34 
AMEEIOAl^ AGRIOULTUEIST. 
[Januauy,. 
The Germaa American Agriculturist. 
The German American Agriculturist is the only 
purely Agricultural paper published in the United 
States. It is prepared for German readers and, with 
the immense resources of the English establish¬ 
ment to draw from, we are enabled to prepare a 
paper which every German reader should have,at the 
price of $1.50 per year. We have printed a very large 
special edition for specimen copies. If our Ameri¬ 
can readers will send the names of any of their 
German friends on a Postal Card, we shall be glad 
to forward such friends a copy of the German edi¬ 
tion. If any of our readers have German gardeners 
or laborers, they cannot do a better thing than to 
present them with the Amerikanischer Agnculturist 
for 1884 as a Holiday present. The paper will please 
them, and give them ideas and suggestions which 
will prove of money value to their employers. 
--- 
‘'Make A Note On’t.” 
Capt. Cuttle’s frequent injunction, “ when found, 
make a note on’t,” should be heeded by all culti¬ 
vators of the soil. Each farm and garden has its 
local peculiarities of soil, situation and season, 
and a record or times of sowing and planting, as 
well as of ripening and harvesting, will often be of 
great value as a guide for future operations. This 
farmer’s or gardener’s “log-book,” or diary, may 
well be kept by the oldest boy, who would thus be¬ 
come interested iu the daily work, and acquire the 
habit of doing something at a particular time. 
Books with a heading for each day, or diaries, can 
be bought at a small outlay, or a common blank 
book will answer. It may interest the boys to 
know that one of the long time editors of this 
journal, always attributes his coming to such a 
position, to his early practice when a boy on the 
farm, of keeping a record of eighty cows, the 
napnes of the animals, all about them, a plan of the 
fields, and notes on whatever was done in them, 
etc., etc. This custom insensibly taught him to put 
his thoughts on paper, much better than writing 
“ composition ” in school. And his record books 
were only foolscap paper, folded and stitched. 
The operations of each day should be noted ; and 
to make the record more useful, the progress of the 
crops may well be recorded. Eor example, if po¬ 
tatoes are planted on such a day, add to the entry 
of this, the time when they break ground, how or 
when hoed or cultivated, manure, seed, when dug, 
etc. Such a book will be all the more valuable if 
the weather is recorded, and the readings of the 
thermometer at sunrise, noon, and sunset. In not¬ 
ing the sowing of seed etc., state the variety as 
well as the quantity sown to the acre. Such a 
record carefully kept, will be frequently referred to 
as a guide in the future. It may be made of still 
greater value, if the coming and going of help are 
put down, as well as the various purchases and 
sales of animals, implements, and their prices. 
' ' 
Forcing Ehubarb, Asparagus, Etc. 
The forcing of the production of vegetables far 
In advance of the usual season, by aid of artificial 
heat, occupies a large share of the time of the Eng¬ 
lish gardener. It was formerly much more 
prevalent in this country than since the rapid car¬ 
riage by railway and steam brings large supplies 
raised at the South to the Northern markets, and 
furnishes many vegetables much cheaper than they 
can be produced here by forcing. Lettuce, which 
does not bear long transportation, is about the only 
vegetable that is now forced on a large scale. Bos¬ 
ton is the headquarters for this industry, and there 
are many acres of glass devoted to it in the neigh¬ 
borhood of that city, the growers supplying the 
markets iu nearly all the large Eastern cities. 
Asparagus was never forced to a large extent for 
market with us, as the plants must be four or five 
years old before they are large enough for this. 
The beds in the Southern States are now produc¬ 
tive, and the supply is annually increasing. It 
comes in small quantities in January .and is abun¬ 
dant in February. Rhubarb is occasionally forced 
as an incidental crop by florists, who thus utilize 
the space under the benches of their green-houses. 
Roots from an old bed, or plants raised for the 
purpose, are stacked closely under the benches, 
and fine soil sifted over to fill up all the spaces be¬ 
tween the roots. With the temperature at from 
sixty to seventy-five degrees, stalks are soon pro¬ 
duced, and the florist often thus derives a hand¬ 
some return from a small outlay. A supply for 
family use can be readily forced by placing a few 
roots in a barrel or cask with earth to fill the spaces. 
The plants do not need light; indeed the stalks 
are all the more tender when produced in the dark, 
hence the barrel should be covered, taking care to 
supply water as needed. It may be set near the 
cellar furnace, or in a tvarm plane in a spacious 
kitchen. If more convenient, it may be set under 
a shed with fermenting manure piled around it. 
Of course preparation for forcing in this manner 
should be made before the ground closes. Still, 
advantage may be taken of the usual “ January 
thaw” to lift a few roots for the purpose, and still 
give a supply of stalks much earlier than they can 
be had from the open ground. The roots after 
forcing are worth but little, and it is better to keep 
up a supply by making new plantings than to set out 
those which have been exhausted by the operation. 
Suggestions for Festive Decorations. 
In putting up evergreen decorations, short in¬ 
scriptions or mottoes and fanciful designs add 
wonderfully to the general effect for both homes 
and churches. Cedar and hemlock, although very 
rich and beautiful, are, as a rule, too heavy by 
themselves, and give a sombre appearance, unless 
lightened by bright autumn leaves, light graceful 
ferns, or lettering iu gay colors. But many cannot 
handle the brush skilfully enough to illuminate 
nicely, and as such inscription, and devices are 
only viewed from a distance, it is W'ell to know how 
to produce a good effect by very simple and in¬ 
expensive means. 
A square of colored flannel, red, blue, black, or 
green, forms a very pretty background, on which 
may be placed stars, crosses, shields, monograms, 
or any other appropriate device. These cut out of 
white paper and bordered with evergreens or ferns, 
with a few holly sprays dotted with scaidet berries 
iu the center, make a charming ornament for bare 
walls. White sheet-wadding, with its glazed sur¬ 
face, makes excellent letters, that look at a short 
distance like solid marble when neatly cut out and 
arranged on a dark background—black velvet 
throws them out particularly well. Pretty designs 
may be made by cutting the desired form out of 
heavy white card-board, giving it a thick coat of 
warm paste, and then throwing rice upon it. 
The little yellowish white immortelles, or ever¬ 
lastings, that grow so plentifully in mountainous 
regions, can alw.ays be nicely worked in, and those 
who have had the forethought to gather a supply 
of these tiny flowers, will find nothing prettier of 
which to form these mottoes. They have the ad¬ 
vantage that they will last from year to year. Cover 
the surface of the pasteboard with hot glue and 
stick the flowers on singly in rows, forming the de¬ 
sired sentence, previously outlined with pencil. If 
the finished letters warp at all, place them under a 
heavy book to dry. Florists dye these flowers in 
all the hues of the rainbow ; but they are much to 
be preferred in their usitural state. 
If a partieularly brilliant effect is desired, gold 
paper, and frosting—a substance obtainable at 
paint stores—are used, but perhaps the most beau¬ 
tiful letters of all, are rustic ones, made of lichens, 
moss, fungi, or pressed climbing fern. It is very 
effective to cover a monogram, or star sawed out of 
wood, with these, and bore holes in which to insert 
branches of holly well decked with berries. Hang 
it over the folding-door of a parlor, and train 
long sprays of climbing fern from it, on fine wires in 
all directions, so as to form a Iriumphal arch. 
New Farm Implemeuts and Appliances^ 
Bunching Asparagus.—A Simple Device, 
“R. W. B.,” Chester, Pa„ sends us a sketch and do- 
scriplion of a very simple device, which any one can 
construct in an hour, tliat will enable him to make up' 
neat hunches of asparagus with great rapidfly. Upon a 
board of any length, nail tw'O small cross-pieces at the 
desired distance apart, hollowing them out in the mid¬ 
dle. Take two pieces of iron barrel hoop, a, a, of the 
length required by the size of bunches to be made (about 
fifteen inches long,) and bend them in the form shown in 
the sketch, fastening them by a nail or two in the bot¬ 
tom. At the distance required by the length of the 
stalks, set a thin board, b ; it can be nailed against the 
end of the bottom board, cut off at the right distance.- 
Spring the hoops open a little, and lay in the asparagus 
with its tops against the upright board, to even them. 
Wiien full enough bring the tops of the hoop together, 
and slip over them a staple, flat chain link, or a bit of 
w’ood with a flat hole through it. Tie the bunches firmly, 
cut the butt ends off square; open the hoops, and you 
have a neat, round bunch, that will show well. As any 
one who has marketed .asparagus knows, a little pains iu' 
bunching is well repaid in better prices and quicker sale. 
Geared Windmills. 
We present; herewith an engraving, with latest im¬ 
provements, of the Geared Windmill manufactured by 
the United States Wind Engine and Pump Company, 
at Batavia, Ill. Wo allude to this matter as one of in¬ 
terest to thousands of our subscribers, particularly in 
the W’est and far West. We are assured by those who 
ought to know that the time is near at hand “when a. 
majority of all windmills purchased by farmers and 
dairymen will be geared, so they can do their own shell¬ 
ing and grinding at home, saw wood, cut hay, foddeiv 
ensilage, etc,, etc., in addition to pumping water.”' 
This accomplished, and the Geared Windmill takes its 
place as one of the greatest modern labor-saving inven¬ 
tions. A Western correspondent writes: “• The thirteen- 
feet Geared Mill is in great demand, and is ample for a. 
farmer owning one hundred and sixt 3 ' acres, and the 
usual head of stock on such a farm.” As we have so re¬ 
peatedly said in the past, settlers in the far West are too- 
apt to run in debt for new machineiy. Many bankrupt 
themselves by so doing. At the same time, those who- 
have the means to do so, should invest in labor-saving- 
contrivances because they^ are labor-saving; and then- 
when they have them, they should take good care of them,. 
