146 
AMEEIOAlsr AaRIOULTUEIST. 
[April, 
Contents of this Number. 
[Articles miirked with a star (*) are iUiistrated ; the fig¬ 
ure with the star indicates the number of illustrations. 
Animal Ailments . 148 
Apiary, The .151 
April Days. .*..145 
Barn, Hillside Cattle ...*7.. 156 
Berry Patch, The. 163 
Board for Squaring-Fields . *. . 162 
Boxes, Transplanting .*..163 
Boxs AND Girls’ Columns : 
How Tommy Celebrated the First of April_ *..168 
An Illustrated Rebus.169 
The Doctor’s Talks.169 
The Young Musician . *..170 
Our Tame Crow. 170 
Bracing Fence and other Posts. *. .151 
Button-bush — A Handsome Shrub.*..164 
“Calf-Kill,’’ More About.153 
Cardoon, What is.*..165 
Cellar, An Above Ground..2*.. 147 
Chats with Readers.159 
Cistern, Connecting an Old and New. . *..153 
Colts, Bitting.*..162 
Currant Bush, One.150 
Brag, The. .2*.. 148 
Dwelling, An Old Improved.2*.. 148 
Early Amber in California. 151 
Eggs in Winter. 153 
Everlasting Flowers—Improved.*. . 165 
Errors and Facts in Meteorology.150 
Fairs, More Local, Needed. 162 
Pences across Freshet Streams.*. .155 
Filberts, The Cultivation of.163 
Figs in California.152 
Garden, Kitchen and Market.147 
Garden, Flower and Lawn .147 
Grape Vine, Pruning the.163 
Greenhouse and Window Plants. 147 
Hand-Light, A Useful . 2*.. 154 
Hints, Helpful. 149 
Home, The Far-West Pioneer. 8*.. 158 
Household. 
Box Window Garden.*..166 
Home-made Easel.166 
A Word oil Cooking. 166 
Table Decorations.2*. .166 
Dead-Fall for Mice.*..167 
BoxClotlies Hamper.167 
Hints About Making Rag Carpets. . 167 
To Catch Window Drip.*..167 
Care of the Teeth.167 
Toe and Heel Bootjack.; —.*. .167 
Inventions, Our Record of Agricultural.22*. ..171,172 
Jack, Wagon, An Improved.*..155 
Kale, A New Curled .*..164 
Batch for Barn Door on Hinges.*. .151 
Lightning and Lightning Rods.157 
Live Slock Notes.146 
Louisiana Purchase, The. 152 
Manuring, Heavy in the Garden. 165 
Nests, Good for Sitting Hens.*.. 153 
Orchard and Nursery. 146 
Peas, The Eatable-Podded.. ...*.. 152 
Pests, Prairie.458 
Plantain and Other Weeds.154 
Planting, Row—Simple Marker.*.. 163 
Poultry House in Sections.3*..150 
Poultry Suggestions.448 
Kaspberry, A New Early—The Hausell.*..164 
Rats, To Drive Away.151 
Road Wash, Saving the.152 
Roses. How Produced Cheaply.*. 154 
Ruts, Getting Out of the.155 
Seeds and Cions, Volunteer Distribution of. 153 
Sheep, Li ncoln.* • 149 
Slones, Moving Heavy. - * • • 153 
Strawberries on the Farm.^.155 
Swarming and How to Manage It.151 
Things Early, Have Many More. 162 
Tools, Teach the Boys to Use.153 
Truck, Early, in Florida.5*.. 160 
Tubes, Milking. 14® 
Tubes, Potato and Seed .2*.. 155 
Vegetables, The Shape of—The Parsnip.*. 165 
Vegetables, Some not Generally Grown.147 
Well Windlass, Improved.*• 162 
Work, Farm, for the Month.146 
Yard, Large Poultry. 156 
See another Page for 
NEW PREMIUMS for 
New Subscribers. 
Canvassers Wanted Everywhere. 
Good pay, appropriate and lucrative occupation 
for ladies as well as men. Profitable work for the 
spring months. See elsewhere for full particulars. 
April to April. 
As every number of the American Agriculturist 
is complete in itself, new subscriptions can begin 
with any issue. Do not suppose that because 
three months of this year are gone it is too late to 
subscribe for 1884. New subscribers can begin 
with this April issue and have their subscription 
continue until April next year. There is no better 
month to subscribe for a farm journal than the 
present, when spring work on the farm is com¬ 
mencing and nature wakes from long winter repose. 
Our Microscope. 
The demand for our new Microscope, of which 
full particulars were given in the last issue of the 
American Agriculturist, is so great, our friends will 
have to bear with us a little until their orders are 
filled. The Microscope will be sent to them in the 
order in which their applications are received. If 
any delay occurs, it will be due to the fact that 
our manufacturers are employing every means to 
render the new Microscope, made expressly for us, 
as nearly perfect as possible. See elsewhere. 
Our Book Premiums. 
The demand for the four valuable books offered 
by us last month as Premiums for new subscrip¬ 
tions to the American Agriculturist, has been so 
great that we have decided to extend the time 
during which they may be procured for thirty days 
longer. Farm Conveniences, Household Con¬ 
veniences, Barn Plans, and Cottage Houses are, 
each one of them, worth more than the subscrip¬ 
tion price. Any one of these books, however, will 
be presented free at our office to the sender of a 
new subscription with $1.50 (his own if it be new), 
or will be sent by mail on receipt of 10 cents extra 
for postage. 
Do not be Imposed upon. 
We last month gave a description of the bogus 
Agricultural papers, which thrive by lottery and 
other fraudulent schemes. The House of Repre¬ 
sentatives at Washington has now passed a hill, 
excluding from the mails, all papers advertising 
lottery schemes. If this bill becomes a law, it will 
deal a death-blow to the bogus agricultural papers, 
which steal all their agricultural matter from this 
periodical, and other meritorious journals, like 
the “ Country Gentleman,” for example, and then 
make use of the mails to float their fraudulent 
schemes among farmers. For further particulars, 
see the hack part of this number. 
Our Advertising Patronage. 
The great display presented by our advertising 
columns during the past period of depression is a 
marvel to other journals. The secret of this suc¬ 
cess is due not only to the large circulation of the 
American Agriculturist, to the fact that we ex¬ 
clude from our columns all advertisements of a 
doubtful character. During the past year adver¬ 
tisements to the amount of nearly $50,000 have 
been declined because we could not safely endorse 
the advertisers. The very day on which we write 
this paragraph, various advertisements amounting 
to over one thousand dollars have been received for 
insertion in this April issue of the paper, hut have 
been refused because not of an unexceptionable 
character. We know of but one other paper which 
would not have inserted all of these advertisements. 
GARDEN AND 
April is a busy month and all work should have 
been thoroughly planned before this. Sow early 
crops only so soon as the ground can be properly 
prepared. A good seed bed is the first essential in 
successful grain growing. Make the soil deep, 
rich and mellow. Use all the barn-yard manure to 
be obtained and supplement with a good commer¬ 
cial fertilizer. Too many farmers starve their 
crops and therefore cry poverty themselves. Sow 
only the best varieties of grain. Give a well-pre¬ 
pared soil a chance to produce the best of the best. 
Take good care of the crops after they are sown. 
Keep the horse cultivator running, and kill all 
weeds in hoed crops before they get old enough to 
steal the costly plant food. No soil, however rich, 
has any room for thistles, plantains, or other plant 
pests. Lead the work instead of being driven by it. 
Eiive Stock Notes. 
The coat is now changing on horses and cattle, 
and carding aids in shedding the hair. Avoid 
medicines as a rule. Horses hard at work need a 
plenty of dry, wholesome food. Look well to the 
feet and those parts upon which the harness may 
make galls. Keep the collars clean, and close 
fitting to the shoulders. Garget in new-milch cows 
may be prevented by frequently drawing away the 
milk from the udder. Calves are easily taught to 
drink from the pail. Remove them from the cows 
on the third or fourth day. Save only superior 
calves from the best cows to build up the herd. 
Ewes with lambs need abundant feed or else they 
and their young will suffer. If ticks become 
troublesome use a dip of tobacco water. The pig 
is a machine for converting house wastes and corn 
into pork. Keep this fact always in the mind. 
Orchard and Fruit Crarden. 
Planting is the important work of the month. A 
horticultural friend declares that trees are not to 
be “ set,” that posts are set, but trees should be 
“plauted.” Orchard planting will be an import¬ 
ant work, and the manner of doing it will influence 
the future well-being of the orchard. A nursery 
tree when taken up is deprived of half or more of 
its roots. If it is planted with all of its top, each 
bud upon every branch will make a demand for 
food, which the roots cannot meet. The growth 
will be a poor, starved one, and the orchard will 
make a bad beginning. Nurserymen do not pre¬ 
pare the trees lor planting; they know that the in¬ 
experienced buyer will judge of the trees by the 
size of the top. It is important that each branch be 
cut back to diminish the demand upon the roots. 
Grafting should he finished. A good fruit tree 
occupies no more room than a bad one. Insects 
demand attention. So soon as there is food insects 
will be ready to eatit. Watch for the first “ tents” 
of the caterpillar and remove them while small. 
Cuttings of shrubs, grape vines, etc., should be 
set out early. A mulch over the surface of the soil 
before dry weather comes will greatly help them. 
If berries are to be shipped ascertain what 
