations, 
who thus hamper themselves with burdens too 
grievous to be borne; becoming in fact, the food 
producers for a large portion of the population of 
tlie‘ world, nearly one-lialf living without labor. 
All that is Necessary is to study and learn accu¬ 
rately the true principles of our profession as 
farmers, and put in practice the most effective- 
work. How to do these, is what the American. 
Agriculturist has taught, and is still teaching.. 
Fodder Crops .—It has been proved repeatedly; 
that one acre of good green fodder will feed two- 
cows through the summer. Fodder crops must be- 
put in early. A mixture of oats and peas is the- 
best crop for early cutting, to come in after the first 
clover, which follows the rye. The two sown to¬ 
gether, will yield, on one acre, about as much as if 
sow r n separately on two acres. This may be doubted. 
