4 = 14 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
Contents of this dumber. 
[Articles marked with a start*) are illustrated ; the fig¬ 
ure with the star indicates the number of illustrations.] 
Among the Farmers, No. 57.—The Use of Withes— 
Willows—A Question of Breeding—Cost of Raising 
a Milch Cow. '. .5*..427-428 
Bee Notes, for October.3*..416 
Bench. A Corn Husking . .3*. .431 
Blister Beetle, the Striped*.432 
Boys and Girls’ Columns -.— The Doctor's Talks: 
—Our Puzzle Box—The Ant and the Fly—Some¬ 
thing about Bats—The Steers at the Fair,—9*. .437-440 
Celery, Treatment of. 435 
Cements, American Natural.431 
Chinch-Bug, The, in Winter. 420 
Cone Flower, The Purple* .433 
Corn, Drawing in the Shock.2*..430 
Cutter, A Cabbage*.430 
Deer, The Columbian Black-Tailed*.425 
Dogs—The St. Bernard and Cocker.2*. .425 
Drains, What is the Best Material for.429 
Bair List for October.447 
Farming, More About Tenant.426 
Fountains, Wayside.427 
Fuel, Well Seasoned.431 
Gapes in Chickens.427 
Grass, The Guinea-“Johnson Grass,” etc.420 
Hay, Marsh.426 
Hints for the Work of the Month.414-415 
Hints and Helps for Farmers A Portable Feed 
Barrel—A Machine Fastener—A Turnip Puller—A 
Rail Holder —A Safe Gate Latch — Home-Made 
Level.11*.. 428-429 
Holder for Fire Wood*.430 
House, Plan of a Poultry.3*..426 
House, Plan of a, Costing $1,100.4*..422 
Household :—A Foot Rest and Slipper Box —Home 
Topics /—Baby’s Bow Legs—Mixing in the Bran- 
Fine “New Process” Flour—Grass Stains Removed. 
More Mouse Traps. Grasses for Decoration. Chap¬ 
ped Hands. Household Notes and Queries.5*. .43C-437 
Humbugs, Sundry.418-419 
“Madeira Nut”.435 
Manure, Liquid.432 
Markets.448 
Meadow, Preparing and Seeding Ground for.420 
Notes from the Pines.434 
Notes on Orchard and Garden Work.415-416 
Overfeeding for the Fairs.429 
Pen-Stock, A Spring*.429 
Potato, Roots of the Irish. 4*. 432 
Raspberries, Black Cap; The Gregg*.433 
Science Applied to Farming, LXI..423 
Seeds, Ripening the. of Trees and Shrubs.434 
Shelter, An Archway, through the Straw Stack .2*..431 
Smoke House and Ash Pit.2*..429 
Squash, An Excellent Early. 434 
Staying Fruit Trees*.434 
Tightener, A Corn Shock*.426 
Tree, The Nettle, or Hackberry*.435 
Trees, Planting in Autumn.434 
Turkeys, Large, for Breeding Stock. 430 
Turnip Experiments .430 
‘ 1 Weathering ”. 429 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” AND OTHER SHORT ARTICLES. 
,446|: 
.419 1 
419,: 
.447:1 
. .446: 
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419 : 
'.418 1 
.448 
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.417 
.447 ' 
.447, 
; .447 
.417! 
..419 ’ 
. 449 ' 
.446 ' 
449 ’ 
.420 
.446 
.446 ' 
.420 
.447 ' 
.448 Whey, How to Use.418 
.448 Windmills_... 
.417.Worm, The Army. 
Ailanthus in Nebraska ..4 
Artichokes for Cows_ 
Bones, How Dispose of. 
Bran, Feeding... 
Carrots, Wild—a Weed.. 
Charges for Repairs. 4 
Cider, Keeping... 
Club. A Farmers’. 
Cochineal in Florida_ 4 
Colonies. Eng. Em’gt_4 
Composting. 
Corn, White ami Yellow. 
Crop, Changing the. 
Draining, Advantages 01.4 
Fair, Am. Institute. .. 
Fairs. Tickets, etc. 
Feeding, A Principle in. 
Feeding for Manure. 
Feeding Young Animals.- 
Flint, Cbas. Resigned_ 
Fruit. Nutriment of. 
Gate. Carriage . 
Goptiers. Catching . 
Grape, Moore’s Early... 
Grass, Pampas...... 
Hen, Sitting. 
Hints and Helps. 
Lice on Slock. 
Lime on Soil. 
Lime, Tanner’s, etc. 
Manure, Compost . 
Meyer, A. J., Death of ..4 
Milk, Time to Give... 
...44S 
Muck. Swamp. 
...419 
Nitrification. 
...414 
Oats with Wheat. 
...419 
Pickles in Jars. 
...446 
(i Pigs. Springand Fall_418 
Plant Economy.419 
Pollen by Wind.446 
1 Pomace,Apple.419 
I Prizes for Horses.449 
Pudding. Apple .418 
! Quality vs. Quantity.420 
I Roots, Blackberry.419 
; Roup. What is it.420 
1 Smut, Corn.4>7- 
’ Sugar. Crystals of.419 
1 Tea, American. 417 
' Things. Some.416 
Thnrber. Dr. Geo.420 
(Tiles, Drain. 446 
[Timber, Chestnut.419 
tTimber, To Measure .. 446 
i Tomatoes in Jars.419 
1 Walnuts, Black.449 
1 Warts.. 446 
- Waste. Soap-Boiler's... 446 
Weeds.419 
Weeds, To Grow. 
’ Wheat. A New. 
.416 
.446 
.417 
.447 
Nitrification, or the formation of available com¬ 
pounds of nitrogen is now generally thought, by scien¬ 
tific men, to be due to the action of n living organism— 
a minute fungus—and the process is a fermentation 
like that which is caused by the yeast plant. 
Calendar for October, 1880. 
6 
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Indiana, and 
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Washington, 
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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 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 
obsei~vations , by practical men in each department .] 
Grass is our most important crop, and it is essen¬ 
tial to its best condition next spring and summer 
that it be well wintered. The roots are benefited 
by the thick mulch of late autumn growth. There¬ 
fore do not feed off the meadows which it is in¬ 
tended to mow next year, hut rather top-dress with 
a fine compost, which may be largely composed of 
swamp muck treated with lime slaked with brine. 
Tlcetfs in Grass Land may be very easily seen and 
destroyed this month by the use of the “ spud,” a 
broad chisel-blade attached to a handle like that of 
a spade or long-handled shovel, having a spur upon 
it for the foot to aid in thrusting it into the ground. 
A boy with an instrument of this kind can rapidly 
clear grass land of buttercups, daisies, and a multi¬ 
tude of other biennial and perennial weeds. 
Grass Seed may he sown upon spots in both pas¬ 
tures and meadows where the stand is not good, 
and if harrowed over with a dressing of manure or 
some “fertilizer,” will often work a complete re¬ 
newal of the grass. 
Winter Grain. —It is not too late to sow wheat 
or rye, see “ Hints ” for last month. More seed is 
uniformly required for late sowing, because the 
young plants will not tiller so much—that is, throw 
out so many shoots which will form flower-stalks 
and heads in the spring. To prevent smut, use a 
pickle of four ounces of blue vitriol, or “ blue 
stone,” to a gallon of water; when dissolved, use 
half a gallon to the bushel of wheat, sprinkling it 
over the heap on a barn-floor and stirring until 
every grain is wetted, then dry by sifting quick¬ 
lime over the heap and shoveling it over. 
Top-dressing.— Bono dust or “ tankings,” or some 
fertilizer in which the nitrogen is not in the form 
of ammonia, and not soluble, is the best for late 
autumn application to grass or grain. Such a ma¬ 
nure has some immediate effect, yet is not washed 
away in solution by heavy rains, but shows its po¬ 
tency in the spring. 
Htatocs. —The sooner they are dug now the bet¬ 
ter. It is best to keep them a while either in pro¬ 
tected heaps in the field, or on 6ome unused floor. 
They throw off much moisture within a few days, 
and will heat if in large heaps or too deep in the 
bins. When thoroughly dry, they may be placed 
in secure pits or in the cellar. Potatoes are injured 
at once by frost, and gradually by sunlight, or even 
by diffused light. They should, therefore, be kept 
from the light as much as possible, and decayed 
ones carefully culled out before they are put away. 
Boots are now making their best growth. Mod¬ 
erately warm days and cold nights seem to have a 
great effect upon them. As the time for heavy 
frosts approaches, secure the mangels and sugar- 
beets. Top by rubbing the leaves off, not by cut¬ 
ting, as the wound often starts decay, which spoils 
the beet. Carrots secure attention next after the 
beets, and turnips next, leaving the Swedish tur¬ 
nips longest. Always protect piles of roots against 
frost by some covering. Turnips will survive se¬ 
vere freezing, but they are never so good for feeding. 
Corn. —There is probably little corn left standing 
in the region where early frosts prevail, yet after 
the middle of September, when a cold wave, with 
two or three frosty nights, passes over the North¬ 
ern States, we often have a long “ spell” of pleas¬ 
ant weather, and if corn has escaped it may still be 
cut, and the fodder will be good. This is, how¬ 
ever, exactly the weather for husking, if other 
more pressing work is finished. If there is a mar¬ 
ket for husks, the ears may be picked and the 
husking done in the barn ; but otherwise the husk¬ 
ing must be done in the field, and it is poor policy 
to wait after the stalks are dry and the soft ears 
pretty well hardened. In fields where most of the 
stalks have two ears, and there are none without 
ears and they are large, a man will sometimes husk 
100 bushes of ears a day, and now and then a 
“ champion ” busker will husk the corn on an acre 
of ground yielding 80 bushels of shelled corn or 
over, hut other hands must bind his stalks. 
Corn Fodder, by which we mean the stalks after 
husking (not the leaves of the corn merely strip¬ 
ped off), should be bound in bundles, probably 
best done with willow withes, and stooked up so as 
to shed rain. Large stooks, well set and firmly 
bound may be left in the field until needed for feed¬ 
ing, without injury to the fodder. In fact, it is 
often brighter and better when treated in this way 
than in any other. In stacks, or in sheds, it is 
likely to heat and mould, unless it can be more 
thoroughly dried than we can be sure of having it. 
Dodder Corn, which, of course, was cut before the 
first frost, or much of its value was lost, should be 
handled much in the same way. As soon as the 
stalks are sufficiently dry, and the weather so 
cool that danger from moulding is past, put it up 
in small bundles, and set these together in large 
stooks in the field, bound securely at the top. 
Seed Corn. —The selections of seed corn, though 
usually made this month, ought to be done about 
September first, for then one going among the 
standing corn can select the ears likely to produce 
corn most to his liking, much better than after the 
corn is cut up. It is best to have reference to 
earliness of maturity, size of stalk, ability to stand 
up, the number of brace roots, and the amount of 
leaf, as well as to the size of the ears, and the 
number upon a stalk. But one who is “ breeding ” 
corn should look farther; the shape of the ear is 
important; the butt should be small for conven¬ 
ience of husking, and the cob small and well 
covered', the rows of kernels perfectly even, and 
the husks long enough to protect the grain from 
the sight of birds, which are often tempted by the 
sight of the corn to do a good deal of damage. 
Every farmer who selects his own seed corn with 
care, will, in a few years, find that he has a variety 
of liis own breeding quite different from the corn 
of his neighbors, and which ought to be a decided 
improvement on the original stock. At husking 
time we can only select ears, but when the selection 
is made among standing corn, the best plan is to 
tie a cord around the selected ones near the tip, so 
as to prevent the buskers stripping off the husks. 
They will then throw the tied ears aside, and they 
