2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
\ 
Contents for January, 1877. 
Among the Farmers—No. 12.14 
Apios or Ground-Nut. lliustrated. .21 
Axes, How they are Made.5 Illustrations. .16 
Bee Notes for January.4 Illustrations.. 9 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—Indoor Games of Marbles— 
The Doctor’s Correspondence — Aunt Sue’s Puzzle 
Box—Aunt Sue’s Chats—How Things are done in 
other Countries—The Doctor’s Talks, 11 Illustra¬ 
tions .25-28 
Buildings, Remodeling Old....4 Illustrations .. 17 
Cabbage Worm, Killing the....23 
Canker-Worm Guard, A New.23 
Carrier Pigeons on the Police Force.18 
Cattle, Ayrshire.2 Illustrations. .13 
Farms, Division of. 18 
Fence, A Bolted.2 Illustrations.. 16 
Flower Garden and Lawn for January. 5 
Fruit Garden for January. 4 
Fuchsia, The Racemose. Illustrated ..22 
Greenhouse and Window Plants for January.5 
Horses, Danger to, in Connecticut. 9 
Household Department—Home Topics—Some House¬ 
hold Conveniences.3 Illustrations.. 23-25 
House Plan. ... A Illustrations.. 12 
How Flowers are Fertilized.5 Illustrations. .22 
Jerusalem Artichoke—Where is it from?. 8 
Kitchen Garden for January. 5 
Ladders, Spiked Feet for.. Illustrated. .16 
Land, Clearing by Blasting.7 Illustrations. .19 
Market Report for January. 5 
Night Soil, How to Manage.2 Illustrations. .15 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 83—Prickly Comfrey—Steam¬ 
ing Food—Corn Fodder—Setting Milk.10-11 
Orchard and Nursery for January. 3 
Poke for Breachy Animals. Illustrated. 18 
Poultry from the Exhibitions. Illustrated.. 1 
Poultry Houses and Roosts.3 Illustrations. .17 
Poultry, Some Popular Breeds. Illustrated.. 9 
Prickly Comfrey. . Illustrated .19 
Bcience Applied to Farming.11 
Science applied to Farming, Correspondence.34 
Tim Bunker on the Evils of Agricultural Fairs .18 
Wheel-barrow, A Farm. Illustrated. .17 
Wire-Worms and their Work. lliustrated. .23 
Work, Hints About for January. 2 
INDEX TO “BASKET,” OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Answering by Numbers.. 34 
Asbestos, Uses of.. 7 
Beef, Salting.34 
Boats, Flat Bottomed.34 
Bone Dust, How it isMade.35 
Botanical Hand Book....35 
Botany, Practical. 7 
Corn-Planters.33 
Cow in South Carolina, A 
Good.34 
Crops in Georgia.. 5 
Death of C. D. Bragdon... 6 
Death of J. B. Root. 7 
Dogs, Shepherds’.: 
Draining a MarshlbyPump¬ 
ing.1 
Educational and School 
Books.1 
Fairmount Park . 
Farmyard Club of Jotham 7 
Fertilizers, Basis of Values 
of.35 
Fertilizers, Experiment¬ 
ing with. 
Fertilizers for Wheat. 
Fertilizers, Special. 
Foods for Cattle, Poultry, 
etc.34 
Forest and Stream Hand 
Book for Riflemen. 
Fowls, Egg Bound.34 
Grass Culture. 7 
Hay, Corn-meal and Bran, 
Comparative Value of.. .33 
Hogs, Paralysis in....35 
Horse Racing at Fairs.. 
Horse-Shoe. Goodenough.38 
Humbugs, Sundry. 7 
Jerseys or Short-horns_33 
Jerusalem Artichoke. 8 
Knight’s Am. Mechanical 
Dictionary. 7 
Letters, Lost. 7 
Manhattan Blood Guano 
Co.35 
Pea Nuts as Feed,Value of34 
Petroleum as a Paint, 
Crude.. 33 
Popular Scientific Works.35 
Potato Enemy, Another.. 34 
Poultry Exhibition, Ber¬ 
gen Co. 7 
Poultry, Pennsylvania . 34 
Quack Grass and Thistles.34 
Reports and Proceedings..35 
Roots, Canadian Field.... 8 
Sheep, Books on. 7 
Somebody Blundered.35 
Sprain of the Hip Joint...35 
Straw, What to Do with. .34 
Stumps, to Get Rid of... .35 
Sumach, Cut-leaved. 8 
Text Book on Veterinary 
Obstetrics. 8 
Trapper, The Complete 
American. 7 
Trees, Holes in.34 
Warts.33 
Wheaton Clover Sod,Sow¬ 
ing.35 
Wheat in Ohio, Spring... .33 
Worms in a Colt.33 
New South Wales.— We have received a 
small pamphlet on New South Wales, its progress and 
resources, published by authority of the Commissioners 
to the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. The 
pamphlet gives a description of the country, which is the 
eastern part of Australia, and of which Sydney is the 
chief town and port; also of its industries, productions, 
climate, and resources. As the country has some fea¬ 
tures in common with our own great pastoral regions in 
the West, the methods there in use of disposing of and 
utilizing the immense tracts of public pasture lands, are 
interesting to us. One hundred and fifty millions of 
acres of natural pastures are leased at about one cent per 
acre yearly, and $200,000,000 are invested in flocks and 
herds. To divide up our western plains into 640 acre 
tracts, and offer only 160 acres to a purchaser, is simply 
Drohibitory of their settlement, and throws vast tracts 
into the hands of squatters, without benefit to the public. 
Possibly the Australian method might suggest a plan 
for the definite settlement of our vast pastoral regions. 
Calendar for January. 
Uoston.NEng 
land. N. York 
State. ' JHeld 
gan, Wiscon¬ 
sin. Imoa. anil 
Oregon. 
9 35 
10 49 
morn 
0 8 
1 9 
2 18 
3 27 
4 34 
5 30 
6 30 
7 16 
sets 
5 58 
7 1 
8 4 
9 7 
10 9 
11 14 
morn 
0 21 
1 31 
2 47 
-V. l.o tty. Cl., 
Philadelphia, 
New Jersey. 
Penn.. Ohio. 
Indiana, ami 
Illinois. 
10 8 
11 11 
morn 
0 18 
1 27 
2 41 
3 55 
5 6 
6 7 
rises 
5 50 
7 11 
Washington. 
Maryland, 
Virginia.Ken¬ 
tucky, Missou¬ 
ri, and Cali¬ 
fornia. 
7 17 5 
7 17 5 
7 16 c 
7 16 c 
7 15 C 
7 15 
10 49 
11 57 
morn 
1 3 
2 10 
3 15 
4 20 
5 21 
6 5 
7 1 
6 7 
8 10 
9 7 
10 8 
11 10 
morn 
0 15 
2 34 
3 48 
4 59 
PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
WASH’N. 
cha’ston 
CHICAGO. 
3d Quart. 
New M’n 
1st Quart 
Full M’n 
D. 
6 
11 
29 
H. M. 
9 33 mo. 
8 44 mo. 
11 9 mo. 
3 55 mo. 
K. M. 
9 21 mo. 
8 82 mo. 
10 57 mo. 
3 43 mo. 
H. M. 
9 9 mo 
8 20 mo 
10 45 mo 
3 31 mo 
H. M. 
8 57 mo. 
10 33 mo. 
3 19 mo. 
It. M. 
8 27 mo. 
7 38 mo. 
10 3 mo. 
2 49 mo. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1877. 
The new year opens favorably for the industries 
of the country. There is a prospect that all kinds 
of.labor will be better remunerated in the future, 
than they have been for some time past. One of 
the most important changes for the better, is in 
our foreign trade. Instead of importing, as we 
have done for many years, a hundred millions of 
dollars worth of foreign goods more than could be 
paid for by our exports, the past year’s business 
has been the other way, and we have sold of our 
home products considerably over a hundred mil¬ 
lions worth more than we have purchased. For¬ 
tunately we have a steady market for all our sur¬ 
plus farm products, and many of our manufac¬ 
tured goods, and a fair prospect of firmly holding 
these ’markets against all our competitors, while 
new markets and new articles of export are con¬ 
tinually being found. The trade in dressed beef, 
for instance, which has sprung up within a year 
past, has become established and promises to grow 
steadily; this takes only what can be spared, with¬ 
out advancing prices here. An export trade in 
horses has also commenced, and several hundred 
have been shipped with profit. For fruit, vegeta¬ 
bles, grain, dairy and other farm products, we have 
secure and growing markets, and manufactured 
articles from mills, factories, and workshops, have 
not only supplanted imported goods in our own 
markets, but are actually competing with them in 
the countries to which we were formerly customers. 
With our wonderful resources, the United States 
promises to become the great granary and factory 
of the world. If this promise is fulfilled, the great¬ 
est benefits will only be through the successful 
efforts of farmers and artizans to cheapen their 
products, while they at the same time maintain 
the excellent quality which has brought them into 
popularity. To the farmer the great problem to he 
solved is, how to lessen the cost of his produce, or 
increase its amount, and so increase both his gains 
and his comforts. To do this he must not only use 
industry, but all the aids which science offers him. 
True scientific farming is nothing more than the 
best possible practice. Nearly every farmer now 
understands this, and but very few are now inclined 
to think contemptuously of agricultural science. 
The attainment of this desirable'end has been 
greatly helped by the efforts of the American Agri¬ 
culturist, in popularizing scientific knowledge, by 
showing that this is simply the knowledge of how 
to do things in the best, cheapest, most effective,, 
and most profitable manner—in short, how to make 
the most money out of our labor. 
Hints about Work. 
Seasonable Planting .—While it may seem strange- 
to the Northern farmer, whose fields are bound in 
ice or covered with snow, to speak of planting, it. 
will be plain enough to his Southern co-worker, 
who works, or may do so, in his fields the year 
round. Round potatoes planted this month in the 
Southern States, will make a first crop in time for 
a second to be planted in July. The second crop 
that may now be in the ground, may be left for 
table use, or kept covered with litter or leaves, to 
keep out frost. The newly planted crop should 
be earthed up as they appear above ground, to pro¬ 
tect the tops from frosts. Oats sown at the South 
this month, will ripen almost as soon as fall sown 
oats, and will be more likely to escape rust and 
drouth than if sown later. The oat crop may be 
made a very valuable one, and by good manage¬ 
ment will yield a large quantity of fodder. 
Compost Heaps .—Much may be done in making 
compost heaps. In the South there is a greater 
choice of materials than at the North, and anything 
that can be secured to add bulk to stable manure, 
whether it be cotton-seed, bone-dust, guano, night- 
soil, or other readily fermentable matters, should 
he collected and saved. Where salt-marsh mud, or 
swamp muck cau be procured, these make a good 
basis for a compost heap. 
Spreading Manure .—For some years we have- 
spread manure during the winter upon meadows, , 
clover-sod to be plowed for corn, and ground 
plowed for spring crops. The practice is economi¬ 
cal of labor, and convenient, and we have no rea¬ 
son to believe that the manure loses any valuable 
constituent. The ammonia of fresh manure is in a 
nascent or inactive condition, and is not wasted 
during the cold weather. Those who may find it 
convenient to use manure in this manner, can do- 
no harm by making the experiment. Dairy farm¬ 
ers can not do better than spread manure upon, 
their meadows and pastures as fast as it is made. 
Live Stock.—Regular attention to all live stock is 
very important. If an animal is only half fed, it is 
better that it be half fed regularly, as it will suf¬ 
fer less injury than if attended to one day and neg¬ 
lected the next. But it is poor economy to stint 
food. “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” To 
see one’s stock contented, comfortable, and happy, 
is not only a happiness to a good farmer, but 
money in his pocket. Regular hours of feeding, 
regular watering, regular rations, and regular rest, 
are conducive to comfort. With regularity there 
is no haste, no waste, nothing is forgotten, and 
nothing is done twice over. Animals then digest 
what they eat, and thrive. 
Stables and Sheds should be kept dry and clean 
where frost is not severe, and where it is, the drop¬ 
pings should be removed daily, lest they be fro¬ 
zen into a mass and become difficult to handle. 
If dry sand or sawdust he scattered over a cleaned 
stall or shed, beneath the bedding, frozen manure 
can be taken up without trouble. It is preferable 
to have the stables so tight and warm that the ma¬ 
nure will not freeze in them during the night. An 
animal can not rest easily upon a bed of frozen 
dung, nor in a mass of filth. A cold stable may be 
much improved by lining it with rough boards, and 
filling the space between the two boardings with 
rough litter, buckwheat-straw, or leaves. 
Feed Racks.— Have a plenty of feed-racks in the 
yards. They save fodder, and prevent the master 
animals from driving weaker ones from their feed. 
Corn-Fodder or Pea-Straw should be passed 
through a feed cutter before feeding it to stock in 
pens or yards where manure is made. The litter is 
then short, and the manure easily moved and 
spread, saving both time and labor. 
Salt should be given regularly to every animal 
