122 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
fApRtt. 
Contents for April, 1877. 
Calendar for April. 
Among the Farmers—No. 15.134 
Apples on Paradise Stock .143 
Artichoke, Jerusalem... ..142 
Barn, Plan of a Dakota. Illustrated .139 
Bee Notes for April. Illustrated. .130 
Birds of the Southern United States. Illustrated. .121 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—The Doctor’s Correspond¬ 
ence-Aunt Sue’s Puzzle Box—Bird-Houses that any 
Boy can Make—Aunt Sue’s Chats—How Things are 
Done in other Countries. 14 Illustrations . .145-148. 
Catalogues Received.154 
Cess-Pool, Ventilator for. Illustrated .136 
Corn-Marker for Uneven Ground. Illustrated. .130 
Corn, Plowing Sod for.136 
Fence of Timber and Wire....6 Illustrations.. 138 
Flower Beds, A New Edging to. Illustrated. .142 
Flower Garden and Lawn for April. 126 
Fruit Garden for April.124 
Geraniums with Pure White Leaves.142 
Greenhouse and Window Plants for April. 126 
Harrow, Home Made... Illustrated. 136 
Hints and Helps for Farmers.7 Illustrations. .137 
Horse, How to Sling a. Illustrated. .136 
Household Department—Home Topics—The Vine in 
the Window — Hair Dyes—Household Conveninces 
and Hints—About Moths and Millers.2 111.. 143-145 
Implements, Some Useful.4 Illustrations. .138 
Insects, Oyster-Shell Bark-Louse.143 
Kitchen Garden for April.125 
Market Report for April..126 
New York Horticultural Society .130 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 86.—Prickly Comfrey—Co¬ 
operation-Hard Times.131 
Orchard and Nursery for April.123 
Plants, Adder’s Tongue. Illustrated.. 140 
Plants, Barren-worts. Illustrated. .140 
Potato, New. Illustrated.. 139 
Prickly Comfrey Once More. 130 
Prize Farm Management. 139 
Science Applied to Farming.131 
Seeds with New Names, Old.130 
Shaving, Horse. Illustrated. .136 
Shrub, Banana. . Illustrated. .141 
Soil, Ask Questions of your.130 
Swine, Poland China. Illustrated.. 133 
Swine, White Lancashire. Illustrated. .133 
Talk on Farm Crops—No 2.135 
Trees, Some Valuable Native Forest. . 143 
Work, Hints About for April. 122 
Yield of Crops and Profit Compared.137 
INDEX TO "BASKET 
Agriculture, New Jersey.l 
Animal Poke.129 
Anthony Waterer.154 
Brahmas. Fine Light_128 
Bulletin of Bussey Insti¬ 
tute. ... 
Butter, Coloring. 
Butter, Counterfeit.154 
Catalogues.128 
Cow Killed by a Piece 
of Wire. 
Cows, Wonderful.154 
Dogs. Protection Against. 154 
Egg-Food, Imperial.127 
Eggs, How to Preserve.. 153 
Eggs, To Prevent Hens 
Eating their.129 
Farming Matters, Sundryl54 
Gardening, Essays on.. ..129 
Harrow. Shape of.127 
Hens, Feather Eating....129 
Horticultural Brevities.. 129 
How to Choose and Work 
a Farm.129 
Humbugs, Sundry.12S 
Irrigation, ANewWork onl28 
Lands in Virginia_ 
Manure, Baling. . 129 
OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Manure,Quau tityperAcrel29 
Milk, Clotted.153 
Milk-Mirrors, Guenon’s 
Theory of.153 
Mines,About Investing inl29 
Missouri, Information 
about.153 
Mowing Machines, Look 
to the. 128 
Oats in Maryland.129 
OfticeArrangements, New 
Office.128 
Paints, Averill’s Chemicall29 
Placenta, Removal of the 
Retained.154 
Plants, HardyHerbaceousl29 
Potatoes,EveryGrower ofl29 
Potatoes, Nitrate of Soda 
for.128 
Southern Slope on Land, 
Effecfof a.153 
Spaying. 153 
Steam Engines, Work onl53 
Strawberries, The First..128 
Straw, Too Much.154 
Sugar Beets and Beet 
Sugar.153 
Wheat for Northern Iowal29 
One Thousand Fowls in One 
House.—" M. A. S.,” Wilbralinm, Mass. It cannot be 
done. It has been tried, and has failed every time. There 
is a good reason for the failures. No animals can exist 
in a healthy condition, when crowded in large numbers, 
in one building or enclosure. It is in crowded car-horse 
stables in the cities, although they may be kept never so 
cleanly, or managed never so skillfully, that epizootic 
diseases occur; it is in large flocks and herds that dis¬ 
ease is most prevalent; it is in the large hog yards of 
the West, that the so-called cholera abounds, and it is 
crowded tenement houses that the death-rate of large 
cities is the largest. Fowls are not hardy animals, and 
soon succumb to unwholesome conditions of life. To 
succeed with large numbers of them, there is but one 
method, and that is by keeping them in colonies. Pro¬ 
cure and read “An Egg Farm,” by H. H. Stoddard, 
published by Orange Judd Co., in which this subject 
is thoroughly and practically treated. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK, i 
WASH’N. 
cha’ston 
CHICAGO. 
3d Quart. 
New M’n 
1st Quart 
Full M’n 
D. 
1 
H. M. 
II 46 mo. 
1 6 ev. 
2 53 ev. 
III 52 mo. 
11 34 mo. 
0 54 ev. 
2 41 ev. 
11 40 mo. 
H. M. 
11 22 mo 
0 42 ev. 
2 29 ev. 
11 28 mo 
H. M. 
11 10 mo. 
0 30 ev. 
2 17 ev. 
11 16 mo. 
it. m. 
10 40 mo. 
0 0 n'n. 
1 47 ev. 
10 46 mo. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, APRIL, 1877. 
With April, farm work, nearly everywhere, begins 
in earnest. In some of the Middle and Western 
States, much of the spring work is done, and com 
and root planting only remains. But in the more 
Northern States, summer follows winter without a 
spring, with a rush, and the farmer who is not well 
prepared, finds his work “all of a heap” and push¬ 
ing him, instead of his pushing the work. To hurry 
over work is to throw away labor. No hurry is 
needed, when work is well laid out, and every job is 
foreseen and planned for. More thought must go 
into our work. Although the times are mending, 
and farmers have felt but little of the general dis¬ 
tress that husiness men have experienced yet we 
may confess that times are still hard. Prices are 
low and profits are small. Hard times quicken in¬ 
vention, and when men are pressed, their intellects 
are wonderfully brightened. Most of the great in¬ 
ventions that have revolutionized labor, have been 
forced into men’s minds by pressure of unfavorable 
circumstances. The alternative has frequently 
been “a new and cheap method or ruin.” Just 
now we seem to be on the eve of some needed dis¬ 
covery for cheapening farm labor, or making it 
more effective. The whole world is striving against 
us, and so far we have beaten it. But now other 
nations are using our tools, implements, and meth¬ 
ods, and all that is left to us is cheap land, and an 
indomitable energy that never gives in. We shall 
still maintain our position. When the time was 
ripe for some great innovation, it has always come; 
the mother “ necessity” never yet failed to find the 
child “ invention.” No great staple can long be 
produced at a loss, or even at less than a living 
profit, and now that we see clearly the dawning of 
a promising day in business, there is a certainty 
that the farmer’s labor will be as well recompensed 
as it deserves. But we shall have to work for it, 
not so much with our hands as with our brains. 
Hints about Work. 
Plowing. —None but a.fertile soil should be turn¬ 
ed over very deeply. At this season, this should be 
well remembered, because there is no time for the 
weather to mellow the fresh soil. For spring crops, 
the soil should be turned up mellow and rich,.that 
the seed may push into active growth at once. 
Fertilizers.— For the reasons just mentioned, fer¬ 
tilizers for use on spring crops should be 6uch 
as are quickly soluble, and readily taken up by the 
plant. Now that the uncertainty in regard to the 
quality of Peruvian guano has been removed, this 
is perhaps the best special fertilizer to use without 
previous experiment. See Prof. Atwater’s article 
on testing fertilizers. Some of the chemical mix¬ 
tures may be cautiously used as a substitute for 
guano on special crops. 
Live Stock.— One of the most encouraging events 
of late, has been the opening of an export trade of 
beef and mutton to England. If this succeeds, and 
grows, as now 6eems probable, it will provide a way 
out of our heretofore greatest difficulties. Instead 
of growing and exporting grain, we shall grow and 
use it ourselves, and export the produce. This will 
leave our farms in much better plight. To meet 
this new demand, our stock must be improved in 
quality, by the use of pure-bred bulls and rams, and 
increased in quantity, by sparing the heifer calves 
and ewe lambs from slaughter. 
liaising Horses. —As has always been the case in 
the past, the increasing use of steam-engines makes 
more work for horses, and horses of the working 
kind are scarce. It is a question worth consider¬ 
ing, if it would not be better to keep mares upon 
the farms for breeding, instead of selling them to 
work in the cities, where their productive powers 
are not used. We have found mares equally 
serviceable with horses for farm work, and an an¬ 
nual colt will nearly pay for a mare’s feed. 
Brood-Mares, if rightly managed, may come in 
after the spring’s work is over, and can raise a colt 
before the fall-work comes on. If the colt comes 
in June, the mare is well able to plow and harrow 
until the middle of May, and will be ready for work 
again by the time haying begins. But at this season 
a brood-mare’s work should be steady, although it 
may he hard. Violent, jerky, and long continued 
work is what injures her. 
Young Stock. —As the change of feed comes on, 
care must be exercised in regard to young animals. 
It is best to turn them on to grass for an hour or 
two daily, before the pasture becomes full. Well- 
conditioned yearlings are in more danger than poor¬ 
er ones, and with them greater care should be taken. 
Spring Crops. —Where the lateness of the season 
has not permitted the sowing of spring crops, the 
hints given last month will be applicable. 
Plaster. —A bushel of ground gypsum per acre, 
will be,found a very useful application for young 
clover, or for oats, when they are a little above 
ground. Gypsum is useful for its own constituents, 
without depending upon its absorption of ammonia 
from the air. All the ammonia we get that way will 
be a very poor help. At 50 cents a bushel, plaster 
is a cheap fertilizer for clover, oats, or corn. 
Boot Crops. —Plowing should be done this month 
for mangels. No root crop pays better than this. 
Choose a piece of clean corn-stubble, plow thor¬ 
oughly, open drills, in which drop manure at the 
rate of eight or ten tons per acre, cover with the 
plow, level with a light harrow lengthwise of the 
drills, so as not to obliterate them; then sow the 
seed over the manure with a hand or horse-planter, 
and scatter a little guano, or blood fertilizer along 
the row. Four pounds of seed for an acre is re¬ 
quired. We prefer the Yellow Globe. Don’t aim 
to get big roots, but a full crop of fair-sized ones. 
We are satisfied with 30 tons, or 1,000 bushels, per 
acre. At this rate a bushel costs 5 cts., or less. 
Sow late this month, or early in May. 
Pbtatoes. —Early potatoes may be kept lightly 
covered with the hoe or a light one-horse plow. 
Watch the manoeuvres of the potato beetle, and 
when it begins work, pick the insects from the 
leaves into a pan ; the pan described in the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist for July, 1876, will be found very 
handy for this work. By proper care, Paris green 
need not be used until the larvae get to work, when 
no time should he lost. Every beetle killed this 
month may prevent the existence of oveivl,000 larva:. 
Cows and Calves. —Incoming cows need careful 
feeding. Moderate feed will be found preventive 
of trouble after calving. With high-bred cows 
there is danger of milk-fever or garget. Prevent 
