322 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Contents for September, 1877. 
Among the Farmers.334 
Beef, Feeding for. 338 
Bee Notes for September. 329 
Blue Jay, Oregon. . Illustrated.. 333 
Boys and Girls’ Columns—Cute but Naughty—Aunt 
Sue’s Chats—Doctor’s Correspondence—Aunt Sue’s 
Puzzle Box—Whooping Crane... 7 Illustrations. .345-348 
Broken Legs in Animals, How to Treat.339 
Cork Tree, Mantchooriau. .Illustrated.. 341 
Fair List.355 
Fairs, The Farmer’s Schools.331 
Fish Breeding, The Requirements of..337 
Flower Garden and Lawn for September. 324 
Fodder and Root Cutters.6 Illustrations.. 340 
Fowl and Hybrid, Jungle. Illustrated. .333 
Fruit Dryers.338 
Fruit Garden for September.323 
Fruit Harvest, Helps in the.3 Illustrations. .342 
Greenhouse and Window Plants for September... .324 
Hints and Helps for Farmers .4 Illustrations. . 337 
Household Department—Home Topics—Tomatoes, 
and How to Use Them—Burns and Scalds 2 iff. .343-345 
House, Plan for. 4 Illustrations. .332 
Kitchen and Market Garden for September.324 
Locust Trap, A Wesl ern. Illustrated.. 337 
Market Report for September.325 
Milk, Method of Cooling. Illustrated. .337 
Notes from the Pines. Illustrated. 342 
Ogden Farm Papers, No. 91.331 
Orchard and Nursery for September.323 
Plants, Tufted Marsliallia. Illustrated.. 341 
Plums, How Made into Prunes.343 
Pump, Non-Freezing. 2 Illustrations.. 336 
Science Applied to Farming. 330 
Sheep, Wild, of Thibet. Illustrated.. 321 
Silo, An American.2 Illustrations. 335 
Stable, A Frost Proof.339 
Talks on Farm Crops .335 
Ventilators for Fodder Stacks.2 Illustrations.. 336 
Work, Hints About.322 
INDEX TO “BASKET.” OU SUOUTEIt ARTICLES. 
Acid, Citric.354j“ Japanese Wheat”.353 
Agricultural Experiment |Lambs and Sheep Dip.. .326 
Station, Conn.326 Lambs, Price in N. Y-326 
Ashes, Value of.329 Manure, Horse, Howto 
Ayrshire Herd Book.355! Preserve.328 
“Book-Acre,” That.326! Meat Market, Foreign. ..354 
Books on Cattle, Sheep, I Milking Tubes... lllus.. 327 
and Pigs.328 Montana Stock Farm .. 353 
Bruised Leg, Treatment.327jNatT Agr. Congress.326 
Buckwheat. Harvesting. .355 Pasturing the Highways.329 
Cattle and Sheep in Col..355!Phosphate, Making.327 
Clothing—Great Conven- |Pigging, Difficulty in—354 
ience.329 Pigs, Disease in _ 327 
Col. Waring, Honor for. .328 Pigs, Thumps inYoung. .354 
Corn, Culture in Drills...327iPigs, Weakness in -354 
Cotton Seed,Feeding .. ,354 Plow for Sod Land.354 
Cow, Artificial Switch for328 Poisoning by Paris Green 
Cows, Abortion.326 
Crop for Poor Stiff Soil. .328 
Death of a Noted Horse..354 
Draining.328 
“Dry Murrain”.327 
Echo Farm Herd.328 
Fair, St. Louis.354 
Fairs, Go to the—Why ?.329 
Fanning Mill for Grain. .327 
Florida, Sweetness from.353 
Foot and Mouth Disease355 
Fruit Grower, Every _326 
Full Blood andThorougb- 
bred.354 
Grain, Machines forClean- 
mg. 
..329 
Grange Meeting, Useful.329 
Green Fodder, Preserva¬ 
tion of.354 
AnticTote.329 
Polled Galloway Herd 
Book.355 
Pork Making in Georgia.354 
Roots for Stock.353 
Rye as a Soiling Crop... .354 
Scientific Expedition... 353 
Seed Corn, Seleeting_354 
Sending Things. . 327 
Sheep, Black-faced 
Scotch.353 
“ Snow Hill Durhams ”..329 
Sore Teats in Cows.354 
Stable for $25 .354 
Swine Husbandry ......329 
Temperance Songs. . ..326 
Trees in the City of Lon¬ 
don ... .355 
Wheat Crop, Hoeing the.354. 
Grounds, Plan of.326 Wheat Crop, The.326 
Hog Cholara, Treatment.327 Weed, A Persistent.354 
Horse, Treatment of Winter Oats.327 
Splint.327, Winter Oats for Feed_327 
Humbugs, Sundry.327 Wire Beds.326 
Incubators, As to.326 Worn Out Field, How to 
Individual, Remarkable.328' Improve.354 
Monthly ISuUetin of the Ameri¬ 
can Jersey Cattle Club.— We have received the 
first number of the A. J. C. C. Monthly Bulletin, which 
contains pedigrees of 52 bulls and 99 cows, and some 
6liort articles of special interest to breeders of Jerseys. 
This publication is to be issued monthly, under the 
supervision of Geo. E. Waring, Jr., Newport, R. I., Sec¬ 
retary of the American Jersey Cattle Club. 
Deep Plowing' of Kew Prairie.— 
“ Winona,” Minn. When prairie sod is plowed deeply, 
there are many roots of wild plants not cut off, but mere¬ 
ly turned over. These sprout and grow again. The 
sod also does not rot so soon as when a thin furrow is 
turned over. But if the sod could be plowed with a 
double, or “jointer” plow;—a plow with one share and 
mold-board in advance of the other, so as to turn the 
sod the first, and then cover it with soil with the second 
one, grain might be sown at once. This might do for 
oats or buckwheat, but for wheat it would be risky. 
Calendar for September. 
lloston.NKng 
land. A". York 
State, Michi 
gun, Wiscon¬ 
sin. Ioioa. and 
Oregon. 
5 29 
5 30 6 2 
5 31 6 2< 
5 32 6 24 
5 33|6 22 
5 34 6 20 
5 at 6 
5 36 6 
5 37 6 15 
5 3S 6 13 
5 39,6 12 
r, 40 6 10 
5 41 6 
5 42 6 
5 43 6 
6 3 
6 
5 59 
5 5 
5 56 
5 55 
5 51 
5 52 
5 53 
2 48 
4 10 
sets 
(i 47 
7 11 
7 39 
8 10 
8 47 
9 33 
10 27 
11 27 
A. Y.Cuy. C t., 
Philadelphia, 
New Jersey. 
Penn.. Ohio. 
Indiana, and 
Illinois. 
5 4 
6 2 
,6 1 
47i5 59 
5 49 5 56 
5 50 5 5 
5 5l|5 5! 
Washington, 
Maryland, 
Virginia.Ken¬ 
tucky, Missou¬ 
ri, and Cali¬ 
fornia. 
11 15 
norn 
0 23 
1 37 
2 57 
4 16 
sets. 
6 50 
7 17 
7 47 
8 22 
9 1 
9 48 
10 42 
11 40 
•ises 
6 10 
f: 34 
PHASES OF THE MOON. 
MOON. 
BOSTON. 
N. YORK. 
WASII’N. 
ciia’ston 
CHICAGO. 
New M’n 
1st Quai l 
Full M’n 
Sil Quart. 
ll 
■n 
H. M. 
8 16 mo. 
6 -’4 mo. 
10 50 mo. 
1 36 mo. 
II. M. 
8 4 mo. 
6 12 mo. 
10 38 mo. 
1 24 mo. 
It. M. 
7 52 mo 
6 0 mo 
10 26 mo 
1 12 mo 
1 40 mo. 
5 48 mo. 
10 14 mo. 
1 0 mo. 
n. M. 
7 10 mo. 
5 18 mo. 
9 44 mo. 
0 30 mo. 
AMERICAN AGKICULTURIST. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1877. 
If a store-keeper, a blacksmith, or any other busi¬ 
ness man or mechanic, were to open his shop for 
one or two hours only, each day, and to spend the 
remainder of his time at some unproductive em¬ 
ployment or recreation, be would soon shut up his 
shop altogether. A certain amount of productive 
labor is absolutely necessary to support every man. 
This amount is regulated by circumstances. These 
circumstances are beyond our control, but their 
operation is so certain, as to amount to what is 
called a natural law. When any business or trade 
becomes so profitable, that a living is made by it 
with less than the usual amount of labor, numbers 
flock into it, until the products become too plenti¬ 
ful, and their value falls so low, that longer hours 
of labor are needed to turn out a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of them to give the producer a living. Then 
people leave or avoid this business, and by and by 
it returns to the average condition of other in¬ 
dustries, and gives a fair living for a fair day’s 
work. But, under ordinary circumstances, if per¬ 
sons engaged in any business, do not perform a 
fair day’s work, they do not get a fair living. Now 
it is complained, farming does not pay, that it does 
not afford a fair living. If this is true, it is especi¬ 
ally unfortunate, because farmers are tied to their 
business, and can not leave it at a few days’ notice. 
As a rule, we are certain that this is not true. But 
it must be confessed that there is some reason for 
the complaint. Farming certainly does not pay 
some farmers, and a good reason for this can be 
found by examining the Census Reports. There 
we find that in one of the principal New England 
States the average size of the farms is 76 acres; 
the average number of acres in grain and potatoes 
on each farm is only 2-J- acres; the average number 
of cows on each farm is less than 3 ; and each cow 
takes lli acres to support her; there are less than 
two sheep to each farm ; the same numberof pigs, 
and little more than one horse. Each man engaged 
in farming cultivates only one acre and four-tenths 
in grains and potatoes, and 1(H acres in grains, po¬ 
tatoes, and grass. Now here is a case paralleled by 
that of a mechanic, who should only work a quarter 
of a day, instead of full time. If any sensible far¬ 
mer were asked, if a man could support himself by 
such management, he would reply Wo emphatically, 
and without any hesitation. The condition of the 
State in question is similar to that of the rest of 
New England, and other parts of the country. It 
is clear then, that it can not be helped that there- 
should he dissatisfaction with the proceeds of so- 
ineffectually employed labor ; it would be surpris¬ 
ing, and farming would be different from any other- 
business, if it were not so. .The remedy is obvious. 
Work must be well and effectually done, or the pay 
is poor. A day’s wages can only he earned by a. 
day’s work. The proportion or ratio between work 
and pay is fixed by laws, which no man, or com¬ 
bination of men, can suspend or abrogate. 
Mints for Work. 
Sowing Wheat. —The majority of farmers prefer 
to sow wheat this month. Where there is no dan¬ 
ger of the fly, and where the season of fall growth 
is short, most of the wheat is sown in August. The 
10th of September is probably the date which suits 
the ideas and convenience of most farmers. We 
prefer not to be later than this if we can avoid it. 
This subject was sufficiently treated last month. 
Varieties of Wheat.— A great number of new va¬ 
rieties of wheat have been tested of late. The 
Clawson wheat has become very popular on account 
of its hardiness. It is a smooth variety, with a 
plump, amber grain, and yields well. The “ Gold 
Medal” has made many friends, but we know it 
only by report. Of all that we have grown, the 
Treadwell, the Clawson, and the Diehl, have suc¬ 
ceeded best on moderately light soil, and we would 
choose them in the order here named. The Diehl 
is a fine white variety, hut the white wheats need 
better soil and cultivation thau the amber, and these 
better than the red wheats,. It is a good farmer 
thst can raise good crops of the white sorts. But 
then every farmer should try for the best. On the 
whole, however, the amber wheats will probably be- 
found the most successful under ordinary cultiva¬ 
tion, and, as a rule, they make excellent flour. 
Cultivating Wheat. —We are experimenting with 
wheat sown in rows 16 inches apart, and the rows 
to be worked with a Rue’s hand-cultivator. If it 
will pay to cultivate wheat here, as it does in Eng¬ 
land, it will he done. The proper implement can 
be had without difficulty. A common grain drill 
can be furnished with hoes to do the work. If 
other crops pay for cultivation, it is difficult to say 
why wheat should not. It only needs that the mode 
of sowing be arranged to suit. An experiment of 
this nature can easily be made on a small plot of 
ground, and may be very valuable in its results. 
Sowing Timothy; Harrowing Wheat. —When grass- 
seed is sown, harrowing wheat can not he done 
either in the fall or spring. The benefit derived 
from harrowing in both seasons, is certainly greater 
than the advantage of having the grass seed in the 
ground before winter. When clover is to be sown 
in the spring, it will be much safer to defer sowing 
the timothy until then, and sow it with the clover- 
on the freshly harrowed ground. 
Cutting Corn. —This is, or should he, the next- 
great work of this month. It is unwise to defer it. 
until October. The extra value of well cured fod¬ 
der, not damaged by frost,, is no small considera¬ 
tion. The corn is ready to cut as soon as it is- 
glazed. It gains nothing by standing longer and 
the fodder is always deteriorated. 
How Com May be Cut.— We were amused recent¬ 
ly to read in a first-class English agricultural paper 
that our method of shocking corn in America, was 
to put three hills of corn in a stook. In the East 
25 hills, or 5 rows of 5 hills in each row, are put in¬ 
to a stook. In the West 7 hills of 7 rows, or 49 
hills, often go into a stook. We prefer the latter, 
as it is a saving of time and space, and is especially 
preferable when the corn stubble is plowed and 
sown to wheat or rye. We prefer too, to bind the 
corn in sheaves, and set up the sheaves in a stook, 
binding the top of the stook with a stout straw 
band. The sheaves are necessary if the corn-husk¬ 
ing machine is used, and very handy in case the 
corn is hauled to the barn to be husked. 
Curing Corn-Fodder. — Corn-fodder should he 
bound in small sheaves, and these should be set up 
in stooks open at the bottom to admit plenty of air. 
Rain can not injure fodder thus cured. But if set. 
